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Researchers have long known that Mars has water in the form of ice, but now, after years and years of research, we might finally have the decisive clue that our planetary neighbor has liquid water on its surface. The key find was perchlorate - a substance that significantly lowers the freezing point, so that water doesn't freeze into ice, but remains liquid and briny.
Astronomers have known for quite a while that Mars has distinct polar ice caps, but the Red Planet might also have belts of glaciers at its central latitudes in both the southern and northern hemispheres. These huge glaciers are covered by a thick layer of dust which masks them and makes them seem like they are actually part of the surface of the ground.
When tyrannosaurs ruled the world, no one was safe from them - not even other tyrannosaurs. The skull of an unfortunate adolescent tyrannosaur shows signs of brutal fight; the individual was defeated and then eaten by members of its own species, new research shows.
Magnets – they come in all sizes, they fascinate everyone, and they’re extremely useful in modern society. I won’t go into a Wiki-type of article here, explaining how they work – there’s plenty of good articles online, like this one and this one – here, we’ll just show magnets in their pure awesomeness. […]
Researchers from the University of Cambridge in England claim to have unraveled one of the great mysteries of electromagnetism, and believe their work in ultra-small antennas could not only revolutionize global communications, but also explain some of the tricky areas where electromagnetism and quantum physics overlap.
The Seven Sisters are a series of chalk cliffs by the English Channel, in Sussex (doh!). In case you didn’t know, chalk is actually a porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite forming in somewhat deep underwater conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates (coccoliths) shed from micro-organisms called […]
Arachnophobia, the fear of spiders, is one of the most common phobias humans have. But out of all the spiders that live today, really very few are dangerous - so why is it that we fear them so much then? Researchers from Columbia University believe they might have found the answer to that - and it's strictly related to human evolution.
It’s the favorite hash tag we’ve had since #OverlyHonestMethods: scientists are flooding Twitter with their own revelations and reasons why they feel they’re scientists. It’s awesome because it highlights how special and unique being a scientist really is. #IAmAScientistBecause I want to explain to people how much we all NEED nature. http://t.co/LaX9G8jAkx pic.twitter.com/5AVVPBwD6f — Mark Spalding […]
I know, I know — reading is fun, it’s hip, and it’s good for you. There’s plenty of reasons why you should read, but here, I’ll focus only on the ones backed by science. 1. Reading makes you a better person. Seriously, it’s not a figure of speech. Not one, but two (parallel) studies found that […]
It’s one of the most amazing creatures you’ve never heard about: the pyrosome. It often looks like a giant inflatable underwater balloon, or a tube-like worm, but it’s actually made of hundreds or thousands of individuals known as zooids. “One long pyrosome is actually a collection of thousands of clones, with each individual capable of […]
"Lose weight NOW", "You'll never believe how [this person] got slim", "An easy way to lose extra pounds" - big claims, with little to back them up. Diets and weight loss programs are popping everywhere nowadays, and they've done so for years and years, but does the science actually back them up? Kimberly Gudzune, an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins found that many diet plans have zero or very little rigorous scientific evidence backing them up.
The human brain is one of the biggest and most intriguing mysteries scientists are tackling. It's an incredibly active, bustling place that keeps us going and effectively makes us the people we are. There are about 100 billion neurons processing and transmitting information through electrical and chemical signals and to make things even more complicated, each of these neurons has about 10,000 different connections to neighboring brain cells.
A 1,000 year old Anglo-Saxon ‘eye salve’ made from onion, garlic, wine and part of a cow’s stomach wipes out 90 percent of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) - much better than modern antibiotics. It also does a great job at treating styes, small abscesses on the eyelid.
Some areas of South America are so special and magical... that you might even find a dragon - or actually, three of them! Tiny dragons, that is, but still, it's something. Postdoc Omar Torres-Carvajal discovered three new species of dwarf dragons in the Andes of Peru and Ecuador.
In unanimous vote, the city of Vancouver, Canada, passed its Greenest City Action Plan – to become the world’s greenest city by 2020; one of their goals is to use only renewable energy in only 5 years. In light of that and other recent developments, it’s starting to feel like much of the world might actually go […]
Tomorrow's bridges, tunnels and other engineering structures might be built with a different type of "smart" concrete: Belgian researchers at the University of Ghent have created a self-repairing type of concrete.
Homo is the genus of hominids that includes modern humans, as well as other species closely related to them… I mean us. The genus is estimated to be about 2.3 to 2.4 million years old and it features several species (though it’s still not clear how many). Here are the modern (<0.6 million years) Homo species […]
The birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming, and citizen scientists… do citizen science! In case you’re not familiar with the concept, citizen science are activities supported (or sponsored) by universities, organizations, institutes or governments through which everyone can provide meaningful scientific contributions. Activities can vary greatly (from counting birds to analyzing galaxy clusters), and […]
With the advancements in 3D printing, it only seems like a matter of time until it starts to actively affect our lives. Especially prosthetics may be revolutionized by 3D printing, as we've already seen time and time again. Now, a group of dentists believe they can 3D print teeth using a simple and cheap technique, only taking a few minutes for it.
I know, the title sounds like one of those scams that promise you'll lose weight - but this is all science all the way. Researchers in Sri Lanka have found a simple way of cooking the rice that not only reduces calories by half, but also provides other health benefits. The key addition is coconut oil.
A group of biochemical engineers in the US have managed to give a volunteer complete night vision, allowing him to see for 50 meters in almost complete darkness for several hours. To make things even better, they did this without any injections or lenses - only eye drops.
Repeat photography (or rephotography) is a technique in which photographs are taken repeatedly at a site to see how it evolves. It’s especially useful for glaciers, particularly because other remote ways of estimating glacial mass, depth, and rate of retreat are imperfect. These photos depict how this technique was used at a number of locations […]
China is the largest polluter in the world at the moment, and they’re also reaping what they sew. But you can’t accuse the Chinese for not trying to right their ways – at least some of them; in an effort to mitigate the ridiculous amounts of smog that clouds some of China’s cities, scientists have […]
There's good news, and bad news. The good news is that an extremely rare bunny has been observed for the first time in 20 years, but the bad news is that their numbers seem to have dwindled more than ever, and we may never see them again.
Finland, one of the educational hotspots of the world, is committed to a revolution in education: by 2020, they will move on to a topic type of education. In other words, you won't be learning about math, physics and chemistry, but you'll be learning specific topics - eliminating the "what's the point of learning this?" type of questions.
A chance discovery has provided experimental evidence that stars may generate sound. While he was examining the interaction of an ultra-intense laser with a plasma target, John Parsley from the University of York found that interfering plasma generates a series of pressure pulses - in other words, sounds.
A group of leading scientists and non-profit organizations are urging museums of science and natural history to break their ties with the Koch brothers, climate-change deniers and industrialists. The two brothers of Koch Industries, the second largest privately-held company in the US, are funding misinformation campaigns regarding global warming and humanity’s impact on the planetary […]
A shocking image went viral a few days ago, with an 11th-century French abbey completely surrounded by water following a super tide. Naturally, many similar photos followed, and many "explanations" emerged, most vaguely referencing the solar eclipse, something about gravitational cycles, and some even stated it was caused by the "tide of the century", although the "tide of the century" comes by every 18 years. So let's take a look at what actually happened.
Australian researchers have uncovered what might be the biggest impact asteroid impact zone in the world – at over 400 kilometers (250 miles)! Naturally, the crater isn’t visible today, but geophysicists have found the impact’s scars deep below the surface. Lead researcher Dr Andrew Glikson from the ANU School of Archaeology and Anthropology explains: “The two asteroids […]
It might look cool, but this genetic condition can cause some very serious health problems.
In December 1994, three explorers made a surprising discovery in southern France - a rumble of stones blocking the entrance to a spectacular cave, over 400 meters long and covered with archaeological and palaeontological remains, including the skulls and bones of cave bears, which hibernated there, along with the skulls of an ibex and two wolves. But it was the human traces that were most interesting...
Paris authorities have put in place 24-hour emergency measures to limit the number of cars in traffic as part of their efforts to fight the smog shrouding the city. Today (Monday, March 23) all cars with number plates that end with an even number will be banned from circulating in the Paris region, unless they're carrying 3 or more passengers. Clean cars will also be allowed.
Syngenta Photography Award aims to draw attention on pressing social and environmental issues, stimulating dialogue around a number of global challenges. The competition invited both professional and amateur photographers, under two separate categories, to share their views on the theme of Scarcity–Waste and examine one of the greatest challenges facing a world with increasingly limited […]
For her MA degree project at the University of West Hungary, Budapest-based graphic designer Barbara Bernát came up with these beautiful versions of the Hungarian Euro. The project involved five denominations of increasing scale – there’s a 5, a 10, a 20, 50 and 100. She even made the copper plates for printing the bancnotes; there’s even […]
This is it - the pinnacle of technological development, the result of countless research hours; yes, it's a tree.
It's about as unusual and heartwarming as it gets - Jia Haixia is completely blind and his best friend, Jia Wenqi, doesn’t have any arms, but in the past 10 years, they've planted over 10,000 trees!
Physics on your feet is basically a collection of physics problems (with solutions at the end), presented in an illustrated and humorous way.
See: Previous Week First samples collected from Antarctica’s blood falls Article Featured Researcher: Jill Mikucki Affiliation: University of Tennessee Knoxville Research Interests: Her main research interests are the interactions between microbes and their environment and how the impact of microbial metabolism is detectable on an ecosystem scale. Ultrasound treatment restores memory in Alzheimer’s plagued mice Article […]
When James Lovelock came up with the Gaia hypothesis, today also commonly referred to as Gaia theory, he likely didn't know it will affect his entire life. The theory proposes that organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a self-regulating, complex system that works together to maintain the conditions required for habitability. In a way, even though obviously not an organism, the planet actually behaves like an organism. The Gaia Hypothesis: Science on a Pagan Planet discusses how this theory emerged and evolved throughout the year, itself almost like a living organism.
Designer Thomas Heatherwick just completed construction on a cluster of 12 parsnip tornado-shaped towers for the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. The building, called the Learning Hub, is part of a larger project to help redesign educational architecture and make the university a more attractive place. I have to say, it seems to be working – it’s one of […]
Some 17 million years ago, a beaked whale took a wrong turn up an African river, something which ultimately proved to be its demise. But now, geologists studying the whale's fossils believe the whale's unfortunate end might shed a new light on early human evolution.
A rather surprising study found that graphene's imperfections can actually be used to improve fuel cell efficiency. Researchers from Northwestern University worked together with scientists of five other institutes to show that defective graphene actually works as the world's thinnest proton channel—only one atom thick.
In 2005 Chris ‘Brolga’ Barns set up a baby kangaroo rescue centre in central Australia’s Alice Springs. The main goal was to help orphaned baby kangaroos, whose parents had been struck by vehicles in Australia. Often Chris would find the orphans at the side of the road still in their mother’s pouch – even if she […]
According to Danish and Australian researchers, there are billions of the stars in the Milky Way located in the "habitable zone", where liquid water might exist, and with it, life as we know it.
Leading climate change denier U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has had enough of NASA studying our planet: he wants NASA to devote its attention only to space and inspiring children… somehow, without studying our own planet. He even went as far as saying that earth sciences are not “hard sciences”, which should be NASA’s main […]
A year ago, Oxford University professor of human genetics Bryan Sykes and his colleagues took some unusual hair samples found in the Himalayas and concluded that they actually belong to a now extinct polar bear which once inhabited Norway. Now, another team analyzed the results and concluded that while it's clearly no yeti, the remains might actually belong to a brown bear instead.
Researchers from NASA, Imperial College in London and Texas University have discovered two seafloor troughs that allow warm ocean water to infiltrate and accentuate the melting of Totten Glacier, East Antarctica's largest glacier. This could have massive implications not only for the Antarctica ice, but for global sea levels.
Researchers at Brown University have found a cheaper and easier way to create hybrid perovskites, enabling engineers to develop more affordable and efficient solar cells. Perovskite is a calcium titanium oxide mineral composed of calcium titanate (CaTiO3). The mineral has received much attention in recent years as artificial perovskite crystals have increasingly been used in solar cells. Perovskite films in solar cells are excellent light absorbers, but they until now, they were more expensive to fabric and only created small crystals.
As we go around our daily lives with wireless internet and satellite smartphones, it's easy to forget that at the core of modern internet, there are hundreds of thousands of submarine cables lying on the ocean floor - sometimes at depths nearing 8,000 metres. Those cables help transmit 99 percent of all international data and without them, the world as we know it wouldn't exist - so let's give them a bit of credit.
I've had this book on my desk for longer than I'd care to admit... but not because I didn't want to read it, but on the contrary - because I wanted to read it in style. I wanted to make some tea, go to the park or a nearby cafe and read it there. I wanted to savor it, mostly because I had a good idea what it was about and the subject was fairly familiar, but also because it reminded me about my junior year of studying paleontology. But work kept adding on and the book kept waiting for me, until I finally answered its call this Spring. Let me tell you, it was worth the wait!
