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Scientists from the University of Bath have revealed what may very well be the first law of evolution, which has a huge importance. The study was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and it shows the fact that evolution drives animals to become increasingly more complex. They analyzed fossils from the crustacean […]
Recently, more and more people are beginning to claim that the melting of glaciers caused by global warming is all fuss for nothing. Well, that couldn’t be further from the truth! According to the official figures published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) the world’s glaciers are continuing to melt, at a higher rate than […]
Scientists from the American Geophysical Union published some fascinating findings concerning some unexpected luminous spots on Jupiter caused by its moon Io, which they have observed. Io is in fact in some ways similar to Earth, in that it causes auroras on its mother planet. It also has the most spectacular volcanic activity in the […]
We’re gonna take small break from science and relax with the fine arts of the 20th century. Recently, Saatchi made a thorough and relevant top of the greatest artists of the past century. While much to my shame I can barely recognize just about half of the first 100 and a much smaller proportion of […]
While you’re sitting at home (or somewhere else) enjoying your internet connection you are probably not thingking about the 1.6 billion people across the world with no access to electricity. That’s roughly 1/4 of the world’s population! Something good to think about when you’re really pissed that your computer can’t support the latest shooting game. […]
Nature has its own way of protecting itself, and we should have already learned this (the hard way), because so many catastrophes have happened as a result of man’s destructive work. Look at the damage caused by the recent tsunamis; they would have been almost neglectable if we hadn’t destroyed the plankton, which has a […]
Nature published these findings of scientists from Houston, Texas, about the original proportion of oxygen isotopes in the Sun. This problem is still not fully solved, and it has even split the science world into two groups, which published contradictory results from analyses of lunar soils, believed to contain embedded solar oxygen because the Moon […]
An amateur Dutch archaeologist named Jan Meulmeester made a startling find which pleases scientists: an amazing collection of 28 flint hand-axes, dated by archaeologists to be around 100,000 years-old. He found them in an area about 13km off Great Yarmouth. Jan Meulmeester diggs regularly for mammoth bones and fossils in marine sand and gravel delivered […]
[digg-me] [reddit-me]After it was proved that Homo floresiensis (”Man of Flores”, nicknamed Hobbit) is a different species than humans, the tiny skeletons found in the caves of the Pacific islands of Palau let to the theory that similar remains found in Indonesia are a very unique species. The Palau skeletons which are from 900 and […]
Back in September, a meteorite crashed somewhere in Peru, scaring locals and digging a hole in the ground, but pleased scientists which had the opportunity of studying it. But it behaved so strangely that in fact it forces scientists to rethink the way alien objects behave when entering Earth’s atmosphere and when they hit out […]
The Cassini spacecraft has made numerous valuable discoveries along the time, such as the ‘building blocks’ of life on Titan, as well as the mountains there, and the partial rings of Saturn, and now scientists eagerly await the dive of the probe into the water plum of Enceladus, a moon of Saturn. This will be […]
Researchers from the University of Maryland started researching some characteristics of bacteriae from Chesapeake Bay that could lead to a process of converting large quantities of all kinds of plant products (including leftovers and trash) into ethanol and other biofuels. This sounds pretty dreamy but it’s quite possible as the technology is not at all […]
Astronomers from the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario have spotted (with the aid of cameras, of course) a meteor falling to Earth; this is quite a rare occasion and scientists from many fields are eagerly awaiting the recovery of the meteorite and the start of the studies. They spotted a giant fireball Wednesday […]
As you know (or at least should know), butterflies and moths are known for their metamorphosis from catterpillars to their adult form. This radical change involves not just a change of look, but it also includes changes in lifestyle, diet, sensorial impulses and many many other differences. So it would seem very probable that the […]
Mars has fueled many speculations for many centuries, and just several decades ago it was proved that there is no macromolecular life there. But still, there are numerous phenomenae that make it resemble Earth, such as avalanches. Whatsmore, recently scientists studying images from The University of Arizona found never-before-seen impact “megabreccia” and a possibly once-habitable […]
This project was backed up by U.S., Italian and German partners and it promised to be the next step in taking pictures of celestial objects. It consists of a giant binocular telescope on Mount Graham, Ariz, and it recently made its first picture, using the its twin side-by-side, 8.4-meter (27.6 foot) primary mirrors together, achieving […]
About 2.3 million diagnosed with diabetes just in the UK, and it’s estimated that some 750.000 people have it but don’t know yet. Most of them have diabetes type 2, which is caused mostly by obesity and usually develops in middle age. Type 1, or insulin-dependent diabetes, is a less common autoimmune disease that results […]
Viruses are sub-microscopic infectious agents that need other cells in order to reproduce. In fact, some scientists claim that viruses are not living beings, as they do not meet the criteria of the definition of life, because they don’t have cells; but they do have genes and evolve by natural selection. Still, they […]
For a whole lot of time Mars has fascinated scientists, which during the time made some crazy theories, of whch some included martians living there, or a lost civilization that used to live there, and that kind of stuff. Now, they are sure that nothing else except microorganisms live there, but who knows what tomorrow […]
Despite of the all the efforts (which by the way, are not as numerous as you may think) which have been done, pollution and global warming are still “hot” topics, with no great solution in sight. Some studies claim that things are not as bad as we believe, others claim that it’s worse. Still, one […]
About a year and a half ago, the Natural History Museum in Oslo, Norway had announced the discovery of one of the largest dinosaur-era marine reptiles ever found; we’re talking here about a 15 meters (50 feet) feet long sea predator known as a pliosaur. This fossil (of over 150 million years of age) was […]
Japanese invent more and more things with everyday that passes, some inventions being stunning and very useful, while others are just neat tricks, the kind you do at a barbeque. Still, every once in a while, they create something which could be groundbreaking; and when you stop to think about the so-called “heat-island” problem of […]
The idea of a comprehensive encyclopedia has been launched a long time ago, and the internet was the perfect way to make it possible and to promote it and make it popular. The internet has done its job too well, because the computers which hosted the encyclopedia were overwhelmed and couldn’t keep it alive when […]
I’ve always found it strange that beavers are considered by some pests; besides being amazing animals with some amazing habits, they also have been proven to have a positive effect during the droughts which occure quite often these days. They can help mitigate the effects of drought, and because of that, their removal from wetlands […]
Think of the territory which was once cald the wild west; what’s the first image that pops up in your head? For most, it will probably be a dusty scenery, with some bush rolling about, an image of solitude. If you thought about that, then you were pretty close to the truth. During the last […]
The science of clothing has evolved greatly: we have light skiing suits that keep us warm at -20 (and more) Celsius degrees, we have clothes that allow transpiration from the inside to get out but don’t allow water from the outside to come in, and also a whole lot of other inventions which aid our […]
There are still so many things we don’t know about our solar system, and if by some way we manage to acquire information about it, probably many mysteries would be solved. Still, it’s always nice to see that scientists are not wasting time and almost every week they find something incredible. For example, gaps in […]
To understand this, you need just a very basic knowledge of chemistry, nothing fancy. When small parts of organic matter break down, they could go into rivers or ponds where they could cause a buildup of yellow-brown organic matter that amasses as the tiny plants die. Of course, this matter decomposes into something which is […]
Probably all of us have, at a certain point, went on a trek in the mountains, or at least went up a hill of some sort. The shortest way to walk on flat terrain is still a straight line, but it has been proven that if you are going up a hill, zig zagging is […]
I had every bit of admiration for BP when they announced they were going towards some greener alternative, although this meant cutting back on some profits. Under the leadership of former CEO Lord Browne, British Petroleum had made steps to move its business model beyond only petroleum and into newer and greener energy sources. But […]
The return of three Antarctic marine science research vessels marks the crowning of one of Australia’s most ambitious International Polar Year projects, a census of life in the Antarctic seas. The ships (Aurora Australis and collaborating vessels L’Astrolabe from France and Umitaka Maru from Japan) came back from the Southern Ocean, their decks overflowing with […]
Everyday you hear about something that cures (or almost cures) cancer; some stand out and are quite effective, some are not. This drug appears to be in the first category, as it is highly potent compound with a unique structure, and scientists are thrilled to have found it. It was discovered by a collaborative team […]
A long time ago, sharks had no natural enemy; they were on top of the trophic chain. All this has changed when man entered the chain, and suddenly (in geological terms) there was no animal safe; some were forced into extinction, many more were threatened, and all feared dire days. Although this may sound a […]
A laser is an electronic-optical device that produces coherent light radiation. It’s very useful in various fields, such as medicine (bloodless surgery, laser healing, survical treatment, kidney stone treatment, eye treatment, dentistry), industry (cutting, welding, material heat treatment, marking parts) research (Spectroscopy, laser ablation, Laser annealing, laser scattering) and many many others. Now picture the […]
This has been talked about for ever, and as much as we admit it or not, a big mass of people is in fact quite easy to manipulate, because of our… flock mentality. Results from a study at the University of Leeds show that it takes a minority of just five per cent to influence […]
What seemed to be a very natural and obvious conclusion needed a whole lot of studies and research to be proven; terrestrial planets might form around many, if not most, of the nearby stars which are similar to the sun, or at least resemble it greatly. These studies suggest that life may be actually quite […]
A new study has shown that not even a square meter of the world’s oceans has been left untouched by human activities. Oceansystems face probably the largest of threats from humans including overfishing, pollution, and rising ocean temperatures and ocean acidification caused by global warming. The study has been led by an international team of […]
Nowadays almost everybody, even most bad ass bikers wear safety helmets, and there is a very good reason for that. Because science has evolved significantly, their design and material are so good that they can save your life in most cases! Now, things have gone to a bit higher level, as Brycen Spencer, an engineering […]
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a strategy to capture, store and even recycle carbon from vehicles, in this way keeping the carbon from finding its way from the car to the atmosphere. In their vision, a car with zero emissions and completely free of fossil fuels is really close. Technologies that […]
That’s right, from the sandy fields of Sahara, scientists have uncovered the bones of two new ferocious dinosaur predators, of which one kills, and the other feasts off the leftovers. The fossils belong to some previously undiscovered species that roamed the Earth about 110 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. One is called Eocarcharia […]
This could be the plot for a Dr. Doolittle movie, without the talking to animals. Things were as follows: The villagers (from Carrbridge, Scotland) were upset because Tulloch Homes, a developer, had an industrial plan to build houses and destroy a part of the forest and wildlife, and which would increase the population by a […]
As expected, genetics evolves everyday and finds more new and unexpected solutions to some of the most puzzling problems we have faced yet. Such a problem was the ethical side of using embrionic stem cells. But now, it seems it won’t be necessary to figure out whether it’s ethical or not, because we can bypass […]
The pterodactyl derives from the word Pterosaurs, which means “winged lizard”. Pterodactyl means in fact “winged finger”. When you hear about them, you think about some huge, majestic creature, gliding and searching for its next victim. Don’t think that way any more! A fossil suggests that about 120 million years ago, a pterodactyl so small […]
When Swedish researchers published this theory of theirs, nobody took it seriously. Without paying much attention to the scientific community, they pursued and tried to prove what they were claiming. It seems now they have managed to present evidence which supports their way of viewing Earth’s internal core. The findings may be of significance for […]
This sounds truly great, and I was quite surprised to see it, but it’s a reality. Scientists invented the Prius of ocean-going submersibles — a new “green” robotic glider that runs on energy absorbed from the heat of the sea, rather than batteries. This is one of the best ways of achieving energy.Another thing […]
Charging your cell phone may be as simple as a walk in the park – literally. Scientists have created a mechanism that harvests the mechanical energy from the knees while you are walking. To prove this fascinating concept, they used six volunteers which wore the device while walking on a treadmill and were able […]
Birds evolved from lizards, (nearly) all scientists agree about that, but strangely enough there is still a debate around when the first bird showed up in the Mesozoic scene. While paleontologists who have studied fossils think that birds evolved from dinosaurs about 60 million to 65 million years ago, right when the dinosaurs went extinct, […]
Traditionally, drugs, cures, chemicals and medical devices are tested on animals to give some insight on how these would react on humans, but more and more people are trying to find an alternative to this, including scientists involved in ICCVAM. So they have made a plan to further reduce, refine and replace the use of […]
Researchers at at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have achieved something that many people call the Holy Grail of Nanoscience; this in fact reffers to the fact that they have used for the first time DNA to guide the creation of three-dimensional, ordered, crystalline structures of nanoparticles (particles with dimensions measured in […]
They say the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. You can simultaneously love and hate somebody (and something, for that matter) at the same time, but you can’t love them and feel nothing for them at the same time. So if we were to continue in that manner, hating somebody doesn’t neccesarily mean […]
