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Exxon's own scientists confirmed climate change - back in the 70s!

As a new investigation showed today, the scientists of the biggest oil company in the world, Exxon Mobil knew about climate change back in the 70s - but they still helped block the Kyoto protocol in the 90s, and invest massive amounts of money into climate skepticism propaganda. Today, 9 out of 10 funded climate change deniers can be linked to Exxon.

Tuna and mackerel populations suffer disastrous 74% population decline

According to a new report by the WWF, we're very close to losing fish species that are not only important for their ecosystems, but that are vital to our food security. The main culprit, as it usually happens, is humans: we've almost wiped out tuna and mackerel through overfishing.

Scientists engineer yeast that creates active marijuana compound, THC

Scientists have genetically modified yeast to produce the main psychoactive substance in marijuana, THC. Responsible for most of weed's effects (including the high), THC can also be used for medical purposes, to treat symptoms of HIV infection and chemotherapy.

This simple code can increase your smartphone battery life by 16% - and yes, it's free

Researchers at Purdue University in the US have developed a new tool for Android users that could increase your battery life by 16%.

Paralyzed man becomes the first person to feel physical sensations through a prosthetic hand directly connected to his brain

A 28-year old who has been paralyzed for more than a decade following a spinal cord injury has become the first person to be able to “feel” physical sensations, through a special prosthetic developed by DARPA – the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a US agency responsible for the development of emerging technologies, mostly for military purposes. The […]

Crops farmed by leafcutter ants show signs of domestication: Leafcutter ants became farmers 50 million years before humans

Leafcutter ants in South America grow fungus as crops, this has been known for quite a while. But their crops show clear signs of domestication, which means that when it comes to farming, the ants might have beaten us by some 50 million years. Ant farmers When people started growing crops, they unwittingly made changes […]

Laughing all the way to the bedroom: here's why women like men who make them laugh

They say that if you want to conquer a woman's heart, you first have to make her laugh, and the science seems to agree with that. A new study found that the more a man makes a woman laugh, the more the chances of a long term relationship grew.

Historians document the first use of the F-word

An English historian has come across the "F word" in a court case dating back to 1310, making it the earliest reference to the swear word. Dr Paul Booth of Keele University found the name ‘Roger Fuckebythenavele’ as he was documenting the trial.

California's snowpack hasn't been this low since the 1500s

According to a new study published in Nature Climate Change, the snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains has reached the lowest levels in the past 500 years, underscoring the severe drought that is already affecting the state.

Temari Balls: Mixing Mathematics with Beautiful Art

Temari (手まり?) balls are an ancient form of art that originated in China and got was introduced to Japan around the 7th century A.D., where it became very popular.

A simple way to quantify climate change: the ratio of hot to cold records

The world is heating up, that's no longer up for debate, but there are many ways through which we can discuss how much the planet has warmed. You can calculate global averages, chart rising levels, discuss freak weather events, but that's all difficult to understand and sometimes debatable.

An Amazonian tribe is defending their forests from illegal loggers with bow and arrow

Motivated by the love for their native lands and armed with bows, arrows, GPS trackers and camera traps, an indigenous community in northern Brazil is fighting to achieve what officials couldn't - stop illegal logging in their part of the Amazon.

Incredibly active galaxy cluster creates 800 stars every year

The gargantuan cluster is 9.8 billion light years away from us, houses at least 27 galaxies and has a combined mass equal to 400 trillion Suns.

Antarctic Ocean Sucks Down More and More Greenhouse Gases, But It's Still Not Enough

The Antarctic Ocean has been sucking more and more carbon dioxide - and this is both good news and bad news. For the Ocean's inhabitants, it's bad news because it increases acidity, which is extremely harmful; for everyone else, it's good news, because it mitigates the effects of climate change.

Algorithm turns photos into specific style of painting

German researchers from the University of Tubingen have devised an algorithm that analyzes a painting and then applies that style of painting to any desired picture. The results were recently published in a paper entitled, A Neural Algorithm of Artistic Style by Leon A. Gatys, Alexander S. Ecker and Matthias Bethge, and the results are simply spectacular: […]

Brilliant GIF shows how Humans, Birds and Insects Breathe

Three different ways to breathe: Mammals, birds and insects breathe in different ways, as exemplified above. Humans, as mammals, inhale by moving the diaphragm to lower the air pressure in the chest cavity and pull air into the lungs. The human chest cavity is always at a lower pressure than the outside environment. Birds on […]

Homeopathy conference ends in chaos after everyone gets high on hallucinogenic drug

Almost 30 delegates were rushed to a hospital in Germany, suffering from hallucinations and cramps. The "alternative medicine conference" went astray when delegates took a hallucinogenic drug somewhat related to LSD (2C-E - Aquarust in Germany).

Ancient shoulders point to our ape past

A new study shows that evolution's burden is distinctly visible on our shoulders - literally. Our shoulders are surprisingly similar to those of orangutans, as opposed to those of our closest relatives, chimp. This may have an important significance on our evolution.

GeoPicture of the Week: Pangaea with today's borders

Today's Spain was close to Greenland, Tibet and Australia were neighbors, and Africa and South America were closely hugging - as can be roughly seen from today's coastline. This image shows that the Earth is not a static rock - but an active and mobile system.

33 AwesomeFactory GIFs to Satisfy Your Inner Engineer

We all have a hobby. Reddit user’s -rico hobby is collecting factory GIFs. You know, the ‘How it’s Made’ kind of GIFs, the one that show how our day to day products are created? I’ve taken some from his list, found some more online, and here they are: Icecream Pretzels (several variations) Pretzels are often made by hand, […]

A broken well has been leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico for 10 years

It's one of those things that sounds almost too surreal to be true: for more than a decade, a broken well has been continuously leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico. According to the Associated Press, Taylor Energy, the an independent American oil company responsible for the spill, agreed to make a $300,000 donation to a Louisiana marine research consortium — to purchase vessels, electronics and other equipment — as well as fund $100,000 worth of research into the ecological effects of long-term oil leaks in the Gulf.

California passes law banning ivory to protect endangered animals

Lawmakers from the state of California have passed a law banning the sale of all ivory and rhinoceros horn products in the state. The move was made in an attempt to protect the critically endangered species which are being hunted massively. All ivory owners have until July 1 to get rid of all their products, after […]

Gigantic Straw Dinosaurs are Taking over Japan!

When life gives you wara (rice straw), make... wara dinosaurs!

Crystallizing books - the spectacular art of Alexis Arnold

We see this too often – loads and loads of discarded books in storage rooms, on the sidewalk, even in our homes. Abandoned books are a much too common sight, and at least to me, a depressing sight. This inspired San Francisco-based artist Alexis Arnold to embark on a fascinating quest to make something beautiful – crystallized […]

GeoPicture of the Week: The Chocolate Hills

These brownish hills are actually limestone mounds in Bohol province in the Philippines. They are normally covered by grass, but turn a deep-brown colour during the dry season, looking more and more chocolatey. There are about 1,500 mounds in the Philippines; similar karst mounts exist in Croatia and Slovenia, northern Puerto Rico, and Pinar del Río Province, Cuba […]

Devastating photos of the world's deforestation

Recently, we wrote an article about the biggest tree census ever conducted, and the results were pretty grim. Sure, there are some 3 trillion trees on Earth, but the bad news is that there used to be almost twice as many – before humans chipped in. Humanity has cut down 46% of the planet’s trees, […]

Introducing: The Journal of Proposals, Ideas, Data, and More

There are so many scientific journals out there, it's almost impossible for a newcomer to draw attention; but this one does. Research Ideas and Outcomes, or RIO is not only a new journal, it's a new type of journal: it will not only publish articles, but also proposals, experimental designs, data and software. They're open access and cover "research from all stages of the research cycle", according to a press release they've released.

LHC signals hint at flaws in the Standard Model of Physics

An intriguing signal reported at the LHC might signal some "cracks" in the Standard Model - the theory which describes how different forces interact with each other.

Chimp took down drone with careful planning

Calm and calculated - a chimp at a Dutch zoo took down a drone, squashing it with a tree branch. That's pretty interesting (and a bit sad, if you're the drone owner), but according to a paper published in the journal Primates, it may have more significance than it seems. According to the publishers, the chimp carefully planned the attack, just like a human would.

Watch: How Ants React to a Ringing iPhone

As soon as the phone starts ringing, these ants have a military-like reaction, forming a circle around the device. But why do they do this?

Climate change might increase the chance of 'Grey Swan' storms

A new studied explore the possibility of unprecedented catastrophic storms – storms so bad that there’s no recorded precedent in the past 10,000 years. According to the study, the chance for such an extremely rare event to occur in this century are drastically increased by climate change. ‘Black swans’ is an umbrella term for every event that […]

The Number of Trees has Halved Since Human Civilization Emerged

Today, the Earth has approximately 3 trillion trees left standing - about 422 per person - but we've already cut 46% of them.

Japanese company starts building world's largest vertical farm

Recently, I’ve become quite a fan of vertical farms. The principle is simple: instead of growing things in fields, you cultivate plant life within a skyscraper greenhouse or on vertically inclined surfaces. There are several advantages to this: they’re more productive for the space they use (about 100 times more productive), take 40% less power, 80% less food waste and […]

Rare dolphin fossil might show why dolphins left rivers

Scientists from the Smithsonian have a surprising fossil dating about 6 million years old. The fossil seems to have been an ancestor of modern dolphins and might explain why dolphins left rivers and set out for the ocean. Today, there are almost 40 species of dolphins, and all of them are intriguing animals. For starters, […]

Is organic food actually better? Here's what the science says

It happens to all of us. You’re in the supermarket, you’re buying vegetables and produce, and you’re faced with the inevitable choice: regular or organic? It’s a surprisingly complex question, that carries a different significance for different people. For some, organic means healthier, or more nutritious. For others, it means eco-friendly, or tastier. It can […]

All the Railways in Netherlands will be 100% Wind-Powered by 2018

The Dutch want clean energy, and they’ve made that abundantly clear when 886 citizens sued their government to reduce CO2 emissions; as a result of that, something completely unprecedented (and very exciting) happened: a court in Hague ordered the government to reduce its emissions by at least 25% over the next five years. But then, things […]

Featured Researchers: This Week in Science

It’s been a while, but we’re back with one of our favorite features – This Week in Science! If you’ve not been here for the previous editions, we’ll discuss not only the most interesting studies of the past week, but also the people behind them – the men and women pushing forth the boundaries of […]

Real Life Sim-City: Empty "Simulator" City to be Built From Scratch in New Mexico

A city like no other will be built deep in the New Mexico desert. The brand new city will feature urban, suburban, exurban and rural zones dotted with houses, malls, power plants, police and fire stations, with only one big difference from a real city: it won't have any inhabitants. The Center for Innovation, Testing and Evaluation (CITE) will be the first of its kind, fully integrated test, evaluation and certification facility dedicated to enabling and facilitating the commercialization of new and emerging technologies. Basically, it will be a real life Sim City.

Scientists reprogram cancer cells back to normal

For the first time, aggressive breast, lung and bladder cancer have been neutralized and turned back to normal cells, prevented from excessive multiplication. Scientists at the Mayo Clinic in Florida, US, likened it to applying brakes to a speeding car.

Robot Bartender Serves Hundreds of Drinks at Berlin Party

Robotics has developed tremendously in recent years, and will almost surely continue to do so in the future. We have surgical robots, hotels run by robots, robots that learn, even samurai robots! After all, it makes sense we finally got some bartender robots, right? After MIT showed off its "Beerbots" that bring you beer while you're on the couch, we have HoLLiE, a robot bartender that did a fantastic job at a party in Berlin, making and serving over 280 cocktails!

Females are not rational when it comes to choosing their mates - at least in frogs

Picking a mate is one of the most important decisions anyone (human or animal) makes in a lifetime, so it's important to weigh all the pros and cons and make a rational decision. But that doesn't go for frogs. Female túngara frogs often exhibit irrational behavior when choosing a mate. This challenges many previously held beliefs as well as several biological behavior models.

Alien life might spread through the Universe "like the plague"

Although we've yet to discover life forms on any other planet, astronomers are confident that not only we'll be able to discover alien life, but we'll be able to chart its spread through the Universe.

Most psychology studies can't be replicated - and this is a huge problem

Numerous academic journals often post intriguing and challenging psychological studies – but according to a new, massive review, we should take those studies with a big grain of salt. A four-year project by 270 researchers attempted to replicate 100 experiments published in three of the most prestigious journals; only 36 produced similar results. Social sciences have taken […]

Snow Leopards: What You Need To Know About These Magnificent Cats

For millennia, they've been the uncontested kings of the mountains, hunting prey up to three times bigger than them.

Greenland Glacier Loses Huge Chunk of Ice

Scientists have reported the break of a huge part of Jakobshavn Glacier, one of the largest ones in Greenland. A chunk of it roughly the size of Manhattan broke some time between August 13 and August 19.

Fighting invasive mussels: Lake Havasu offers mussel decontamination for boats

The officials of Lake Havasu have taken a laudable measure: they’re offering free mussel decontamination for boats, in an attempt to stop the spread of a very dangerous species, the quagga mussel. The quagga mussel (Dreissena bugensis) is a species of freshwater mussel named after the quagga, an extinct subspecies of African zebra. A rather interesting […]

Tea Histories: Yerba Mate

Mate Tea is one of the more uncommon and special teas you can have. Not exactly a tea, it’s been a favorite of millions for hundreds of years. Typically prepared from dried leaves of Yerba Mate, the tea is served through a metallic straw called a bombilla. But let’s take it slower, and start with the […]

FossilFriday: A Magnificently Fossilized Stegosaurus

This is a fossilized in-ground Stegosaurus currently exposed at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. The Stegosaurus is one of the most easily recognizable species of dinosaurs, living until about 150 million years, and this remarkable fossil does a fantastic job at highlighting it. Ironically, although many people associate it with the T-Rex, the Stegosaurus is […]

Scientists create vomiting machine to study viral infections

Inventions are at the very core of human development, and quite often, the scope of the invention is not easy to grasp. Such is the case with a new "vomiting machine" which will be used to study noroviruses - fast spreading viruses that cause acute gastroenteritis.

Blue Whale Interrupts TV Host Talking About How Hard it Is to Find Blue Whales

Spotting wildlife, especially species as elusive as the blue whale, can be extremely time consuming and at times frustrating. But every once in a while, you get a streak of luck, as Zoologist Mark Carwardine just did. He was explaining why spotting blue whales is so difficult, when suddenly… a blue whale appeared! Blue whales are marine […]
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