Andrei Mihai ZME Science

Waste-cooking solar toilet unveiled in India

An innovative project which addresses both environmental and health concerns has been revealed in Delhi, India. It’s estimated that 2.5 billion people in the world (almost 1 in 3 people) lack proper sanitation – something unimaginable in the developed world. With that thought in mind, a team at the University of Colorado Boulder has designed […]

Meet General Sherman

General Sherman is a giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in California. It is, by volume, the largest single stem tree on Earth. It has a height of 83.8 metres (275 ft), a diameter of 7.7 metres (25 ft), an estimated bole volume of 1,487 cubic metres (52,513 […]

Using a million suns to shed light on a fossilized plant

Scientists have used one of the brightest light sources in the Universe that we know of to expose the biochemical structure of a 50 million-year-old fossil plant to stunning visual effect. The mixed team of paleontologists, geochemists and physicists bombarded the fossils with extremely bright X-rays and showed that the chemical makeup of the plant […]

Goats are far more clever than previously believed, study shows

New research from Queen Mary University of London shows goats quickly learn how to solve complicated puzzles and can remember the solution for at least 10 months, which might explain their remarkable ability to adapt to harsh environments. Basically, scientists trained a group of goats to retrieve food from a box using a sequence of […]

Research shows less makeup makes you more attractive

What do you think the opposite sex wants in a partner? Stone-hard abs, broad shoulders? Skinny girls, nice makeup? If you’re thinking something along these lines, then you’re almost certainly mistaking. Research has already shown that we’re pretty bad at understanding what the opposite sex finds attractive in us. These misunderstandings are more than a […]

Study shows BP oil spill to blame for heart defects in fish

Last December, scientists showed that dolphins in Louisiana were suffering from abnormal lung diseases and low birthrates in the wake of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill that released more than 636 million liters of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Now, another study illustrates that potentially lethal heart defects in two […]

Electric device can increase or decrease learning speed

For most college students, caffeine fueled sessions are part of a routine. But what if there was a way to accelerate learning when needed? What if a real, scientific “thinking cap” were developed? According to a new study conducted by Vanderbilt psychologists, that may not be that far away. Robert Reinhart, a Ph.D. candidate, and […]

Bugs have already developed resistance to GMO corn, study shows

According to a study published Monday, the Western Corn Rootworm (actually a beetle larvae) has already developed a resistance to not one but two strains of generically modified corn; this happened mostly thanks to the over-reliance and improper implementation of the crops by farmers. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs), for all the bad rep they get, […]

Island Nation of Palau declares 100% marine sanctuary, bans all commercial fishing in an area roughly the size of France

Palau’s President Tommy Remengesau Jr. has declared the Pacific nation will become a marine sanctuary – where absolutely no commercial fishing will take place. Palau is an island country located in the western Pacific Ocean with a population of only 21.000 people which is spread across 250 islands. However, they have a 200 nautical mile […]

Watch a livestream from the International Space Station - 24/7

If you’ve been living in a cave or just don’t care about science at all, then you don’t know what the International Space Station is, and I’ll explain here. The ISS is a a habitable artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. It’s been launched in 1998, and since then, it has been continuously operating. Astronauts […]

Scientists question the link between fatty acids and heart disease

It’s common sense, right? If you eat foods rich in fatty acids, you’re gonna have some heart problems. Not so fast – scientists say. New research finds that the current level of evidence does not support guidelines restricting saturated fatty acid consumption. Challenging the norm An international research team led by the University of Cambridge analyzed […]

Sea anemone is genetically half animal, half plant

Sea anemones are remarkable creatures. They are a group of water-dwelling, predatory animals, but if you look at them, they look like plants more than animals. Now, a team of evolutionary biologists from the University of Vienna has discovered that sea anemones display a remarkable genome, featuring a complexity of regulatory elements similar to that of fruit […]

Scientists develop non-toxic paint that never fades, by mimicking bird feathers

A team of Harvard engineers has developed a way of producing color that could produce paint that never fades, and displays that never go dark. How color works If you’ve never wondered how color works, it’s a pretty nifty thing. The color we usually see, like on paints and trees works by absorbing certain wavelengths […]

How food can manipulate your mind

What would you prefer: your favorite home-cooked meal, or a bag of deep fried chips? If you’re sure you’d pick the former, well, then, think again! A team of researchers has shown that if they can get people to pay more attention to a particular type of junk food, they will begin to prefer it – […]

Isaac Asimov Predicts in 1964 What the World Will Look Like Today — in 2014

If you’re like me and you really love reading Sci-Fi novels and stories, then you definitely know who Isaac Asimov is – but if that’s not really the case, then let me give you a bit of background: he is one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than […]

Obama Wants to Eliminate Tax Break on Oil Companies, Invest in Renewable Energy

It’s tax season again, and hopefully, the Obama Administration will succeed in their plan of eliminating $4 billion in annual federal tax incentives for the oil and natural gas industry. Furthermore, they want to put a big chunk of that money in alternative fuel research and development. But does this initiative stand a chance of […]

Stress undermines empathic abilities in men but increases them in women, research claims

When males get more stressed, they tend to become more self centered, losing some of the ability to distinguish their own emotions and intentions from those of other people. For women the exact opposite is true. However, for you people who only read the first line and skim the rest: Women without stress were on […]

'Waves' detected on Titan moon’s lakes - Scientists detect waves on another world for the first time

We are detecting waves on a world 1,272,000,000 km away from Earth. An interesting world The signature of isolated ripples was observed in a sea called Punga Mare on the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan; but before you get overly excited, you should know that these seas are not filled with water, but with hydrocarbons […]

Inhaled Cannabis Mitigates Parkinson’s Disease Symptoms

Inhaling cannabis (medical marijuana) provides symptomatic relief in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), according to observational trial data published in the March/April edition of the journal Clinical Neuropharmacology. This new study shows tremor, rigidity, sleep and pain improvements in patients using medical marijuana. Researchers at the Tel-Aviv University, Department of Neurology gathered 22 volunteers for […]

Meet the 80-year-old Iranian who hasn't washed in 60 years

Amou Haji, 80, believes that “cleanliness brings him sickness.” For that reason, he hasn’t bathed in the past 60 years, and he’s unofficially called the “dirtiest man in the world”. He lives in isolation in Dejgah village, in the Southern Iranian province of Fars. The man hates contact with water, and even the suggestion of […]

100 years past: remembering the Passenger Pigeon

It’s been over a hundred years since one of the most emblematic animal species in human history went extinct. Passenger pigeons numbered in the billions (literally), and yet humanity managed to bring them all down; on September 1st, 1914, scientists duly noted the disappearance of the species. It came as a shock (and a warning) […]

Moss brought back to life after 1,500 years frozen in ice

Researchers have shown that after being frozen over 1,500 years in Antarctic ice, moss can come back to life and continue to grow. For the first time, this vital part of the polar ecosystem has demonstrated its ability to survive after being frozen for over such an incredibly long time. Well, to be perfectly fair, […]

Stem Cells Possess Mechanical Memory, Study Shows

Human stem cells can remember what surface researchers have grown them on. This mechanical memory in fact influences the fate of these stem cells, such as whether they start differentiating into bone or fat cells. Basically, they remember if they were on a hard or soft surface, and this influences their future. This remarkable fact […]

Chemists give Natural Gas an "upgrade"

The Natural Gas production is booming throughout the world – especially in the U.S. This boom, while it remains profitable in the short run and environmentally costly in the long run, is still a heated matter of debate, but this article isn’t about that. This is about the major opportunity that chemists now have to […]

Developing antimony nanocrystals for better batteries

Researchers from ETH Zurich and Empa have for the first time succeeded in creating uniform antimony nanocrystals. These nanocrystals are able to store a large number of both lithium and sodium ions, operating at a very high rate – in normal English, this means that they can potentially be used as alternative anode materials in […]

Graphene Technology Could Give Us Predator Vision Contact Lenses

As a kid, looking at the Predator movies gave me goosebumps; it wasn’t the physical superiority of the Predator, but the technological advantages. I mean, he has all that shooting stuff, and teleportation and camouflage, and the vision… it was all too much! But the way science is crazily developing, we’re already starting to experiment […]

Watch How Many Flights Fly Through Europe on a Typical Summer Day

This fantastic animation was created by NATS (a provider of air traffic control services in the UK), showcasing all air traffic in Europe on a typical summer day. The visualization was created from real flight data (UK radar data from 21 June 2013 and European flight plan information from 28 July 2013). European airspace is […]

Self cleaning handles could make public transportation more hygienic

Many people are worried that touching the poles or the stability handles or straps on buses and trains can expose you to a myriad of germs. Surprisingly enough, there hasn’t really been a lot of research on this issue, but I have to concede that there is at least some room for concern here. But […]

Providing water in schools could be key to lifting people out of poverty

Providing free water in schools could be key to helping people in developing countries lift themselves out of poverty according to research from the University of East Anglia. Children who go to schools which provide free water have reported better overall health, and teachers reported fewer children off sick; it seems fairly clear that there’s […]

Intelligent people are more likely to trust others

Is there a connection between intelligence and how likely you are to trust people? According to Oxford researchers, the answer to that question is a definite “yes!”. They based their research on an analysis of the General Social Survey, a nationally representative public opinion survey carried out in the United States; they say that one […]

Emotion detectors could make driving safer

Technology and feelings Technology has gotten pretty good at understanding how we feel, being basically able to read at least the seven universal emotions a person is feeling: fear, anger, joy, sadness, disgust, surprise, or suspicion. This has become useful in medicine and psychology, marketing, police investigations, and more recently… driving safety. EPFL researchers, in […]

New fossil shows 450 million years old mother love

An international team of geologists captured a prehistoric portrait of parental care deep in the fossil record. The team led by Leicester geologist Professor David Siveter revealed a ‘sea nursery’ which features a species new to science. This new species was found with specimens preserved incubating their eggs together with probable hatched individuals. As a […]

How sound affects the taste of our food

A study conducted by Oxford researchers has shown how sound affects the taste of our foods – high frequency sounds enhance the sweetness in the food, while low frequencies bring out the bitterness. In order to figure out how sounds influence our food, Crossmodal Laboratory at Oxford University fed a group of volunteers some cinder […]

Siberian scientists announce they now have a 'high chance' to clone the woolly mammoth

Scientists believe they will be able to extract high quality DNA from remains which have undergone a unique autopsy in Yakutsk, capital of the Sakha Repblic, also called Yakutia, in Siberia – they also believe they will be able to clone a wooly mammoth based on those remains. There was a wave of excitement spreading […]

The Egyptian pyramids... as seen from the KFC

With all the hard science we’ve publishing this week, I thought we could use a little fluff – here’s a striking picture of the iconic Pyramids of Giza from the inside of a nearby KFC. Unless you’ve actually visited the archaeological site, or you’ve had the curiosity of checking it, you probably don’t realize just […]

First ringwoodite sample confirms huge quantities of water in the Earth's mantle

The first ever terrestrial discovery of ringwoodite seems to confirm the existence of massive amounts of water hundreds of kilometers below the Earth’s surface. Let me explain how. Under pressure Ringwoodite is a high-pressure polymorph of olivine; it’s basically olivine, but with a different crystal structure. The mineral is thought to exist in large quantities […]

Developing Galactic Gas Stations

Future lunar missions may be fueled by gas stations in space, according to a new plan developed by MIT engineers. A spacecraft might dock at a propellant depot, somewhere between the Earth and the Moon, and pick up some more fuel before heading on to the moon. The carry load is still a major problem for […]

3D acoustic cloaking device makes objects undetectable with sound

Using relatively simple perforated sheets of plastic and an extensive amount computation, Duke University researchers have created the world’s first sound invisibility cloak. The cloak diverts sound waves in a way that it conceals both itself, and anything hidden beneath it. The device is, of course, 3D, and it works in the same way, no […]

New wireless network will revolutionize soil testing

A researchers from the University of Southampton has developed a a wireless network of sensors that is set to revolutionize soil-based salinity measuring. Testing the salinity levels in soils is a big deal – any salty water infiltrations can have massive effects on agriculture and sometimes, even on soil stability. At the moment, you can […]

San Francisco bans small plastic water bottles

San Francisco continues to be one of the most environmentally interested cities in the US, with the Board of Supervisors on March 4 voting unanimously to bar the city from buying plastic water bottles and to ban distribution of plastic water bottles smaller than 21 ounces (600 grams) on city property starting October 1. The […]

Gesturing is a powerful tool for children's math learning

Children who use their hands to gesture during a math lesson gain a much deeper understanding of the concepts and methods discussed, according to new research from University of Chicago’s Department of Psychology. It’s already a pretty much accepted fact that gesturing accentuates children learning – it was already established by several studies that gestures […]

Gonorrhea is about to become impossible to treat

When you think about dangerous viruses, gonorrhea doesn’t usually come to mind – but that may well be about to change. Gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease (STD), has become resistant to most of the antibiotics that we have used to combat it over the last three decades. We’ve written before about antibiotic resistant gonorrhea entering […]

Biggest Virus Ever Found

Some 20.000 years ago, mammoths and other giant fauna roamed the Earth. So too did this giant virus – the only difference is that this virus, Pithovirus sibericum, is still around and doing fine. Large enough to be seen under a light microscope, Pithovirus sibericum is not the first megavirus to be found, but at […]

Is Obesity a "Disease"? "No," Says Editor-in-Chief of Childhood Obesity Journal

There’s been a lot of talk about obesity and what it really is, especially after the American Medical Association recently declared it a disease. Personally, I don’t agree with this idea. I’m no doctor, but it’s pretty clear that you can be obese without being sick in any way – so it’s pretty hard to […]

Light pollution impeding rainforest regeneration: Seed dispersing bats avoid feeding in light polluted areas

When you think about pollution, usually dirty chemical substances pop to mind; maybe some petroleum, or waste water – light pollution doesn’t usually take the first places. But a new study conducted by scientists from the German Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research Berlin (IZW) showed that light pollution can also have a significant […]

Drug Development: What it is, how it works, and why it matters

We’ve been receiving many messages from you guys, asking why exactly does it take so long to develop a new drug/treatment, especially when it appears to be extremely promising. So, in this article, I will explain what drug development is, how it works, why it takes so long (usually 10-15 years) and why it costs […]

NASA Radar demonstrates ability to foresee sinkholes

New analyses of NASA airborne radar data collected in 2012 reveal the radar detected indications of a huge sinkhole before it collapsed and forced evacuations near Bayou Corne, La. that year. Researchers believe that they can use this type of data, usually routine gathered, to foresee at least some of the sinkholes. I’ve written a […]

Human activity probably caused cascade of Oklahoma earthquakes

In a new study conducted by researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey, researchers showed that the human-induced magnitude 5.0 earthquake near Prague, Oklahoma in November 2011 further caused a larger M5.7 earthquake less than a day later. We’re talking about two human induced earthquakes with magnitudes of 5 and above, in less than a day, […]

6.9 earthquake hits California, followed by aftershocks

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake off the coast of Northern California struck Sunday night, on the 9th of March. It was the largest on the West Coast since the 7.2 Baja California quake in 2010 and it was followed by a series of at least 13 aftershocks, the largest of which had magnitude of 4.6, according […]

Large clinical study shows staggering 88% remission rate in leukemia patients

The largest clinical study ever conducted to date of patients with advanced leukemia found that an incredible 88% of patients entered remission after being treated with genetically modified versions of their own immune cells. It’s like the medicine of tomorrow – today; and it’s super effective. “These extraordinary results demonstrate that cell therapy is a […]

« Previous 1 … 125 126 127 128 129 … 171 Next »