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So some of you are already in 2012, some are almost there, some are hours away – but regardless of where you are, ZME Science would like to thank you for being with us this past year – it’s been an amazing ride, and one that won’t be stopping any time soon – on the […]
Concluding a debate which lasted for over 7 months, the US Institute of Medicine has released a report that marks a turning point for chimpanzees, our closest relative, in terms of medical research. The panel laid out some stringent rules against all current and future chimp research, installing some dramatic penalties to those who disobey. […]
There are people out there who predict that the entire life on Earth will be wiped out in 2012 – or at least significantly crippled. But if you stop just a second and think about it rationally, you understand that this is nothing else but jibber jabbar, and people like this will keep ‘announcing’ the […]
Researchers working at the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer have probably discovered what can be described as the heart beat of the smallest known black hole. This comes in less then a month after astrophysicists discovered the biggest known black hole in the Universe. An international team worked on this research, which relied on detecting X-rays […]
To be honest with you, I had no idea that this shark existed until a few hours ago; who would have guessed that a shark can live so up North? Furthermore, who would have thought he could be so peculiar? According to some, they can live up to 200 years old, although that number is […]
Imagine shirts, pants or socks that clean and remove unpleasant smells themselves when hung on your balcony – how would that be? If you ask me, few things could be better! After we recently told you about the jaw-dropping superhydrophobic spray, we have another fantastic material which is reported to be able to clean itself […]
In 1926, when merchant marine captain Charles Martell checked into Massachusetts General Hospital, he had already gone down from 6’1″ to 5’6″, accusing major pain in his legs, neck and back and reporting a fine, white gravel in his urine. He was place on Ward 4, a recently opened facility focused primarily on hormone research. […]
NASA has developed a harpoon that would make even the most pretentious pirate jealous: it can latch on to comets with surgical precision, without having to land on them. The harpoon, which measures six feet tall (almost two meters) was made out of pair of springs normally used to provide the suspension for trucks; the […]
An unprecedented observation of a supernova right after its explosion has offered scientists extremely valuable insight on these cosmic explosions of biblical proportions. PTF 11kly, a type Ia supernova, was spotted in August in the Pinwheel galaxy and is one of the closest to Earth ever found – but don’t worry just yet – at […]
I recently stumbled across this study which I found absolutely mind blowing. Here’s how researchers did it. They trained 5 dogs by using a food reward system to recognize, by scent alone, the exhaled breath samples of 55 lung and 31 breast cancer patients from those of 83 healthy controls; once the dogs were trained […]
The big news about the discovery of the Higgs boson seem farther than some might have expected, even though researchers reported ‘tantalizing hints’ of the elusive particle; physicists will have to hold their breath a little longer. About a week ago, rumors started stirring up the physics world, as the people at CERN zoomed in […]
A few months ago, the Italian Wikipedia blanked out temporarily in protest to SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), a misleading titled act which, if passed, will change the face of the internet as we know it, maiming numerous sites – Wikipedia included. So Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia founder made a public poll to see how people feel […]
The Kyoto protocol is the only international pact aimed at fighting global warming; adopted on 11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, it is signed and ratified by 191 states, the only major country not to sign it being (drum rolls)… the United States! Other states yet to ratify the Kyoto protocol include Afghanistan, Andorra and […]
You’ve heard about Bayer, right? They’re one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world, most famous for inventing aspirin. But what most people don’t know about them is that they have a long and shady history. For starters, during World War II they bought patients from Auschwitz with the purpose of using them as […]
German physicists (who else) reported creating a Stirling engine no larger than 3 micrometers across, which functions just as good as its normal size version – with a little sputter once in a while. I read about this on several other websites, and this device was called a steam engine – which is not really […]
The physicists over at CERN set out to determine if the Higgs Boson is real or not, and they seem poised to figure that out, as rumor spreads about the possible announcement of the elusive particle. Recently, rumors about the boson exploded, and instead of cooling down, they amplified even more; this Tuesday (tomorrow, 13th […]
There’s been a lot of buzz around the planets discovered by the Kepler telescope, particularly about Kepler-22b – the planet which, outside Earth, has the biggest chances to host life (that we know of). Now, SETI will tune in and start listening to see if there are any aliens with something to say on those […]
NASA’s famous rover, Opportunity, seems to have stumbled upon clear evidence that water used to flow on Mars, a long long time ago. Opportunity was prowling around the Meridiani Planum on Mars, looking at hematite (an iron oxide) when it stumbled upon something which delighted researchers: gypsum. Why is this vein of gypsum so important […]
In a recent post I was telling you about Russian and Japanese researchers working together with the purpose of cloning a mammoth from bone marrow DNA recently found in Siberia. However, many researchers are extremely skeptical about this, including some of the world’s leading experts. “C’mon, it’ll never happen. Not in my lifetime,” said Webb […]
We recently wrote about Kepler-22b, which so far is the planet most likely to host life that we know of, other than Earth. This discovery made by the Kepler telescope sparkled the imagination of many, and people already started thinking about ‘contact’. However, even though it’s great to dream, and the planet has a decent […]
This rainbow map of the Vesta asteroid was obtained using NASA’s Dawn spacecraft and it shows that it has much more planet-like features than its mates from the asteroid belt. Vesta is a pretty special place, with lots of surprises; it has a weird history, a mountain 3 times bigger than the Everest, and now, […]
British Petroleum (BP) accused Halliburton, one of the biggest oil service companies in the world, of destroying evidence which showed they did faulty cement work in the huge oil spill which took place last year in the Gulf of Mexico. The accusation was launched during a BP court filing and it brought even more mystery […]
Don’t get too close – you might not be able to get away. Researchers have found and measured the biggest black holes discovered so far – abyssal surfaces 10 times bigger than our Solar system – and several billion times heavier. Yes, you read that right; these unimaginable giants likely devoured billions of Sun in […]
The race for finding habitable planets outside our solar system is definitely heating up. After we told you about Gliese, a planet which seems habitable enough, researchers have reported finding yet another planet, which is not too hot and not too cold either – Kepler-22b is just the right temperature for life as we know […]
Scientists from Russia and Japan searching in the permafrost soil in Siberia have found mammoth remains so well-preserved that they believe they will actually be able to clone it, using its bone marrow. Teams from Sakha Republic’s mammoth museum and Japan’s Kinki University have embarked on this quest, vowing to find how this can be […]
Mark is a former park ranger who found the world’s biggest insect so far: this giant weta is so big that it can actually eat carrots. This little critter was found on an island off New Zealand, and it’s one of the few survivors from its species, which were almost wiped out by rats accidentally […]
Chemistry’s periodic table of elements can welcome two new entries: Livermorium and Flerovium, which were announced Thursday, on the first of December by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. According to procedure, they will undergo a five month public comment period after which the official paperwork will be done and they will be […]
A Dutch researcher has created a virus so deadly that it has the potential to wipe out half of the world’s population. Now, researchers and experts seem to consider that this research is so dangerous it shouldn’t even be published; there are voices which state this shouldn’t even have happened. The virus in case is […]
Somewhere off Papua New Guinea, scientists uncovered the world’s only known orchid to produce flowers at night, only to wither down in daytime. Out of over 25.000 thousand species of orchids, only a handful of them flower in the evening, but this one, Bulbophyllum nocturnum, is the first and only one that does it at […]
A seemingly ordinary starfish robot created by scientists at Harvard has pushed the frontiers of robotics one step further by showing that it can wiggle. The soft bodied mechanism was inspired by squids, worms and starfish, and is built out of elastomers and powered by pneumatics – a cheap and effective mechanism; it has every […]
Russian president, Dmitry Medevedev, announced that following the disaster with the Phobos-Grunt mission, which was headed for one of Mars’ moons but got stranded on Earth’s orbit, officials should be punished for recent failures in the country’s space program, which are affecting indirectly the entire country. Speaking to Russian journalists on Saturday, he stated that […]
As you may or may not know, these are the last days of a huge UN environmental summit taking place in Durban, South Africa. So far, discussions have yet to reveal a single interesting solution, even though researchers stress that delaying action will lead to higher costs and more damage done to the environment – […]
At first, science fiction artists wrote about it and nobody gave it much attention, but nowadays, a lot of researchers are putting effort into this: inhabiting another planet; or in this case, a satellite. A group of astrobiologists have already began calculating, though more for the sake of it than for practical interest, which planet […]
Scientists from the United States and Australia have teamed up in a desperate attempt to find new solutions to the Great Barrier Reef problem, which threatens to go beyond the point of no return. They are currently trying to save disappearing species by freezing coral eggs and sperm, so that instead of becoming extinct, species […]
Researchers lately pointed out that delaying measures against climate change will make them more expensive and less effective; however, countries most vulnerable to global warming are startled by recent proposal received from rich or major emerging economies to delay a global deal to curb greenhouse gases until at least 2020. With the Herculean task of […]
Following an absolutely perfect launch with no apparent problems whatsoever, NASA’s Curiosity rover has started its long way towards the Red Planet. Curiosity and Mars The car-sized rover blasted off Saturday at 10:02 a.m. ET from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and separated from the rocket right on schedule, 45 minutes later. The pinnacle of […]
Some astronomers have long believed that an ocean might lurk beneath Pluto’s ice, heated by isotopes undergoing a radioactive decay – but we’ll have to wait until 2015 to know for sure. The New Horizons spacecraft is set to visit Pluto less than four years from now, and it will map the surface of the […]
Remember this name: graphene. This wonder material is certainly on a lot of scientists’ lips these days, but in a few years from now, it will be on the lips of more and more people, as its fantastic properties will begin to be put to practical use. Graphene is a planar sheet of Carbon, just […]
I recently came across this interview with Prof. Dr. Siegfried Bethke, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Physics in Munich, posted at Physorg, and just had to share it, because it is incredibly interesting: Professor Bethke, particles have been colliding with each other at the LHC for two years now, the detectors have so […]
If the current pledges under the UN flag to cut carbon emissions are not improved, then it is estimated that the cost of meeting the world’s targets regarding global warming will rise by half, according to OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). Basically, these things have to be done, sooner or later, until it […]
The great part of Earth’s liquid outer core comprises of molten iron, which is just swell for us and every inhabitant of our planet, because this layer generates a magnetic field which protects us from radiation which would be lethal. But common accepted theory suggests that there should also be some lighter ingredients down there, […]
Despite budget cuts, NASA is currently working on a telescope so big and so powerful that it has every change of redefining our place in the Universe. We all know and love Hubble, and not just because of all the fantastic pictures; the Hubble telescope has helped us understand so much about the Universe we […]
Searching for extraterrestrial life is no longer a dream, but a reality, and researchers are beginning to significantly narrow down the places where we should search. From our solar system, on top of the list are Mars and Mercury, surprising as that might be, followed by one of Saturn’s moons, Titan. Outside our solar system, […]
Less than a month ago, on the 28th of October, the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite launched into low-Earth with the main purpose of observing our planet’s environment and climate, some 800 km above our planet. Here you can see one of its first pictures, and what a picture it […]
Amidst of all the talks and protest against stem cell treatment and companies shutting down, nature has found its own way of treating diseases with stem cells. When a pregnant mouse mother, for example, has a heart attack, her fetus donates some of its own stem cells to help and cure. Researchers started working on […]
In a move that is disappointing for many, the Internet giant has announced that they have abandoned their ambitious plans to make renewable energy cheaper than coal, thus focusing on fewer and more immediate goals. They also announced they are shutting down other seven projects, including a Wikipedia-like online encyclopedia nicknamed Knol. So far, this […]
We’ve all experienced it: walking from one room to another and forgetting what you wanted to do – or get, or find. But according to a new research from University of Notre Dame Psychology Professor Gabriel Radvansky, passing through doorways might be exactly the trigger for these memory lapses. “Entering or exiting through a doorway […]
First of all, let it be said that this is not a post for kids – and for the most sensitive; advance at your own risk. But now that you’ve been warned… The world of animal sex would be considered weird by most, and it’s definitely not what you’d expect. When I was a kid, […]
Astronomers from the Arizona State University have used NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) this mind blowing map of the Moon; it is the highest resolution near-global topographical map of our neighbor so far. As you’ve probably already figured out, the map reveals the Moon’s surface, using colors to depict elevation – from white and red […]
An international team of researchers working in Italy recently conducted a study which concluded that the revolutionary results claimed by their colleagues at CERN may be faulty. They studied the same neutrino particles reported to travel faster than light and claim their test clearly shows this is wrong. The announcement was made in September, and […]
