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Biologists working in Brazil have discovered nine new species of orange, purple and pink tarantulas lurking around in the trees. The haul of new spider species came from a lengthy study conducted in the Amazon by tarantula specialist Dr Rogerio Bertani of the Instituto Butantan in Sao Paulo. He described these new findings in the […]
Hurricane Sandy continues to ravage North America, going strong at 150 km/h winds, and is expected make landfall near the New Jersey-Delaware border Monday night, threatening the entire Eastern Seaboard, with numerous people already being evacuated or preparing for this dire event. Before discussing matters further, I’d just like to express my entire sympathy to […]
SpaceX has gone where no private company has gone before – and safely returned. They are now officially the only company able of space flight, after successfully delivering cargo to the International Space Station and now, returning, with some rather dubious cargo. Of the total 907 kilograms of experiments and gear it holds, the […]
What’s halfway between 1 and 9? If you’re like most people, you’d answer 5 or 4.5 – which is fine. But if you take a 6 year old kid on the other hand and ask him the same question, the odds are he’ll answer 3. According to a recent study, the great majority of children […]
The general consensus was that a star called Fomalhaut doesn’t host any planet. But astronomers, the thorough people they are, decided to take another look at it using the Hubble Space Telescope – and the results contradicted the everything, claiming that Fomalhaut does in fact have a planet, and furthermore, this planet (Fomalhaut b) is […]
Three new members have now embarked on the International Space Station, after docking the Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft to the Poisk module. After NASA retired their sub-orbital space flight program, the Soyuz shuttles are currently the only way to get people in and out of the ISS. For Commander Sunita Williams and Flight Engineers Aki Hoshide […]
The Cassini spacecraft recorded the aftermath of the largest, hottest gas vortex ever recorded in our solar system, making astrophysicists think there’s much more to Saturn’s atmosphere than meets the eye. The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft (often just called Cassini) is a robotic ship sent out to monitor the Saturn system. It sent out surprising, valuable data […]
Scientists in Canada have made a remarkable discovery: they have unearthed the first fossils of a feathered dinosaur ever found in the Americas. Their research, which was published in Science, includes 75 million year old specimens, including a juvenile and two adult ostrich-like creatures which go by the name of ornithomimids. Until now, the only […]
The long held belief that women are better multitaskers than men seems to finally be debunked, according to a new Swedish study. “On the contrary, the results of our study show that men are better at multitasking than women,” Timo Maentylae, a psychology professor at Stockholm University, said. Surprising or not, the female ability to […]
Most people perceive China as a greatly polluted, overcrowded country, with little to no interest in renewable energy and a sustainable future. But that legacy is changing. Chicago-based architects Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill have unveiled plans for Chengdu Tianfu District Great City, a self sustainable satellite city which offers insightful solutions to the crowded […]
I’m not necessarily a big fan of Ikea, but you have to admire this kind of initiative. The Swedish corporation announced they will go for a sustainable business model, one which features €1.5 billion investments in solar and wind power. The furniture company has remained true to its initial model, which involved doing things as […]
The hole in the ozone layer is the second smallest in twenty years, data from NASA and NOAA shows, but it’s not all good news. In fact, it could signal things taking a turn for the worst. Warmer air temperatures high above the Antarctic led to the hole shrinking, now covering an area of about […]
The European Southern Observatory has captured and analyzed an image of the center of our galaxy which, if printed at normal resolution, would measure 9 x 7 meters. The enormous 9 gigapixel image features the very center of the Milky Way and was created not to be a background for huge screens, but to help […]
Some people never forget a face, some people do it all the time; and then there’s the people who actually can’t differentiate between one face and another, suffering from a condition called facial blindness. For the first time, researchers have managed to pinpoint two places in the brain (in the fusiform gyrus) which are responsible […]
In 1989, Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann made a sensational claim that would have forever changed the world we live in – if it had been true. They claimed to achieve nuclear cold fusion at room temperature using a relatively simple device, thus creating a safe, clean source of energy. The cold fusion dream, revisited […]
Humanity has long dreamed of a mission to Mars, but the boots which would take the first steps on the Red Planet could be stomping on all Martian life. Despite any decontamination process, a swarm of 100 trillion microbes will accompany every astronaut who lands on Mars – as a part of their system. This […]
Strangely enough, it was computer simulation that provided the mathematical support for the grandmother hypothesis – a famous yet controversial theory which suggests adult humans have longer lifespans as a result of grandmother babysitting. Longevity genes The simulation indicates that without any estimate of the brain size, an animal with a chimp-like lifespan can evolve […]
Nope, this is not the Mars chocolate I’m talking about – NASA’s Curiosity rover is digging in at Rocknest – a patch of Martian sand the robot has been exploring for the past week. If you look at the picture above, taken by one of Curiosity’s camera, you can actually see three bite-like marks, left […]
Sunita Williams is an Indian-American astronaut who currently holds the record for longest space flight time among female space travelers (over 200 days). She recently declared she’s not missing gravity at all and that she finds the experience of floating around in imponderability priceless. “I love being up here and I love floating around,” 47-year-old […]
It may not be the best footwork in the world, because much like your uncle after a few beers, Charli doesn’t really want to lift its feet too far from the floor – but it’s definitely something fun to look at. This US Navy robot has all the moves: the lasso toss, the horse riding, […]
US researchers were shocked to discover a beluga whale that spontaneously emits sounds very similar to those we humans produce. Scientists have known for quite a while that dolphins can be taught to mimic human voices, but no animal has ever tried to do that spontaneously – until now, that is. It all started when […]
Astronomes have snapped a picture of a peculiar jet of material blasting from the supermassive black hole at the center of a distant galaxy. These jets are pretty much the biggest things we know of in the Universe, some of them being over 100 times bigger than the Milky way. It really looks similar to […]
Surprisingly many people have question the benefits of building and supporting an international space stations, especially considering the costs, which so far are just over $100 billion in 12 years. But people have to understand that only now can ISS astronauts start doing the science they were supposed to, as the ISS is just barely […]
In 2011, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck the Spanish city of Lorca, resulting in the loss of 9 lives and the injury of over 100 people. Now, researchers studying the case believe groundwater extraction played a crucial role in triggering this earthquake. A fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock, across which […]
Saudi Arabia is by far the most oil-blessed country in the world – only Russia coming even close to it, but they want to transition to a more eco friendly, renewable energy-based system. Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, a member of the Saudi Arabia royal family, spoke to journalists at the Global Economic Symposium […]
As the global oil supply is starting to grow thin, the Arctic area seems to be more and more interesting to oil barons, but of course, there’s the problem of those pesky protected animals – so what do we do? Get rid of that, of course. A group of plaintiffs including the state of Alaska […]
A first analysis of the ice that froze onto the drillbit used to drill in the pristine Vostok lake shows no native microbes came with the ice. A while ago, researchers understood that precious insight on alien life could be found right here on Earth – in Russia, to be more precise. But Antarctica’s is […]
We are living in a period with a significant trend of global warming – not natural at all, despite what many people would have you believe. Global warming and cooling are indeed natural phenomena, but when they happen either in geologic time (by far the most common), or due to some catastrophic event (say a […]
Green tea has some absolutely remarkable properties: it has a swarm of antioxidants, it is good for preventing a huge number of diseases (including some cancers), it boosts the immune system and it also helps you lose weight. But now, researchers have found that it can also help regulate and slow down the evolution of […]
A breath of fresh air for the brain’s “glue” cells: astrocytes play a big role in breathing. Star-shaped cells called astrocytes, are found in the brain and in the spinal cord; they are characteristic star-shaped glial cells, being by far, the most numerous cells in the human brain. According to a new research published in […]
The ‘Otton frog’ was just discovered in the Amami islands of Southern Japan, but unlike other frogs, which rely on camouflage or venom, this frog can put up quite a fight. Most frogs possess four digits, but at a first glance, the Otton seemed to have five ones; the only other frogs with this feature […]
The Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition opens on October 19 – with images ranging from pole to pole, but still have one thing in common: quality. You can click all the pics for full resolution, but be warned – a couple of them are quite disturbing.
It’s dinner time, and you know what there’s on the menu? Rocks! Martian rocks, to be more precise. After what seemed at times to be an excruciating series of baby steps, the rover has finally managed to extract the first samples and place it in CheMin – one of the two miniature laboratories located inside […]
When you think about clarity – probably the last thing that comes to mind is mud, but that’s exactly what it can do to carbon dating: provide the much needed clarity the field needs. If you want to date something, radiometric dating is the way to go; basically, you analyze materials, such as rocks or […]
Every kid likes sweets, and many adults do too. But sugar is responsible for the poor dental health of a considerable amount of the population – which is why a part of the big pharma started developing sugar-free medicine. But as it turns out, these drugs do much more harm than good. Sugar in medicine […]
Remember when, back in May, we told you about a case with a dinosaur skeleton transferred from Mongolia to the US, then auctioned, despite a judge declaring the act illegal? Well… good news! A man from the state of Florida gave an entirely new meaning to ‘grave robbing’ after being lured to the dark side […]
Researchers flock to more developed, wealthier countries, with advanced research systems. The big picture of global migration shows this rather clearly, but it also shows culture can significantly skew this pattern. Moving to the top of the pack Yuh Nung Jan and Lily Jan are two married neuroscientists, running their laboratory at the University of […]
We may associate hitchhiking with older times, but 16 million years ago? That sounds like a far way back. Researchers from the University of Manchester have found evidence of springtail hiking on the wings of mayflies; using an incredible composition of scans that resulted in a 3D image, scientists have actually caught them in the […]
While the world is absorbed in the raging solar storm between America and China, with Europe deciding whether or not to join in the fray, a quiet revolution is happening. It has the potential for real positive impact on the planet and the struggling solar industry at large. In the last few months, Japan has […]
A recent study concluded a daily vitamin dose taken for years dramatically cuts the risk of cancer; the study was conducted on almost 15,000 men over 50 suggests. It’s not yet clear if the same would apply to younger men and/or women. The decrease was almost 10 percent. “Despite the lack of definitive trial data […]
Dark matter is a type of matter which astrophysicists believe covers the greater part of the Universe’s mass. However, dark matter can’t be seen, nor does it interract with any type of electromagnetic radiation – it is only observed through the gravitational object it has on other bodies. Dark matter is estimated to constitute 84% […]
The search for other planets gets more and more exciting and fruitful, and now, researchers have found an exoplanet which lies truly close to us – in cosmic terms. Alpha Centauri Alpha Centauri is the closest solar system to our own, at only 4 light years away, so finding an Earth-sized planet there really is […]
A group of researchers from the United States found out that the Moon is covered with a soil containing typical water structure. Weirdly enough, the water substructure packed soil is created by a constant stream of charged particles coming from the sun, according to the team. The key is hydroxyl. As you probably know, […]
According to their own statements, the US Naval Research Laboratory is working to extract the carbon dioxide and produce hydrogen gas from the seawater; if everything works out fine for them, they will be able to convert the CO2 and hydrogen into hydrocarbons which will be used as jet fuel. Of course, the main interest […]
After some small problems and a delay of a couple of days, Felix Baumgartner did it! He jumped from the stratosphere, free falling 24 miles – 39,035 meters or 119,846ft – breaking numerous records in the process. He reached a speed of 1.24 Mach (which is the speed of sounds), thus becoming the first […]
Xenon is a noble gas, the second heaviest of the chemically inert noble gases. The only problem with is that… it’s gone missing! Xenon is almost entirely missing from our atmosphere, somethign which researchers were unable to answer – until now, that is. German researchers believe they managed to find out where the gas is […]
While researchers have known for quite a while that dolphins and some birds are able to learn and change tunes, you wouldn’t really expect mice to be the next vocal sensation in the animal world. Biologists believed any vocal abilities in mice were innate, but now they found that mice also possess a (rudimentary) motor […]
Researchers have just given us a way to point an accusatory finger at our polluting neighbors, by calculating the emissions made by individual buildings. The program, named Hestia, after the Greek Goddess of the Home, can map CO2 emissions in urban landscapes and narrow them down to certain streets or homes, using public databases, […]
Following what seemed to be a serious problem with one of the engines from the Falcon 9 rocket, the unmanned but highly equipped Dragon capsule successfully latched itself to the International Space Station (ISS). The capsule was capture by astronauts using a robotic arm after what seemed to be a flawless approach – which is […]
Astrobotic Technology Inc., a spin-off company of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) announced a full-sized prototype called the Polaris lunar rover – a rover designed specifically to work in the dark side of the Moon, home of the permanently shadowed craters of the lunar poles. The idea is to launch the rover using one of […]
