Tibi Puiu -- author profile on ZME Science

Moon Jellyfish morphs back into symmetry after losing limbs

A novel, previously unseen self-repair mechanism was reported by a team of researchers at Caltech who studied the moon jellyfish. A lot of animals, mostly invertebrates, grow back their lost limbs after these are bitten off by predators or lost in an accident. The moon jellyfish, however, employs a different tactic altogether: instead of expending a lot of energy to regrow its lost limb, the animal re-arranges the limbs it has left to regain symmetry. Even when it's left with two limbs out of its initial eight, the jellyfish will still re-arrange itself. This sort of mechanism might prove extremely useful in designing self-repairing robots.

Why there weren't dinosaurs in the Tropics during their early history

Some 30 million years after dinosaurs emerged, they managed to rise up and dominate much of the world - then all clumped together under a supercontinent known as Pangea - except the tropics. Why dinosaurs proved so successful in higher latitudes, but failed miserably in the tropics has perplexed scientists. A possible explanation might be that during those times the tropics had an unpredictable climate, rapidly shifting from wet to dry due to a high concentration of carbon dioxide. This hypothesis is supported by a detailed analysis performed on samples collected at the Ghost Ranch in northern New Mexico, a site rich with fossils from the Late Triassic Period.

World's thinnest light bulb built using a graphene filament

A group of international researchers unveiled the world's thinnest light bulb. Remarkably it uses a carbon-based filament, just like Thomas Edison used in 1879 for the first truly commercially-viable incandescent bulb. Unlike Edison, however, the group used carbon in its pure form and ultimate size limit - one atom-thick graphene sheets. Remarkably, the tiny bulb emits light visible to the naked eye. Of course, these sort of designs aren't about setting milestones, though it's always interesting to see how low or high down the scale you can go with engineering. Mostly, graphene-based light sources might prove useful for optical communications where bits are transmitted via packets of photons, instead of electrons.

Glass in Martian craters might hold clues to ancient life

Sampling impact glass from the ancient craters that litter the surface for Mars might prove key to settling a long debate: did Mars ever harbor life? Researchers at NASA believe this is a great lead after the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) currently hovering above the red planet found deposits of glass. These were formed by impacts with large asteroids, whose blast trapped and preserved any matter it came across: dust, soil or any plants or bacteria (if there ever were such things). Cracking open these glass time capsules and peering inside could, thus, be one of the best places to look for.

All chimps - wild or captive alike - now classed as 'endangered' in the US

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports it has classed all chimpanzees, whether captive or wild, under the Endangered Species Act. Previously, chimpanzees kept captive in labs for biomedical research, entertainment or as pets were classed as "threatened".The USFWS director Dan Ashe agrees that this has transmitted an erroneous mixed message to the public. Whether captive (and hopefully cared for) or living in the wild, all chimps belong the same species, and this species is definitely endangered and in dire need of help.

These seeds purify water by killing bacteria. Just add them along with sand in water

Since the time of the ancient Egyptians, people have using the grounded seeds of the Moringa oleifera tree to clean water. Scientists found that some of the proteins contained in the seeds interact with the bacteria in the water, killing and clustering them. Eventually, the bacteria lump falls down to the bottom of the watery solution, and makes the water safe to drink. Now, a team at Penn State reports it's uncovered the mechanism that allows the "miracle tree" seeds, as they've been called before, to purify water. In those places of the world where there isn't any access to clean water (850 million people), the moringa might hold true to its name and provide a cheap, sustainable solution to the problem. Just grow your own water filter and decontamination "device".

Mercedes' own response to Tesla's home battery

Daimler, the giant auto maker from Germany, is releasing its own version of a large-storage battery on the heel's of Tesla's heralded Powerwall. Branded under Mercedes-Benz, the battery pack is destined for both automobiles and home use. So far, a 2.5 kWh each version has been made public, with Deimler claiming it can be packaged in up to eight modules bringing the total capacity to 20kWh worth of energy - more than enough to power a typical home or even a small business.

Some chimps like to drink alcohol habitually. "So, a chimp walks in a bar..."

It's nothing new to hear about chimps or monkeys drinking alcohol, most often stolen from unsuspecting tourists, but a new research which documented the chimpanzees of Bossou, south-eastern Guinea, for the past 17 years found some engage in habitual drinking. It's the first evidence of habitual drinking outside humans. Like humans, some enjoy the brew more often than others, while some totally abstain from the habit.

SpaceX's Dragon capsule passse critical safety test - closer to ferrying astronauts to ISS

The SpaceX Dragon crew capsule's milestone safety state which took place the other day passed NASA's approval board. Back then, the capsule was launched atop a trunk powered by eight SuperDraco engines to a height of 1,187 meters (3,900 feet) at 345mph. The capsule then separated from the trunk and deployed three parachutes that touched it down for a splash in the Atlantic, very close to shore.

This computer clocks uses water droplets, manipulating information and matter at the same time

Computers and water don't mix well, but that didn't stop Manu Prakash, a bioengineering assistant professor at Stanford, to think outside the box. Using magnetic fields and droplets of water infused with magnetic nanoparticles, Prakash demonstrated a computing system that performs logic and control functions by manipulating H2O instead of electrons. Because of its general nature, the water clock can perform any operations a conventional CPU clock can. But don't expect this water-based computer to replace the CPU in your smartphone or notebook (electrons speed vs water droplet - not a chance). Instead, it might prove extremely useful in situations where logic operations and manipulation of matter need to be performed at the same time.

Blood and collagen found in 75-million-year-old 'crap' fossils

Traces of soft tissue and red blood cells were discovered by accident by a team of paleontologists and biologists while they were playing around in the lab with so-called "crap" fossils dug up more than 100 years ago in Canada. Usually, museum curators are very proud and picky about the works they display or hold in storage, and any analysis that involves breaking or sectioning a fossil is most often than not strictly forbidden. But these fossils - like a claw from a meat-eating therapod, the limb from a duck-billed dinosaur and even the toe of a triceratops-like animal - were fragments in poor conditions that nobody really cared about. One man's trash, another man's treasure.

Your smartphone could be a digital ornithologist: software recognizes birds from photos

A group at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology developed a sophisticated facial recognition software specially designed to identify birds for photos. Called the Merlin Bird Photo ID, the software works its magic by employing a combination of image recognition algorithms, deep learning techniques (so it learns from its mistakes and gets better in time) and human collaborators who upload photos and help the software by first identifying the key features that makes a species distinct. The team is now working at turning the software into an app, so that anyone with a smartphone can take photos of a lingering avian wonder then instantly come to know which species it is.

Why people hate GMOs (when they shouldn't)

There are some important issues nowadays in which scientists and laymen seem to disagree on. For instance, there's climate change. While the world's leading climate scientists agree with 95% confidence (very very very likely) that the world's climate is changing in an accelerated manner due to greenhouse emissions as a result of human activities. But only 50% of Americans agree that global warming is happening and is caused by humans. Then there's the age old Darwinism vs creationism schism. A major survey found that 31% of the US public believed that humans had existed in their present form since the beginning, with a further 24% stating that humans had evolved under the guiding hand of a supreme being. In contrast, only 2% of AAAS scientists said humans had not evolved in their time on Earth. Of course, then there's the case of doctors vs so-called anti-vaxxers - people who refuse to vaccinate themselves or their children because they think these cause illness, not ail or prevent it. But maybe one of the most heated debate in which scientists and the public is mostly opposed concerns genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Paleontologist finds new horned-dinosaur species, calls it "Hellboy" then writes a marriage proposal in the paper

Canadian paleontologists discovered a new dinosaur which looks strikingly similar to the famous Triceratops. While the two are very similar in many respects, the new species stands out due to the size and shape of its facial horns and the shield-like frill at the back of the skull. It also had a longer nose horn than Triceratops, and two small horns above its eyes. The radiating frill and pentagon-shaped plates must have made the dinosaur look like a crowned Triceratops. Once you consider this, it's not surprising how the team named the new dinosaur Regaliceratops peterhewsi (regal is latin for royal, and Peter Hews is the paleontologist who first discovered the fossils).

Early bird flew through ancient supercontinet's forests with arrow feathers

Paleontologists have discovered the wonderfully preserved fossil of a prehistoric bird which flew through the forests of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana, some 115 million years ago. The humming bird-sized bird had a spotted, ribbon shaped tail. The remains were discovered in a sedimentary hotspot in nowadays Brazil. It's the first of its kind discovered in South America and one of the oldest birds discovered from Gondwana, a supercontinent that once encompassed Africa, Antarctica, Australia, India and South America.

World's largest telescope to begin construction soon following $500 million funding

High up in Chile's Las Campanas Observatory, right in the middle of the desert, work will soon start to build the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) - the biggest telescope in the world once finished. The site was cleared before, but actual deployment just recently commenced following a $500 million pledge from 11 international partners. The total cost of the project is $1 billion. Once the giant telescope will be open, sometime around 2021, it will be used to peer the sky for neighboring potentially habitable planets, dark matter and dark energy, supermassive black holes and detect some of the first light emitted in the Universe.

The most unhealthy, calorie ridden, sodium rich restaurant meals in America

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit health advocacy group based in Washington, DC, just released its Xtreme Eating Awards. Hint: it's not that kind of award you want to win or even get mentioned. CSPI officials ranked the highest calorie, fat-rich meals served in restaurants across the country. This year, they say, they've been completely blown away by what they found on the table served to Americans.

Military energy report downplays oil in favor of renewable energy

In its “Energy Security and Sustainability Strategy” (ES2 Strategy) report, the US army outlines the steps it should take to increase resilience and adapt to an ever changing world. Energy makes the go world round, and for an army it's literally a matter of life and death. Not surprisingly, the authors note given the current climate of affairs the "army will prioritize solutions that reduce multiple resources. The Army can use energy more efficiently by purchasing energy efficient products, modernizing buildings and utility systems, purchasing energy efficient vehicles, and using more renewable/alternative energy sources." Basically, being dependent on a finite resource (oil) is a security vulnerability, which isn't something new. Military strategists have been aware of this for a long time - maybe the most during WWII when many lives were claimed in battles over oil rigs in North Africa and the Middle East, and oil refineries were being bombed on the clock. What's changed today is the feasibility of renewable energy sources. Drawing the line, in those situations were oil is a liability (and we can only expect these to become ever numerous in the future), it'll be scrapped in favor of renewable energy systems, both for generating and storing energy.

This is what the largest emerald in North America looks like

The Houston Museum of Natural Science is one of the most impressive in the world, curating rare and indigenous wildlife from Texas, a huge sundial and one of the biggest paleontology halls. As expected in a city with some of the richest geologists in the world, we can also find here a large exhibit of over 750 crystallized mineral specimens and rare gemstones. Among these sits the "crown jewel", a 1,869-carat natural emerald crystal, the largest ever discovered in North America.

Meet the world's first robot chef, for the rich and lazy

Tired of cooking your own food, hiring help or eating out? Tired of eating, for that matter? Just kidding. The last one might be for another cyberpunk story. Today, however, I present to you the first robotic chef in the world. For an one time (most likely very hefty) fee, you too could have your very own gourmet chef, at your disposal 24/7. Using its fine mechanical arms, the chef bot from London’s Moley Robotics could potentially cook any kind of food. For instance, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Shanghai this past weekend the robot chef cooked and served crab bisque (soup). Right now this is the dish it knows how to make, but once it'll start shipping it should come complete with 2,000 recipes, according to the developers.

Biologists discover two new marsupial species that have sex until they die. Ironically, they're endangered

A team of biologists from Queensland discovered two new species belonging to a marsupial genus known for mating until it literally dies. The antechinus marsupials look like pouched mice or shrews, but as cute as they may look, they're real beasts in the sack. Typically, once the breeding season starts, males embark in vicious sexual orgies 14 hours at a time, and it doesn't stop for two or so weeks. At the very end, the males suffers from diseases, internal bleeding, their fur falls off and some get ulcer. Ultimately, all that whole lotta love kills them, and rather painful too. Though they've just been discovered, the new antechinus species are considered endangered by the researchers.

Stephen Hawking doubts someone of his talent and condition would be supported today as he was

Speaking at the event that celebrated his 50th year as a fellow at the University of Cambridge’s Gonville and Caius college, Stephen Hawking expressed his doubts whether a young student of similar talents, as well as disabilities, would receive the kinda of support he had. The renowned physicist, now 73 years old, has been living for the past decades with a devastating motor neurone disease that doctors believed would kill him while he was still in his early 20s. His determination to live on despite being confined to a wheel chair all his life is inspiring, but it's unlikely he could have survived to live this day were it not for his fellows and support at Caius College; nevermind his outstanding achievements in physics.

Household gadgets powered wirelessly using a typical Wi-Fi router

A couple of simple gadgets, like a smartphone or low-res camera, along with a couple of sensors were powered wirelessly using a simple Wi-Fi router you can find in any home. Moreover, not only were the gadgets remotely powered, the router also continued to transmit Wi-Fi signals unobstructed. This simple, but powerful demonstration gives to show how the so-called "Internet of Things" might grow to turn your home into an over-sized smart gadget.

NASA's deceleration system for Martian landings looks like an UFO. [UPDATED: launch postponed]

Today, NASA is performing a new test round for its low-density supersonic decelerator (LDSD), which is basically a giant stop and break system for heavy duty crafts landing on Mars. Both the Curiosity Rover (2012) and the twin Viking probes (1976) used the same parachute to slow their supersonic descent and land safely on the Martian surface. These parachutes, however, can't handle more than a tone worth of payload, and if humans are ever to touch the planet's surface they'd need to land 15 to 20 tones of payload. The LDSD system deployed by NASA and slated for a test run above the Pacific might be the technology we've been waiting for.

Amazon holds contest to see who's the best robot that can replace a warehouse worker

Over the weekend, Amazon - a company that employs more than 50,000 people in its warehouses alone - organized a contest where engineering teams from all over the world were invited to present a robot that can fulfill simple warehouse duties. Though some of the bots were quite impressive, all of them failed miserably at some point, even at a task so simple as grabbing an item from a shelf and placing it in a tub. It's not that they couldn't do this, rather they were so slow and clumsy that any warehouse worker witnessing the display might think he's a superhero and his job is safer than the pope in the Vatican. Well, that may be true ... but who knows for how long. After all, any repetitive task can be automated, eventually.

Lightsail responds after eight day of silence in space. Bill Nye: 'it's alive!'

After a successful launch and deploy to Earth's orbit on the back of the powerful United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket out of Cape Canaveral, the LightSail went silent for eight straight days. Spirits were high and nerves tense, but apparently the craft managed to solve the communication glitch all by itself. Like always, "have you tried switching it off and on?" Following the self-reboot, engineers immediately uploaded a new patch and hopefully we'll see Lightsail unravel its photon harvesting wings soon enough. The LightSail, currently strapped to a CubeSat, might then be deployed through and out the solar system.

Scientists light the brain of mice to recall their lost memories

A team at MIT in collaboration with the Riken Brain Science Institute in Japan activated the lost memories of mice, suggesting memory deficiencies like amnesia have more to do with accessing data, than storage itself. Though far from applicable to humans, the research does show that it's possible, in theory at least, to help patients with retrograde amnesia (who'd lost their memories following a trauma or brain injury) live a normal life once more.

Third of endangered saiga antelope population killed by unidentified disease

Some 120,000 critically endangered saiga antelopes were killed by a mysterious disease since mid-May in Kazakhstan, where 90% of the population lives. A third of the endangered saigas died in this sudden lapse that is still leaving veterinarians and researchers in the area scratching their heads. In the past two decades, the long-nosed antelopes went through a number of similar tragedies, both at the hand of disease and over-hunting.

Leaving the nest: early humans migrated from Africa through North, rather than South

Archaic homo sapiens left Africa, the wellspring of humanity, some 60,000 years ago migrating North, via a route passing through what is known today as Egypt, rather than South, through the Arabian Peninsula, as previously proposed. The findings were reported by an international team of researchers which used novel techniques to produce whole-genome sequences from 225 people from modern Egypt and Ethiopia (six modern Northeast African populations). This is far from the last word, but the picture the researchers paint seems to be consistent with other evidence, such as early human-made tools and human fossils found on the proposed route (Israel), and is in better agreement with what we already know about the genetic mixture of all non-Africans with Neanderthals.

Tattoos can cause severe adverse reactions in the skin 1 out of 10 times

One in four people in the US has a tattoo, and if you're part of this statistic you know how painful getting one can be. The problem is that, like the tattoo itself, that pain lasts and in some cases the adverse reactions caused by the foreign body, i.e. the dye, can endure for months and months at a time. This isn't something new per se, but what's surprising is how frequent this happens. Researchers at New York University asked 300 or so people in Central Park if they had a tattoo and whether they experienced anything out of the ordinary following the procedure, like redness and scarring. Almost 10% confirmed they had developed abnormal reactions. Of these 6% had itching, scaly skin and swelling , and 4% claimed they went through pain, itching and infection and these didn't stop for at least four months.

Mice in space grow thinner skin and more hair, but how safe is micro-g for humans?

Six mice were spent 91 days on board the Internationals Space Station in 2009, or seven years in the life of a mouse. Comparing their tissue characteristics with mice living in the same conditions, only on Earth, researchers found micro-gravity induces some peculiar biological changes. For instance, the mice's skin was thinner and their hair grew more. Like humans, mice too suffer from muscle and bone atrophy in micro-gravity, which prompted scientists to consider them as reliable models for studying the effect of living in space for extended periods of time. Previously, human astronauts have complained about skin dryness and irritation and these latest findings seems to suggest that these may indeed be caused by micro-gravity.

Global carbon pricing schemes value climbs to $50 billion - still a trifle compared to oil subsidies

According to the World Bank, the total value of carbon pricing schemes - including emission trading schemes (ETS) and carbon taxes - has climbed to $50 billion worldwide, slightly up from the previous year. This despite Australia repealed its carbon pricing mechanism in July 2014, at the lead of prime minister Tony Abbott. In 2004 less than 1% of the world's emissions were capped or taxed. In 2005 this climbed to 5%, while in 2015 carbon pricing covered around 12% of the world's emissions according to the World Bank report. Though 50 billion might seem like a lot of money, progress is still slow. When you consider oil and gas is subsidized by $5.3 trillion a year, which basically means governments are paying to pollute, it all sounds like a joke.

New research challenges aging consensus by reversing mitochondrial anomalies in 97-year-old cells

A team led by Professor Jun-Ichi Hayashi from the University of Tsukuba in Japan, known as the white lion to his students given his white hair and powerful voice, challenges the current consensus surrounding the mitochondrial theory of aging, proposing epigenetic regulation, and not genetic mutation, may be responsible for the age-related effects seen in mitochondria. When Hayashi and colleagues tested their theory, they reversed the age defects in cell lines collected from 97-year-old Japanese participants. They then singled out two genes involved in glycine production which they believed are responsible for the mitochondria reversal. The findings thus suggest that a glycine supplementation could help curb aging or age-related diseases.

UN: fewer hungry people worldwide, but still a long way to go

The number of hungry people worldwide has dropped to 800 million, down from a billion more than a quarter century ago. Progress in Latin America and East Asia accounts for the massive reduction in the number of undernourished people, but the UN warns there are still many challenges that need to be overcome if world hunger is to end by 2030. The report proposes rich countries divert more of their resources to poorer environments, while vulnerable countries need to invest more in social protection schemes, incentives for rural areas and promote peace in conflict ridden countries like those in Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa still has the highest level of undernourishment in the world - almost one in four people there do not have access to enough food.

Some influential studies are "sleeping beauties", going unnoticed for decades after publishing

A study which combed through millions of research papers published over the span of a century measured their citations and found many obscure studies surfaced much later into attention and were recognized for their true worth. Typically, if a study hasn't received any citations within the first couple of years since it got published, it will likely stay as it is - forgotten and uninteresting. But this is no rule. The exception are those works of science that were ahead of their time. For instance, the statistical model the researchers employed cites one paper published by Albert Einstein and others which didn't became influential until 1994. This insight into the "science of science" will prove useful in assessing citation dynamics in general.

Key protein that prevents Ebola outbreak found. Preventive vaccine now in works

A breakthrough study confirmed what scientists have long suspected: Ebola attaches itself to a singular, "gateway" protein to infect hosts. When mice were genetically engineered to lack the protein, these failed to become infected. Though extremely early, these promising results suggest Ebola outbreaks could be contained using vaccines that inhibit the protein either to stop the spread or prevent infection altogether. Nine out of ten infected Ebola patients die, and last year was the worst outbreak in history killing more than 11,000 people in Africa in official numbers, and likely twice as much in reality.

Ecstasy might be used to relieve Anxiety in Autistic adults in new clinical trial

Some researchers are considering a pilot treatment that involves MDMA, the active psychoactive ingredient in ecstasy pills, to help adults diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) ooze out anxiety. ASD adults typically report difficulties in bonding with other people and often feel nervous in a social setting. Though illegal in the United States, MDMA has been recently explored for psychotherapeutic purposes with promising results reported in battling addiction or post traumatic stress disorder. If it receives approval - and there's a great deal of paperwork that needs to be filled before they get the green light - this would make it the first MDMA-assisted therapy for the treatment of social anxiety in autistic adults.

Scientists make single-molecule diode: the farthest we can go with electronic minituarization

A team at Columbia University School of Engineering designed a new kind of diode comprised of a single molecule capable of halting or releasing current (a diode is basically a valve) that is 50 times better than previous molecular diode attempts. The breakthrough was its novel design: a clever tweaking of the tiny diode's environment, and not the molecule's structure itself as previously described. Though the currents involved are genuinely tiny, it might be enough to make this the first molecule-sized diode worthy of real world applications. Other universities and labs around the world also demonstrated working molecular resistors, switches or transistors. Together, all of these form the basis of a new kind of nano-circuitry that's as miniaturized as it can get. Already, these sort of circuits are plagued by the uncertainties and challenges that follow at the quantum scale. But can we build electronics even smaller than this? it's unfathomable at this point, but imagination must not succumb. Somewhere, there's a common ground between fantasy and reality, and who knows what we'll get

UAE moves to space: new space agency, academic programs and Mars mission in 2020

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced on Monday its strategic framework for a newly established space agency, and also the first academic space program in the federation. The Space Research Center will be the first of its kind in the Middle East, as will be a graduate degree program in Advanced Space Science at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology and Orbital ATK Inc. What's the federation's end game, though? Last year, UAE announced it will launch an orbiting probe around Mars in 2020. Is it all about scientific missions or, like Dubai's towering skyscrapers, merely a show of force, of grandeur? Apparently, it's part science, part showoff, part money. It's hard to tell at this point which weighed more when UAE first considered its new space agency and subsequent missions.

Robot learns by doing. Starts off plain stupid, then grows smarter - just like us

Using a novel deep learning algorithm, a team at UC Berkeley demonstrated a robot that learns on the fly and performs various tasks that weren't pre-programmed. It starts off shy and clumsy, but eventually gets the ahead of it. For instance, after it stomped a bit around its environment, when given a new task, but with no further instructions, the robot learned by itself to assemble LEGO bricks or twist caps onto pill bottles.

LHC back in business after two year hiatus: already breaks record

Two years ago, following the discovery of the Higgs boson - heralded as one of the greatest scientific achievements of this century - the Large Hadron Collider at CERN was shut down for much needed maintenance and upgrades. A few days ago, the massive particle accelerator was shifted into gear and powered up. The first test run wasn't only successful, it set a new record by producing collision energies of around 13 trillion electron-volts. The highest speed that was previously achieved was of only 6.5 TeV. More tests will be made throughout the remainder of this month and June.

Obese teens are much more susceptible to junk food commercials, brain scans reveal

It's no secret that TV food commercials stimulate pleasure and reward centers in the brain, after all advertisers wouldn't pay big money for them to air if they didn't entice people to order more. In fact, food advertising has increased dramatically over the past 30 years. Teenagers are exposed on average to 13 food commercials on any given day. At the same time, childhood and adolescent obesity in the US has been on the rise fast and worrisome, so we can't help but notice the connection. Now, researchers at Dartmouth found overweight teens are disproportionately affected by TV food commercials, as key brain regions that control pleasure, taste and - most surprisingly - the mouth are all much more stimulated than those teens with less body fat. The findings are important since they suggest overweight teens exposed to this kind of environment will experience further difficulties when they try to lose weight. A further insight is that dietary plans should also target subsequent thinking concerning eating food, not just the temptation.