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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 […]
It’s a little out of this world – a psychology graduate student at the University of Ottawa says she can voluntarily enter an out-of-body experience. While scientists are generally skeptical when it comes to this kind of claims, they were thrilled by the possibility to scan her brain during the experience – and the results […]
It may be the birth of a new supermaterial – not long ago, spider silk materials were considered science fiction. Despite being a bio-material and basically a protein, spider silk has some amazing properties: it is by weight five times stronger than steel and three times tougher than Kevlar. Just so we’re clear, strength is […]
A new study has concluded that virtually all red dwarfs, the stars which make up at least three quarters out of all the stars in the Universe, have planets orbiting them. The study suggested that habitable-zone super-Earth planets (where liquid water, and therefore life as we know it can exist) orbit around at least a […]
African elephants make a specific alarm call to warn others of human-related dangers according to a new study of wild elephants in Kenya. Researchers from the Oxford University Save the Elephants, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom carried out a series of audio experiments. In these experiments, recordings of the voices of the Samburu,a native tribe from […]
If we are to start controlling global warming, we have to figure out ways to deal with the major CO2 problem we are facing at the moment. But some entrepreneurial minds are starting to think of CO2 as a resource, instead of a threat. A few start-up companies are using CO2 as a raw material […]
When researchers first reported a child cured of HIV, they were baffled! The fact that he was reportedly cured just 30 hours after his birth led to immediate skepticism that the child had been infected in the first place. Basically, much of the scientific community thought this was too good to be true. But now, […]
Oceanographers believe that Antarctica‘s oceanic waters, which are turning from briny to fresh in recent decades, are causing the shutdown of the Southern Ocean’s coldest, deepest currents. The cold currents, called the Antarctic Bottom Water, are basically cold, briny, underwater rivers flowing from the underwater edge of the Antarctic continent north toward the equator, very […]
A Silicon Valley start-up have developed a machine capable of a biblical feat: turning water into wine. They call it the Miracle Machine: “the world’s first accelerated winemaking device for the home”. Pricing in at $500, the Miracle Machine looks like a cross between a vase and a Goa’uld communication device, but it comes pretty […]
During the harvest last year, many farmers from Jordan and Mozambique reported that their plants looked nothing like what they’ve been harvesting for decades, instead turning into something like this: Scientists first discovered that this fungus was wreaking havoc in Southeast Asia in the early 1990s. Since then, the pathogen, known as the Tropical Race 4 […]
In society, there’s a general idea that women are more cooperative than men. But in academia, at the very least, that’s not the case. According to a recent study published in Current Biology women in academia are simply less likely to cooperate than men. The findings are based on an analysis of the publications from […]
The low quality of the Chinese air is more than simply a nuisance – China has by far the worst air quality out of all the industrialized countries, and it’s estimated that 16 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities are in China. Needless to say this significantly raises mortality and causes a myriad of […]
Hygiene is extremely important for hospital workers – regardless of the type of medicine they practice – because they run a high risk of further transmitting any contamination they might have. But now, research has shown that while healthcare workers’ hands are the main source of bacterial transmission in hospitals, physicians’ stethoscopes appear to play […]
I love Bill Nye, and I think the world needs more people like him. I don’t mindlessly follow him, I don’t always agree with what he does, but ultimately, his reasoning and actions speak very clearly to me. You can watch the video below and I highly recommend watching it to the very end, especially […]
San Francisco, for the nice and laid back city that it is, has many problems – and I was pretty surprised to hear that public urination is one of them. Now, they’ve come up with a solution that could not only solve this problem, but also green up the city. PPlanter is a smart and […]
For the first time, researchers have taken a look at the life that thrives in one of the deepest spots in the ocean. They investigated the New Hebrides trench, located just West of Vanuatu, and revealed that cusk eels and crustaceans teem more than 7,000m (23,000ft) down. They used cameras fitted on an unmanned lander […]
Researchers have developed a three dimensional atlas which shows the concentrations of iron dissolved in the world’s oceans. This monumental achievement can be very valuable for scientists, but also for policy-makers. Why is mapping iron in the oceans such a big deal ? Well for starters, iron plays a crucial role in the oceanic carbon […]
The Stonehenge is one of the most impressive and mysterious constructions left behind by our ancestors. Now, scientists have found the exact source of Stonehenge’s smaller bluestones: over 200 km away from Stonehenge. The stones’ composition revealed that they came from a relatively nearby outcrop about 1.8 miles (3 kilometers) away from the site originally. […]
Astronomers have recently discovered water in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system, using a novel technique – they believe that this new method could reveal more and more planets which feature water; so far, all life as we know it, is based on water. They made their discovery on a Jupiter-like planet […]
A piece of rock traveling at at 61,000 km/h punched a crater 40 metres wide on the surface of the Moon, producing a flash that could be seen from Earth. I feel like Hollywood can ruin your expectations when talking about huge meteoritic impacts – we’re dealing with a meteorite here that’s way smaller than […]
If you’ve ever had a nice fuzzy feeling whenever you heard the voice of a loved one, then, you’re not alone. If somebody’s ever told you that ‘we need to talk’ and out of their tone you understood that something’s bad, then again, you’re not alone. A new study has shown that dogs have an […]
When researchers wanted to conduct DNA analysis on the remains of a Stone Age child, Native American tribes met the idea with opposition. However, after a period of discussing and explaining, despite general resistance, representatives of tribes in the US recently gave their blessing for the DNA analysis. The results were fruitful, as the boy’s […]
The average obese woman gets less than 70 minutes of exercise per year; if you were to average it out, that’s about 11 seconds per day. Obese men don’t have it much better either: they break a sweat only 3.6 hours annually, researchers say. You can talk about obesity in terms of culture and psychology, […]
Mammograms have been controversial since their inception – many researchers argued that reduction in mortality from breast cancer comes from improved treatment, and not from the procedures. Now, a very large and thorough study involving 90.000 women and lasting 25 years casts a big doubt on the value of mammograms. Basically, what they found was […]
A team led by astronomers at The Australian National University has discovered what they believe to be the oldest star in the known Universe – forming shortly after the Big Bang, some 13.7 billion years ago. This is the first time astrophysicists get the chance to study the chemistry of the oldest stars, giving scientists […]
It’s one of the most known effects of marijuana – you get a powerful surge in appetite (especially a craving for sweets) after smoking (or inhaling or ingesting the drug) – something colloquially referred to as “the munchies”. While for casual users this is a minor and not troubling side effect (often times even enjoyable), […]
As a non-smoker with many smoking friends living in a country without a smoking ban, going out can be quite a hassle sometimes. Staying in smoky rooms, the way the clothes smell after getting home… I feel like I may be smoking just as well. But as it turns out, smoking bans help smokers just […]
Dennis Aabo Sørensen is the first amputee in the world to feel sensory rich information (in real time), thanks to a prosthetic hand hard-wired into the nerves in his upper arm. After nine years ago he lost his left hand, Dennis Aabo Sørensen got lucky. Silvestro Micera and his team at EPFL (Switzerland) and SSSA […]
I’m gonna go into a little more details about both people and the discussion, but I just want to get out the main idea for people who don’t have the time/don’t want to watch the entire debate. Bill Nye is a scientist, Ken ham is a creationist who advocates taking the Bible literally. At one […]
Black holes have fascinated both researchers and laymen for decades. Without a doubt, they are the point of maximum interest in terms of astrophysical research – objects with an incredibly large mass – so large that even light itself can’t escape it… what secrets do these objects still hold? According to Carlo Rovelli at the […]
A new research paper written by psychologists Elizabeth Dunn and Lara Aknin, along with Michael Norton of Harvard Business School shows that there’s a clear and simple way to be more happy in life – spending more money on others. The notion of generosity has been greatly debated among scientists lately – and it’s not […]
It seems more like a magic trick than pure physics – the fountain-like motion of a chain of beads has puzzled millions around the world with its apparently gravity-defying behaviour. Now, physicists have found an explanation for it – but it’s far from intuitive. British science presenter Steve Mould, who made the experiment famous with […]
Good news is not something you see very often in India. The lack of food and sometimes even water is still a problem, women discrimination is big, being gay has been criminalized (again), and poverty is the common standard. But among that, there’s still some good news: India is now, officially, polio free. Poliomyelitis, often […]
When you think about calendars, scientists are pretty much the last thing that comes to mind – models, animals, cars, or landscapes usually fill that role. But just for moment picture a climate scientist in a slinky red dress and high heels, brandishing a fire extinguisher as she tries in vain to save the last […]
During the Mesozoic, dinosaurs weren’t just roaming the land – giant reptiles, such as mosasaurs and ichthyosaurs, ruled the seas. But while scientists have a fairly good idea about how they looked like, until now, they had no idea what colors they featured. Paleontologists conducted new analysis at the SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden […]
The European Space Agency‘s billion-dollar star surveyor ‘Gaia’ is now in its operational orbit around a gravitationally stable virtual point in space, at about 1.5 million km from Earth. Gaia has been traveling to reach that point since December 19, following a spectacular launch from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Last night, the surveyor […]
Good news everybody – the International Space Station won’t be sunk into the ocean in 2020! In case you don’t know what I’m taking about, in a previous article, we were telling you about the plans to sink the International Space Station in the ocean, in 2020. However, the ISS will be on at least […]
A hundred, fifty, or perhaps even 20 years ago, this idea would have seemed preposterous. Just imagine the Amazonian jungle, riddled with towns and cities – how can this be? Besides, if this was the case, then why haven’t we found any ruins, or other viable evidence? Still, more and more archaeologists are embracing this […]
The effects of urban pollution in China are started to get out of hand, and by now, it’s pretty safe to say that they are dealing with a major pollution crisis – the smog in Beijing particularly is so severe you can easily see it from outer space. Now, a new study has concluded that […]
If you’re a sci-fi geek like me, you’ve most likely read at least a few Asimov novels, and you know what psychohistory is – a fictional science which combines history, sociology, and mathematical statistics to make general predictions about the future behavior of very large groups of people. Now, researchers have made important steps towards […]
Whenever you buy an electronic, that ‘Made in [country]‘ label only shows where it was maufactured or put together – there’s no way of knowing where the materials for it came from; usually, they come from troubled countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo. But today Intel CEO Brian Krzanich promised at the Consumer […]
The stoat may look cute, but it's one of the most invasive species in the world.
Imagine salmon in reverse: long-snouted Bandringa sharks migrated downstream from freshwater swamps to a tropical coastline to spawn 310 million years ago – leaving behind a fossil nursery, which researchers found. The bandringa sharks The surprising conclusion was drawn by University of Michigan paleontologist Lauren Sallan and a University of Chicago colleague; they analyzed every […]
When you think about mongooses, cruel, despotic females probably don’t come to mind – but according to a new study, that’s exactly the case. To ensure groups remain ‘productive’, some social animals ‘police’ selfish reproduction by subordinate animals by killing any offspring they produce. In order to adapt to this behavior, some mammals may have […]
We need more green spaces in town and cities – the myriad of advantages they provide is simply undeniable. Now, a team of researchers has shown that they also lead to significant and sustained improvements in mental health. Analyzing a consistent amount of data over a five year period, they found that moving in a […]
Photographic negatives left a century ago in Captain Scott’s last expedition base at Cape Evans have been discovered and conserved by New Zealand’s Antarctic Heritage Trust. The pictures were found in photographer Herbert Ponting’s darkroom and have now been revealed, showing never before seen Antarctic images. In total, the negative revealed 22 images, after detailed […]
Japanese authorities have approved the construction of a futuristic farming project in Japan’s Fukushima prefecture, in a part of the land which has been radioactively contaminated. It seems the most unlikely place to try to put a utopian blueprint into practice, since the prefecture was severely contaminated by the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear […]
A big part of the US and Canada is currently in the grip of a polar vortex – extreme colds, strong winds, cancelled flights and overall chaos in many parts of the continent – it’s big, and it’s nasty. But what is a polar vortex, and what’s causing it? What’s a polar vortex anyway? A […]
Gifted children are supposed to be tomorrow’s leaders, scientists, and innovators – but the exceptionally smart are often invisible in the classroom, don’t do so well on the curriculum, and aren’t motivated by society to achieve their full potential. This conclusion comes after the longest study that monitors exceptional children, a 30-year study conducted by […]
An international team of researchers believes they have found a way to reopen critical learning periods in the brain, allowing adults to learn as if they were children, even abilities thought to be restricted to early ages, such as new language learning and absolute pitch development. The drug is known as valproate or valporic acid […]
