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Finding mosquitoes trapped in amber is truly exciting, but it’s not really unique – there have been several reported cases all around the world, and some people are even selling such samples (which I don’t think is a good thing, but that’s another discussion). But finding a fossilized mosquito in sediment… now that’s unique! It […]
A new, non-invasive test for Down Syndrome would allow women with high-risk pregnancies to avoid amniocentesis and in the future may provide detection early enough for treatment to improve some babies’ cognitive function, a Tufts University neonatal genetics expert told a symposium at Harvard Medical School on Tuesday. Nowadays, physicians recommend all pregnant women to […]
Urine isn’t exactly the first place you want to start looking for eye diseases – but according to a new Duke University study a patient’s urine can be linked to gene mutations that cause Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), an inherited, degenerative disease that results in severe vision impairment and often blindness. “My collaborators, Dr. Rong Wen […]
It’s actually happening Good news – encouraging results from the longest and largest trial of a malaria vaccine could see the world’s first anti-malaria jab approved by 2015; malaria is one of the most dangerous diseases in the world, affecting over 220 million people every year (some say 300 million). The vaccine could be used […]
An international discovered a young, exotic, rogue planet – PSO J318.5-22, is just 80 light-years away from Earth and has a mass six times that of Jupiter; it was formed apporximately 12 million years ago – which makes it a newborn in terms of planets (the Earth was formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago. “We […]
It was a result so unexpected that MIT researchers first thought there was some kind of mistake – under certain conditions, putting a cracked piece of metal under tension (pulling it apart) has the reverse effect – causing the edge of the cracks to fuse together. The surprising, counterintuitive find paves the way towards self […]
A lost moon of Neptune has not been seen since its discovery in the late 1980s – until now, that is. A new announcement from the 45th Meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society revealed the rediscovery of the moon of Neptune which was only glimpsed briefly back in the […]
Improve your memory, improve your reasoning and observational skills, and many more – brain training games are becoming more and more popular, and it’s not hard to see why – many people want to go to the “brain gym”, giving their mental abilities a boost. But now, a Georgia Tech research suggests that brain training […]
Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel won the 2013 Nobel Prize For Chemistry on Wednesday “for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems.” Chemists used to create atomic models using balls and sticks. Some 40 years ago, Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel laid the foundation for the powerful programs that […]
For the first time, researchers have found evidence of a comet entering Earth’s atmosphere and exploding, obliterating everything in its path before ultimately crashing down into the Sahara. Comets and asteroids Many people will probably be asking themselves “Didn’t we find comet evidence on Earth before?”. No, not really – if you did wondeer that, […]
It may not look like much, but this weird looking coal-like thing is actually a 4.000 year old preserved brain, which was “scorched and boiled in its own juices.” “The level of preservation in combination with the age is remarkable,” Frank Rühli at the University of Zurich, Switzerland explained, adding that most archaeologists simply don’t […]
A lump of peanut butter and a ruler are sufficient to confirm an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, even in its early stages, researchers claim. Jennifer Stamps, a graduate student in the McKnight Brain Institute Center for Smell and Taste and the University of Florida came up with the idea of using peanut butter as a testing method, […]
A new report released by the Energy Information Administration showed that the US will end 2013 as the largest producer of oil and gas in the world, surpassing Saudi Arabia and Russia; the US reachged a combined production of 25 million barrels of oil a day (crude oil, natural gas liquid condensates, and biofuels). Interestingly […]
Even an area so studied as Hawaii sometimes yields surprises – a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) and the University of Rhode Island (URI) changes the very foundation of how the Hawaii islands were formed: it is the eruptions […]
Researchers at MIT have recreated Mars-like conditions within a three-story-tall cloud chamber in Germany, adjusting the temperature and humidity to match those on Mars – basically creating Martian clouds. Judging by the images Curiosity has sent us, Martian clouds look quite similar to ours – the gauzy, high-altitude wisps look a lot like the cirrus […]
Faeces based treatment halts the advance of Clostridium difficile bacteria, but a commercial treatment is still far away. Using a faeces in the treatment of the gut infections and diarrhea is not a new idea, though it’s still in its initial stages. In 2010, we told you about a woman who had a life threatening […]
Jellyfish are really impressive creatures, for all their simplicity; now, a new research has shown that the elastic body allows moon jellyfish to travel extra distance at no energy cost. The sockeye salmon is a sleek, muscular torpedo which rams up waterfalls. The jellyfish is a blob, drifting on aimlessly in the oceans. Obviously, the […]
Has it already been a year? It’s Nobel Prize season once again, and the first award has been given in “Physiology or Medicine“. James E Rothman, Randy W Schekman and Thomas C Südhof took the prize for their work on the mechanism that controls the transport of membrane-bound parcels or ‘vesicles’ through cells. The American […]
Out of 512 brands endorsed by 100 top athletes, nearly a quarter of them (122) were for food and beverages – 44 different brands in 2010 (some brands had more products). A study conducted by researchers from Yale, Stanford, Duke and Harvard universities showed that almost 80% of all the 49 food products were “energy-dense […]
3D printing took the world by storm, and there’s almost no limit to what you can create: from ears and organs to rocket engines and dinosaur skeletons. This technology is so efficient and advanced that in fact, a study concluded that the average American could save money each year by printing household items. Now, two […]
Astronomers have created the first cloud map of a planet outside our solar system, a sizzling, Jupiter-like world known as Kepler-7b. NASA’s Kepler and Spitzer space telescopes found patchy clouds on this hot Jupiter which was discovered in January 2010. Hot Jupiters are some of the most common planets from what we know so far; […]
A black hole is simple and clear, at least according to the model proposed in 1963 by Roy Kerr; his model of a clear, smooth black hole is now the currently accepted paradigm. But a group of scientists led by Thomas Sotiriou, a physicist of the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) of Trieste claims […]
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has detected propylene, a chemical used greatly in everyday life, in things like food-storage containers, car bumpers and other consumer products, on Saturn’s Moon Titan. I really recommend watching the video below, as it explains the situation in great detail: A small amount of propylene was identified in Titan’s lower atmosphere by […]
Scientists have, for the first time, obtained actual images of one of the most important interactions in the world – the special type of chemical bond called the hydrogen bond, which keeps our DNA together and gives water its unique properties. Using a technique called high-resolution atomic force microscopy (AFM), researchers in China have managed […]
A new government report by the UK’s Department of Energy And Climate Change shows that the country has reached record rates in terms of the energy it derives from renewable sources, for the second consecutive quarter: 15.5% of the country’s electricity came from renewables, a jump of 5.8% compared to the last period. About half […]
Human hair found in fossilized hyena poop suggests that ancient humans were sometimes on the menu of other animals. The fossilized dung, part of a “hyena latrine,” will be described in the upcoming October issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science; the sample has been subjected to a number of tests. The sample is about […]
The beginning of autumn brings cold weather, and with it, another type of flu. We here at ZME have already all gone down with a bad case of the flu, and of course, we’re not nearly the only ones. Each year seems to bring the threat of a new flu virus; first it was the […]
A tiny chip already used in smartphones for the orientation of your screen could serve to create a real-time urban seismic network, easily increasing the amount of strong motion data collected during a large earthquake, helping responders know where the most damage has been done and where the strongest intervention is needed. Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) […]
The pomato is produced by grafting a tomato plant and a potato plant.
Nauclea latifolia (also know as the pin cushion tree) is a small shrub, relatively common, used in traditional medicine throughout the sub-Saharan regions. Of course, African traditional medicine is not often your first choice when it comes to a treatment, but what if I told you that this plant produces large quantities of molecules – […]
Tom Vanderbilt, journalist, blogger, and author of the best-selling book, Traffic gave an awesome 20 minute presentation on why traffic jams happen, and why it’s our fault for rush hour traffic. “[T]he individual driver cannot often understand the larger traffic system,” says Vanderbilt. The video is definitely worth the watch, but I’ve plucked some of […]
Disguised as employess of a gas company, Beijing policemen burst into an otherwise ordinary looking apartment; the two suspects inside panicked and threw a bag of about $50.000 out the balcony, the money slowly floating down to the delight of the pedestrians. But even as pirated DVDs, sports gear and clothing are rather common in […]
Two years ago, we were telling you about plans for developing the world’s largest solar thermal energy plant in California – a project in which Google invested $168 million. Now, the much anticipated Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System has finally kicked off! The 14 square km facility (3500 acres) which is backed not only by […]
A first step has been taken towards an effective treatment for Gonorrhea – with drug resistant strains on the rise, this moment comes just at the right time, merely days after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) placed the STD on a list of “urgent threats” in the fight against drug-resistant bacteria. Gonorrhea (colloquially […]
Closed chest defribillators (the type of defribillators you see on TV) have been around for decades, and for a good reason – because they get the job done. They’re very effective at restoring normal heart rhythm, but they have a big disadvantage: even with fine tuning of modern devices, they hurt like hell. Researchers now […]
A few days ago, we were telling you about the Pakistan earthquake which created a new island just off the shore. The magnitude-7.7 earthquake was likely centered on a southern strand of the Chaman Fault, and in the hours after it, a new island suddenly rose in the nearby shallow waters. The Chaman Fault is […]
This defensive strategy has been used for a very long time, but if you were to take a guess, how long would do you think that time was? A thousand years, ten thousand years, one million years? According to a new fossil unearthed by paleontologists, the answer is at least 510 million years! Trilobites and […]
After finding no methane in the Martian atmosphere, Curiosity has shown that the soil and dust on the surface of the Red Planet contain a few percent water, judging by weight. Yes, yes, I know, Curiosity has found signs that water flowed on Mars sometime during its past (1, 2, 3), but this time, it […]
The X-Shape in which we usually see chromosomes depicted in is only a snapshot of their real complexity – a new method for visualizing them showed. A joint project involving the Babraham Institute, the University of Cambridge and the Weizmann Institute has produced the most beautiful and accurate models of chromosomes available up to date. […]
Dragan Djuric and Boris Delibasic, two professors of FON (Faculty of Organizational Sciences), along with advisor Stevica Radisic deliberately published a nonsensical, fictional article in the Romanian magazine “Metalurgia International” in order to draw attention on the massive production of quasi-scientific works by Serbian professors which are published in dubious magazines. The work Their “scientific” […]
A man from China has had a new nose grown on his head by plastic surgeons, as part of a surprisingly common reconstruction technique. The 22 year-old suffered nasal trauma after a car accident, and the following infection eroded the cartilage in his nose, making it impossible for doctors to fix it. Instead, the team […]
Prosthetics have been around for a very long time – the first mention of such a device is by the warrior queen Vishpala in the Rigveda, which was written roughtly some 3.500 years ago. But even with the spectacular developments of the past century, only in the past couple of decades did prosthetics really start […]
It’s been a while since we posted something about the Curiosity rover – now, Curiosity has reported that the Martian atmosphere lacks methane. This is a surprise to researchers because previous data seemed to indicate the contrary. The 4 wheel laboratory conducted extensive tests for traces of Martian methane, and the results were conclusive; the […]
A previously unknown genus of electric fish was discovered in a remote area in South America, very rich in biodiversity but largely unexplored. The Akawaio penak is a thin, eel-like electric fish which inhabits the murky waters of the upper Mazaruni River in northern Guyana. Guyana lies at the northern border of Brazil, and the […]
Paleontologists have scratched the surface of what appears to be a very promising dinosaur site near the Arctic circle, in Alaska. When these dinosaurs roamed the Earth, they stepped in mud; their footprints quickly filled with sand, and were preserved in the form we see them today, like blubs with toes. In July, the scientists […]
It may seem like a shock for many people (especially those outside America) that it takes research to know livestock should be fed with pastures and shrubs; but most cattle in the US are fed with grain and corn, because it is cheaper due to subsidies. Unfortunately, this method is unsustainable and will only end […]
An award winning student from the Nigerian University of Lagos is claiming that he’s “disproved” gay marriage through science, using magnets; his “research” is backed by the University. As much as we, at ZME Science, love science and what it means for us as humans, we simply hate any pseudoscience or any falsity promoted as […]
“My initial interest was an artistic one at heart, but, surprisingly, we could instantly differentiate seizure activity from non-seizure states with just our ears,” Chafe said. “It was like turning a radio dial from a static-filled station to a clear one.” When Chris Chafe and Josef Parvizi from Stanford University began transforming recordings of brain […]
Hey molybdenum, is it me or are you looking chubbier these days? The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has conducted more precise measurements, changing the official atomic weight of 19 elements. The changes are very small, but they are proof of technological improvements and are part of a regular effort to update […]
To my constant surprise and dislike, people continue to think of biofuels as a clean, renewable alternative for the future. People (and especially policy makers) need to rethink the idea of promoting biofuels to protect the climate, because it simply doesn’t work. EROEI Unless you’re working in the energy department (or perhaps marketing), the odds […]
