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Take a look at your town; take a look at the people around you, at the streets, and the garbage cans. How much of the garbage do you think is recycled ? After that, think about how much trash gets labeled as “non-recyclable” by the recycling facility and will end up in a dump somwhere. […]
It gives me great pleasure to see some points of view the governor of California has; here’s what he had to say about solar panels, simple and short: “Asking whether large solar power plants are appropriate in the Mojave desert is like wondering whether subways make sense in New York City.” This is hands down […]
The planet closest to the sun is very hot, yet very cold at the same time. It may even be a bit icy. The Mercury Messenger spacecraft entered the planet’s orbit on March 17, and since then, NASA has showed some of the pictures taken by it, which are absolutely amazing. The visit to Mercury […]
The Japanese seem to have not lost one inch of the determination to push science forward after the major earthquake, the tsunamis it generated, and the colateral damage that comes with such a tragic event (power shortages, infrastructure damage, and most of all, radiation danger from nuclear plants). They are now trying to trim the […]
Currently, there are two operational (hopefully) NASA rovers located on Mars; the first one, Opportunity, is exceeding all expectations, and is functioning better than anyone would have predicted. The second one however, Spirit, has been silent for more than a year. It seems like a really long shot, but NASA is going to make one […]
Now that’s a taste of politics from the land down under; some Australian officials are condemning carbon and pollution taxes, argueing that since it will make a difference only after a thousand years, we shouldn’t bother at all. Here’s their statement: “It will not make a difference for 1000 years,” the Opposition Leader told parliament. […]
Let’s face it, China overtaking US in science should no longer shock anyone, but if this were to happen just two years from now, in 2013, it would be a major surprise. The study, dubbed Knowledge, Networks and Nations, charts the challenge addresed by China to the traditional scientific leaders, US, Europe, and even Japan. […]
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN has started doing some serious business. This time, an extremely rare particle containing equal parts of matter and antimatter popped up during experiments at the world’s largest and hottest particle accelerator. The particle, named a B meson is made out of one quark (the building blocks of protons […]
Time is growing shorter and shorter for the people working on the development of the Mars exploration program, and as we are getting closer to the launch date, some plans are continued, while others are scraped. Such was the case with the 3D camera for the next robotic rover that will be sent to Mars, […]
Tiger populations throughout the world are facing a dramatic decline, and are faced more and more with extinction; the future looks pretty dire for these amazing creatures, but maybe there is still hope for these magnificent creatures. A recent census conducted in India showed 295 more tigers than last year, which can only be good […]
When we think about money today, bills or coins pop up in an average mind, maybe even credit cards; even the concept of some different objects used as currency (not as trade items) seems outrageous. However, this is exactly the case with the Chinese knife money, introduced between 600 to 200 B.C. during the Zhou […]
A 2500 year old British skull is not a major surprise for archaeologists, but a brain inside it, now that’s not your average Kinder surprise. The fact that shrunken fragile organ still exists raises some serious questions about organ preservation and how often researchers can expect to find this kind of things. What’s interesting is […]
According to more than half of all Americans, God is in complete control of everything that happens on our planet. Slightly fewer people, 44 percent, believe natural disasters, such as the earthquake and tsunamis in Japan are caused by an omnipotent power; but hey, it gets a little better – only 29 percent of Americans […]
The discovery of a new black hole is always an interesting event; this time, researchers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) have managed to get the first spectroscopic data from the binary system in case, and found that it contains a black hole, which is quite rare, at least according to out […]
Ever since the 9.0 earthquake in Japan, there has been a growing mainstream interest for earthquakes, which will probably fade away as time passes, only to be revived when the next big temblor strikes. However, the good news is that, even for a brief period of time, seismologic studies are given the attention they […]
I’m not a big fan of Internet slang myself, though I use it, just like millions and millions of other users. However, OMG, LOL or FYI seem appropriate on a Facebook window, or a beer conversation at most, not in a dictionary. Still, as of March 2011, that’s where they’ll be. Laugh Out Loud, Oh […]
In a world where the king words are ‘buy low, sell high’, speed is of upmost importance. Stock trading has become more and more reliant on modern ways of transmitting and processing information, and in this process, fiber optic plays a crucial role. While fiber optic does work at 90 percent the speed of light, […]
Amoebas are the first eukaryotic creatures, they’re about 1.000.000.000 years old, and still exist today, with a myriad of forms and evolutionary tweaks, interspersed with familiar lineages like animals and plants. The general consensus regarding them was that they are asexual, meaning that they just divide on their own and not engage in sexual […]
Quantum computers – closer thank you think The microprocessors used today are absolutely amazing on their own; it seemed, and for good reason, that there was little we could do to improve them. If anything was to top microprocessors, it would have to be something from a totally different league, which is just down […]
Religion is nowadays an extremely touchy subject; if you ask religious people about non religious people there’s a good chance you will get a pretty nasty response, something involving a kind of hell and divine punishment, while if you ask the other group, probably some bad words will probably come up. If you ask me, […]
I don’t know about you, but when I think about reporters, newscasters, I always get the feeling there are more women than men. But that’s just not right, at least according to a recent study conducted by the International Women’s Media Foundation. The research in case found that 73 percent of the jobs in top […]
A Monash University grad student has managed to create a simple, sustainable and affordable water purification device with the potential to save an incredible number of lives and eradicate diseases. The Solarball, as it is called, was developed by Mr Jonathan Liow as his final year project in his Bachelor of Industrial Design can produce […]
Yes, I know there’s still a few days until Earth Hour comes, but I just wanted to give you guys the heads up. At 8:30 PM, on Saturday, 26 March 2011, lights will switch off for one hours, in the hope that people will commit to actions that go well beyond that one hour. In […]
The massive 9.0 earthquake was the last in a series that devastated countries across the boundary of the Pacific plate. Even Japan, perhaps the country who was the most prepared in the world for this kind of seismic activity, was hopeless in front of the temblor and the tsunamis it created. But after the earthquakes […]
Even though it will cost a whooping $845.000, I for one welcome the appearance of this kind of Porsche; why ? Because it will definitely change the mind of many who believe that hybrids are all about economy and the environment, and nothing about performance. Because if Porsche can do one thing, they do fast […]
Fossil hunting is for anybody – no matter how old, or how knowledgeable; all you need is a little information and some basic equipment, and you’re good to go. For Andrew Carroll and Thomas Smith, two North Texas sixth-graders, it required even less. Their adventures started when they found a bone while off playing and […]
With all the big fuss regarding the nuclear power plant problems in Japan, everybody seems to be throwing rocks at atomic energy, without taking a look at long term benefits and problems. I stumbled across this chart, published over at Next Big Future that takes a look at how many deaths came as a result […]
There’s been a lot of fuss around tsunamis lately, especially seen as Japan, perhaps the most prepared country in the world, was devastated by them. A tsunami in the Atlantic however, is a rare sight, due to the fact that that there are no subduction areas, the most common cause of tsunami-causing earthquakes. However, even […]
It’s one of the most emotional and disturbing space stories I have ever read; the Soviet cosmonaut is on the phone with Alexsei Kosygin, one of the highest officials, and he is crying because he knows he will die. Kosygin is crying to, because he too knows there is no hope. As Vladimir Komarov is […]
Tonight, March 19, an true lunar rarity will fill the night sky – the super moon will delight amateur astronomers and romantics alike. For the first time in 18 years, the full moon will be a perigee full moon, which, for tonight, means that the lunar orb will be much closer to the Earth than […]
The race to develop holographic videos will have its winners and its losers, but it’s obvious by now that this isn’t some distant sci-fi technology, but rather a work in progress, as rival research teams battle to be the first to control lasers in a way that would allow displaying 3D videos. The evergrowing power […]
As the nuclear situation at the Fukushima power plant continues to deteriorate, engineers start to ponder drastic options more and more seriously; it seems that the method which seems to have te best chances to work is the same one that was user in Chernobyl in 1986. It is the first time operation leaders are […]
Here’s something you probably didn’t know about your average internal combustion car engine: it only uses 15 percent for propulsion! Of course it could never go up to 100 percent or even close to this value, but fifteen is just too low. Researchers at Michigan State University thought about the same thing, so they built […]
The situation on the Fukushima nuclear plant is far from calming down, even after the government authorized water being dropped from helicopters, an option which was described as unnacceptable. It is even more unclear what the effect of that water will be, as helicopters threw it without hovering, presumably because of the radiation. Also, this […]
Plate tectonics is one of the most important theories, from the point of view of its practical effects on society – just look at the earthquake in Japan, or the iminent one in California, for example. More than 40 years ago, a man named J. Tuzo Wilson published a paper in Nature, describing how ocean […]
For the first time in modern history, researchers have managed to reconstruct a three dimensional circuit of connected cells in the brain, thus offering insight in how it works; the model, which was built using microscopes and a supercomputer offers a novel insight and an unprecedented opportunity to discover how the complex mechanism of the […]
Junk is not only limited to our planet, we have a problem with space pollution as well. In 1978, a brilliant NASA researcher named Donald Kessler predicted that a collision between two pieces of space junk could trigger a cascade of further impacts, which would create a significant quantity of debris which would then cause […]
It is generally believed, and taught in paleontology courses that the oldest evidence of life on Earth is 3.5 billion years old, and was found in Australia, thanks to some bacterial fossils. However, geologists from the University of Texas conducted a study that concluded that the tiny gaps in the Australian chert are nothing more […]
In the aftermath of the 9.0 earthquake, Japan has doubled the number of workers trying to overcome a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, but the situation appears to be deteriorating. The 100 workers at the site continue to battle a situation which appears to be more and more serious with each passing hour; authorities […]
Scientists have dusted and cleaned some X-Ray equipment dating shortly after the discovery of the rays in 1895 and found that it creates some images of stunning quality, compared to its age and simple construction. However, the machine requires a radiation level of 1500 times bigger than a modern X-Ray. The machine, developed by school […]
The process of starbirth is a beautiful yet violent one; newborn stars spew material into the surrounding gas, creating surreal photos, often with glowing bulbs, arcs or streaks. This kind of picture is always spectacular, and ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) managed to catch quite a few of them on camera, delighting astronomers and the […]
It never ceases to amaze me how placebo works when it comes to prices – most people tend to be greatly influenced by the price of an item they buy, when it comes to judging its quality. Believe it or not, it has even become a marketing strategy, to raise your price rather than lowering […]
The situation in Japan is far from calming down; the 9.0 earthquake and the tsunamis it triggered unleashed a chain of events which keep pointing towards a future that can only be dire. In his first official statement since the event, emperor Akihito says events at Fukushima are unpredictable, and he stated that he is […]
It’s been a while since we wrote something about the Large Hadron Collider, but this time, some researchers from the LHC come back with a jaw dropping theory – time travel. If this latest theory of Tom Weiler and Chui Man Ho is correct, than the LHC would be the world’s first machine able to […]
You don’t get any country better prepared for an earthquake than Japan. They know they are at risk, they are prudent, they have the money, the technology, and the work force; and yet, when hit by an earthquake of this magnitude, no matter how well prepared you are, you are in for some massive trouble. […]
The 9.0 (it seems this is the actual magnitude) earthquake that hit Japan on the 11th of March created an absolutely incredible number of aftershocks, some of which were pretty intense on their own. However, a few days before it, as stress built up the subduction area between the Pacific and North American plates, one […]
Pretty much everyone, at least everyone who gives a damn about science, knows about the Large Hadron Collider built in Switzerland; basically, it’s a particle accelerator, a device that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to high speeds and to contain them in well-defined beams, according to wikipedia. But not so many people know […]
The devastating seismic event that struck Japan is affecting the entire world, and even the entire planet. While smoke continues to rise from the catastrophic temblor, Japan seems to have moved 8 feet inland, or even more, according to the USGS. “That’s a reasonable number,” USGS seismologist Paul Earle told AFP. “Eight feet, that’s certainly […]
Last year, researchers reported the finding of the biggest virus yet discovered, so big that it has more DNA than some bacteria; fortunately, this big bad guy only infects a small, unicellular organism and is absolutely harmless to humans. However, the same team of researchers comes back with another discovery, that the virus itself can […]
Amidst all the stuff that’s going on for NASA right now, they can still find the resources to strike a $753 million deal with Russia for 12 round trips to the International Space Station, paying about $63 million a seat. “It’s an 8.5 percent annual increase,” NASA spokesman Josh Bluck told Space.com, referring to the […]
