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As any traveler surely knows, it’s always cheaper if you travel one way; especially if you go to Mars. Recently, two renowned scientists made a proposal that startled the whole scientific community: one way trips to Mars. The whole purpose would be to colonize the planet faster and more economically, pretty much in the way […]
JAXA, the Japanese space agency is becoming more and more active these days, as Japanese researchers are getting involved in more and more ambitious projects. Recently, a probe they sent out returned home with grains of dust gathered from an asteroid, a feat without precedent in history. The finding could provide valuable insight into the […]
You know those days when you go to the beach, and it’s just too hot outside, so you have to use some cream and all ? Well, it’s a little harder if you’re a whale. A recent study conducted that a whole lot of whales displayed blisters caused by sun damage. Laura Martinez-Levasseur, from the […]
That’s right people, all the life on this beautiful planet (yep, that includes you) could descend from alien zombies. Well, this is indeed a slight imagination leap, but what I’m talking about are viruses; dead viruses, to be more exact. Dead viruses who contained information, enough information to pave the way for lifeforms to appear. […]
Researchers have confirmed the presence of a previously undiscovered structure located in the center of the Milky Way, a discovery likened with the discovery of a new continent on Earth, in terms of scale. Doug Finkbeiner, an astronomer at Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who discovered the structure using NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray […]
The next step in prospecting and mining has always been a subject of speculation and theories, ever since the days of Jules Verne. For decades, an idea that flourished more and more was to gather up potato-sized magnanese nodules, rich in nickel, cobalt and manganese, that are very valuable in large quantities. The problem is […]
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN has taken another step towards its goal of finding the so called ‘god particle‘: it recently produced the highest temperatures ever obtained through a science experiment. The day before yesterday, 7 November was a big one at the LHC, as the particle collider started smashing lead ions head-on instead […]
The world’s highest third generation (3G) mobile network meets the world’s highest mountain, in what is a historic setting of a service station. Ncell, a mobile phone and internet operator in Nepal set the station at an altitude of 5200 meters above sea level, near the village of Gorakshep. “The speed of the 3G services […]
About twenty years ago, pretty much every nation on the globe agreed that biodiversity has to be protected, and significantly reduce the damage done to it by 2010. Well, as you probably know, it’s 2010, and there have been no big results – quite the opposite. More and more animals are going extinct each year, […]
The lead singer, rock legend bat beheader has done pretty much anything you can do in this life. He played in front of thousands, ate/drank/smoked/injected pretty much everything that can be, had motorcycle accidents, never ate right, and yet, at the proud age of 61 he’s alive and kicking just as he ever was. Researchers […]
This seems to be the one of the most asked questions these days; what’s my opinion on it ? You should worry about it just as much as you worry about a brick suddenly falling in your head – probably less. After decades of development and hard work (yeah, that’s right, people from all around […]
Amber is not very common, but you can’t say it’s really uncommon either. Bugs in amber – that’s rare, but a huge “stash” such as the one that was found in India – that’s really something out of this world. The bug “collection” that was unearthed seems to suggest that the Indian continent was not […]
During the year 241 B.C., the play was set for the big game. The players were the relatively young and ascending Roman Republic and the old declining Carthage empire; the stake was high as well: domination around the Mediterranean sea, in a series of conflicts called the Punic Wars. The remains of an ancient sunken […]
The problem of a water shortage has been on the table for quite a while now, and as time passes, it is becoming more and more of a probability. Especially the United States and other heavily populated and industrailized countries are threatened by this issue. A detailed analysis conducted by National Center for Atmospheric Research […]
This amazing snailfish is just one of the animals new to science that have been uncovered by Oceanlab scientists; the expedition was studying one of the world’s deepest trenches, an environment thought to be void of fish of any kind, but researchers were surprised to find out that even the bottom of the trench was […]
An asteroid threat to Earth seems like something we are going to have to face, sooner or later – and people are starting to aknowledge this fact; take Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart for example. He is among a group of people that are championing the need to be prepared in case of such an […]
Scientists working for the UN reported today that they have erradicated the Rinderpest virus, a virus that is deadly for cattle. Rinderpest would be only the second virus erradicated by mankind, after smallpox. It caused massive damage in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, having a survival rate of only 10-20%. The UN’s Food and […]
Animals are great; if you’re not convinced, perhaps the story of Pearl, a black lab abandoned at an animal shelter will change your mind. Pearl was adopted by the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, where after training she was certified as a search dog. In July this year, she was deployed to Haiti for two […]
When early galaxies formed, there was a surprisingly high rate of new stars being formed, which was explained by major galactic collisions; however, recent evidence suggests that in fact the answer is much simpler, and not nearly as violent. Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile have observed three ancient galaxies […]
After an exciting discovery of a habitable earth-like planet, skepticism settles back in as a second team of scientists casts some doubt on the claim. Nicknamed Gliese 581 g, the planet in case stirred up the scientific world, promising to be the holy graal of exoplanets after it was discovered by Steven Vogt of the […]
In was is a historic day, US doctors have officially begun the first trial of using human embryonic stem cells, as a result of the green light they got from regulators. The controversial method has been on the table for quite a while, and now The Food and Drug Administration has given a license to […]
It is always better to prevent than to treat, but when you have no other choice but treatment, the absolute best thing you can do is treat it early.However, by the time the first symptoms appear, it is often too late to do anything. Thus, helping victims cope with it is very difficult as it […]
Yosemite is one of the best places to visit in the whole world, and it’s been fascinating people from all over the world since it was declared a national park in 1890; huge granite cliffs, splashing clear streams, massive sequoia groves and epic waterfalls all contribute to its unique charm. Among these natural wonders, a […]
In a slapp across Beijing’s face, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to imprisoned Chinese scholar Liu Xiaobo, for “his long and nonviolent struggle for fundamental human rights in China”. The decision of the Nobel jury goes totally against the Chinese government, who claims Liu Xiaobo is nothing more than a criminal. The Nobel […]
This is perhaps not the right attitude and I’m sure people will frown, but I have to say I had very mixed feelings when watching the video. An Ukrainian lion tamer, Oleksie Pinko was brutally attacked by two lions during a representation, and it was all caught on tape by tourists. But there are some […]
I’m really not sure what to think about genetically modified food; in theory, it seems like one of the best ideas ever, but if we don’t fully understand the ramifications of the modifications, it can have really harmful effects. But still, the study I’m going to tell you about is not that. It’s about the […]
In case you don’t know, a few days ago a toxic red sludge “broke free” from a Hungarian metal plant reservoir, and the damage it has done is huge. Several people have been killed, over a hundred have been injured, and the damage done to the nearby houses and the environment is very significant. But […]
It’s always nice when new species are discovered, and this time it was an expedition from Papua New Guinea that made the discovery. A frog no bigger than a peanut, a brilliant green katydid with bright pink eyes and a white tipped tail mouse are the stars of the over 200 newly discovered species. The […]
The Google Lunar X-Prize is a great initiative that awards $20 million to whoever manages to fly a robot to the Moon, travel 500 meters and then send pictures back to the Earth first (prizes drop for 2nd, 3rd, etc). One of the most interesting competitors, the Romanian team fought a year’s worth of bad […]
The Cape ground squirrel takes sex very seriously. For the males, the scrotum is about 20% of their body length, and the penis is twice as long; if you don’t believe me, this particular image will probably change your mind – but be warned ! It will be burned onto your brain for quite a […]
A recently discovered planet is just about the right size and is in the right place to host life; as a matter of fact, astronomers seem quite sure it hosts life, and we’re talking more than microbes. Still, current technology doesn’t allow scientists to search for chemical markers of life. About 20 light years away, […]
It seems that more and more species are threatened by extinction, and this doesn’t apply only to animals. A recent analysis conducted the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew together with the Natural History Museum, London and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) concluded that 22% of all the plants in the world are […]
I’ve seen a whole lot of pictures of the red giant spot (it’s about as big as Earth), but this one is by far the best one so far; and it’s been posted by an amateur astronomer, Björn Jónsson, on one of my favorite forums: unmannedspaceflight – lots of great pics and discussions there. Well […]
A long lost footage of the best minutes of the moon landing (Neil Armstrong going down the ladder) has been found in Australian archives and will be released next week in Sidney. Wait, What ?! How do you lose footage of the Moon landing ? Just like that, according to Australian archivists. The film was […]
Just a few days ago I was telling you about the APOD Wallpaper software, that automatically changes when a picture is uploaded to APOD. This time, the software is a bit different. It has to be said, some of the best pictures and wallpapers ever have been posted on National Geographic, but downloading them is […]
No, the people in the photo are not sniffing the bra or… something. This is Emergency Bra, or Ebra, for short may very well be the thing that saves your life; literally. How does it work ? Well, it converts into a respiratory mask. Good thing about it is that since it has two cups, […]
The future is here, baby ! Robot archers, that’s what it’s all about ! This little humanoid robot, nicknamed iCub may be using just arrows with suction cups, but hey – you have to start somewhere ! Italian researchers developed an algorithm that can teach the robot how to shoot arrows. So, after being taught […]
Fossil hunters have recently unearthed the fossil remains of a species that can easily claim the title of the horniest dinosaur ever to be found. Kosmoceratops lived some 76 million years ago, in the warm and wet swamps of (what is today) Utah; but what’s really fascinating about him is the fact that he has […]
Well despite what you may think, the oil industry is doing better than ever. With a length of 468 meters, this giant will be exploiting the Prelude gas field, about 500 km away from Australia, relying on a Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) plant. However, the vessel will be too far away from land to […]
Well the title is a bit deceiving, so let me clear this out a bit: this 100 year old Belgian tree doesn’t talk, in the old fashioned way. He does however, run a website, have a few thousand facebook friends and he tweets pretty often. I’ve gotta tell you, I absolutely loved this idea ! […]
Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have conducted a study showing that the deletion of a particular gene makes mice smarter by unlocking a mysterious part of the brain, thought to be totally unflexible until now. When the gene, RGS14, is disabled, mice learn how to figure out mazes faster and more effective than […]
As any amateur photographer can tell you, in order to take a clear picture, you require a good light source; so in poor light conditions, the solution was the intense flash. However, there are some obvious disadvantages. Still, computer scientist Rob Fergus started thinking if we actually need such an intense light source, or if […]
A probe that has been launched no less than 30 years ago has come across a force that has baffled the scientific world and could rewrite the laws of physics. In 1983, Pioneer 10 took some photos of Jupiter, then left the solar system. However, it’s being pulled back to the Sun by a force […]
Well this is definitely not your average fossil hunt, by any standards. The excavating team was doing it’s thing, just as in any other day, when they heard a weird scraping sound. Gino Calvano, a paleontologist at the San Diego Natural History Museum was nearby, heard the sound, and headed straight towards the point of […]
When I saw this picture, it was morning, my eyes hadn’t opened up quite yet, and I thought “what’s so special of a picture of a road?”. But then it hit me. It wasn’t a road. It’s a Louisiana waterway literally covered with dead fish, crabs, stingray, eel, and there have been reports of even […]
As the dramatic decline of the tigers becomes more and more abrupt, it seems more and more possible that pretty soon, we will be living in a world without tigers. Numerous plans and various approaches have been taken, but the results have been pretty scarce so far, and the fate of these wonderful felines seems […]
Robotics is developing faster and faster, partially thanks to the technological growth of Japan, which has quite some awesome plans for the not so distant future. This time however, it’s a team of researchers from University of California, Berkeley, led by Ali Javey that is in the spotlight. You see, it’s not the strength that […]
About 125 million years ago, these hunchback dinosaurs roamed today’s central Spain, measuring approximately 6 meters and feasting off of smaller animals of all sorts. However, what’s really surprising about the dinosaurs is its “hump”, a body structure never before seen in dinosaurs. A recently exposed skeletal structure revealed some unique features that has researchers […]
Recently, numerous developments in Alzheimer research have been made, including a ‘brain pacemaker‘ and the discovery of an extremely promising chemical, p7c3, that might help treat patients. This time, researchers went for a different approach; what happens in Alzheimer is that the brain basically grows some lumps of protein, developing formations known as amyloid plaques […]
Seahorses are just as elusive as they are cute, so diver Neil Garrick-Maidment, the executive director of the Seahorse Trust was absolutely thrilled when he spotted a 1.5 inch long baby female seahorse “clinging onto a piece of seagrass”. This trule remarkable sighting was made in the waters of Great Britain, in the Dorset waters, […]
