gear Push settings
Despite lacking a rigid skeleton, octopuses have a remarkable coordinated locomotion. Using high-speed cameras, a group at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem found the octopus achieves this by precisely and independently moving one or more of its eight legs to crawl its body, even when its facing a different direction. Moreover, there is no discernible rhythm or pattern to this undulating leg movement, making the octopus unique in this respect. It's controlled chaos, and only the octopus itself completely knows how it pulls all this off.
Electronic cigarettes have soared in use among high school and middle school kids, tripling relative in 2014, while cigarettes have reached an all time low. The report was issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which found 4.6 million middle and high school students were current users of any tobacco product, which includes e-cigs despite the fact that it doesn't burn or contain any tobacco - just the nicotine.
Chins are weird and make little evolutionary sense.
These two dim dots are none other than Pluto, the dwarf plant, and Charon, its largest moon. Though it might not look like much, this is the first ever colored photograph of the two cosmic bodies ever taken. We have NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft to thank for this, which used its Ralph color imager to make the shot from 71 million miles away.
Today, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket blasted off Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 4:10 p.m. EDT (2010 GMT) carrying the Dragon capsule to orbit, on slate for its rendezvous with the International Space Station where it's tasked with a resupply mission. Instead of dropping in the ocean like the gazillion other rockets before it, the first stage of Falcon was programmed to make a controlled landing on a "autonomous spaceport drone ship." The rocket did land on the spaceport, which is amazing in itself, but unfortunately it flipped over post landing and was damaged beyond repair. So, just almost!
Some 900 Dutch citizens have banded together and filled a lawsuit against the Dutch government over human rights, citing the latter's lack of decisive action against climate change. This is the first such case in Europe where a group of citizens holds its government responsible for ineffective climate policy, and also the first to be based on human rights law.
This is the first map in a series of maps that will be stitched together to form a grand picture of how dark matter is distributed across the Universe. Dark matter is basically invisible, which is why it's called dark in the first place, so scientists rely on indirect observations like the gravitational effects it poses to locate and map it. What we're seeing now is only 3% of the area of sky that the Dark Energy Survey (DES) will document over its slated five-year-long mission.
Strange weather in the East Coast and California's worst drought in history have been linked to a peculiar warm mass of water out in the Pacific Ocean. A new study published in the Geophysical Research Letters explain its origins and how its warm waters also warmed surface temperatures out in the coast, and displaced marine life, a major concern at the moment. Worth noting that research thus far suggests that 'warm blob', as it's been dubbed, has been primarily attributed to natural variability, and not global warming.
The threat of punishment and humans' seemingly innate tendency to copy other behaviors form the basis of a psychological model that explains how traditions or entrenched ideals are formed and maintained in society.
There's so much you can do with a smartphone today - much more than just browsing the web or social media. When you can combine them in a network, however, the possibilities might be endless. For instance, researchers at Caltech and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) are working on an earthquake early warning system based on the collective data fed in by thousands of smartphones. Only a couple of countries in the world give vulnerable cities an early warning - often just enough time to hit cover and save your life - but smartphones are virtually ubiquitous all over the world, even in poor countries which lack basic infrastructure like roads or flushing toilets.
European males are on average 11 centimeters taller now than they were in the 1870s, which is quite a lot by all means. Everybody makes fun of Napoleon for being short, but as a matter of fact he was actually standing above average height! Thank better nutrition and medicine for that. Even so, what in the world are the Dutch eating that makes them this tall? The average Dutchman now stands over six feet tall, and while the rest of the world seems to have stopped, they're still riding a growing trendline. The answer by actually be evolutionary - the tall Dutchmen have more babies.
"Hodor. Hodor, hodor; hodor hodor... hodor" said Hodor.
Some kids seem to enjoy school activities more than others, but while efforts seem to be concentrated on improving teaching, a new research suggests that genes play a major role as well - sometimes they're more important than the environment, as far as motivation and doing well in school are concerned. The findings were reported by a team led Yulia Kovas of Goldsmiths, University of London that aggregated a swath of studies which included 13,000 twins aged nine to 16 from six countries, including the UK, Canada, Japan, Germany, Russia and the US.
Just like our own planet, the sun goes through seasonal changes in its activity, waxing and waning over the course of nearly two years driven by changes in newly discovered bands of strong magnetic fields. This variability helps shape the sun's long-term 11 year cycle, yet again part of a longer cycle that lasts 22 days. Largely unpredictable, the sun constantly spews highly charged particles known as coronal mass ejections which can severely affect power grids, satellites and even airplane passengers. During its seasonal peaks, however, the sun is much more prone to solar storms, so understanding how this cyclic variability happens is key to averting a potential disaster.
The same genes that are responsible for height have been linked to heart disease as well, according to British researchers who found shorter people are at a greater risk. For every 2.5 inch difference in height, the chance of contracting a heart disease increases by 13.5 percent. In other words, a 5-foot-tall person has an average 32 percent higher risk of heart disease than a person who's 5-foot 6-inches tall, according to the researchers.
Renewable energy and electric vehicles not only need high density storage mediums to become successful, but ones that can be replenished fast as well. A new battery, very similar to the popular lithium-ion variety used to power your smartphone, charges in under a minute and still works perfectly after 7000 cycles. Moreover, the battery is based on aluminium making it both easier and cheaper to manufacture.
You've heard all about controlling robotic arms or prosthesis with thoughts, but what about genes? In a deceptively simple experiment, bioengineers in Switzerland combined a classical brain-computer interface with a biological implant, which effectively allowed a genetic switch to be operated by brain activity. Imagine wearing a "funny" cap fitted with electrodes and a tiny implant, then controlling your mood by thinking the perfect "pure" thoughts that would cause a cascade of feel good chemicals. The same could be made for painkillers, so you can deliver just the right amount. Really, there's a lot of potential floating around this thing.
There aren't blood vessels you're seeing, but itsy bitsy strands of artificial spider silk. For some years, researchers have been investigating synthesizing spider silk for a variety of very good reasons. Spider silk is the toughest known natural material, and has been explored in its synthetic variety for use as bulletproof vests, synthetic skin, biodegradable water bottles and even computer electronics. These strands presented above, however, serve a different purpose: as a bandaid meant to help regenerate skin and heal wounds.
By the time you've finished reading this sentence, thousands of lightning bolts had already discharged enormous amounts of energy onto Earth's surface. Now, a map compiled by NASA using two decades worth of measurements shows which places are hit most often. For instance, land is hit more frequently than the ocean, as is the equatorial region compared to other regions of the globe.
Blind rats learned to navigate mazes just as well as those that could see, after scientists strapped a simple geomagnetic compass - the kind that's found in your smartphone - fitted with electrodes directly onto their brains. Though they're not naturally equipped to sense magnetic fields, the rats' brains demonstrated tremendous plasticity and effectively incorporated a new sense! We can only presume this is possible in the case of humans as well, so the team from Japan which made the study believes blind people could incorporate a similar device - minus the brain hack. There are other alternatives after all, like say an iPhone app that acoustically alerts the blind person which way to turn or a sensor directly fitted into a walking cane.
If you ever dropped food on the pavement, don't feel too bad. It'll get scrapped bit by bit by the ever resourceful ants, so you're actually doing a favor to these swarms of critters. But have you ever wondered why ants can eat ice cream, hot dogs or just about every kind of junk food we unwittingly throw at them? Some researchers looked at this question and found that some particular ant species have seemingly adapted to consume junk food.
Settling a long debate, Princeton University researchers found that a class of materials called frustrated magnets - called so because they're not magnetic, though they should be - can exhibit the Hall effect. This happens only at very, very low temperatures close to absolute zero, when physics transcends familiar, classical behavior into the quantum domain. First observed in 1879 by E.H. Hall, the effect describes how current deflects to one side of the ribbon when an electrically charged conductor is subjected to a magnetic field. It has since been exploited for use in in sensors for devices such as computer printers and automobile anti-lock braking systems. The current study is particularly important since it may reveal more about how transmission of frictionless electricity works (superconductivity), while also offering hints and clues that may help researchers devise the oh-so heralded quantum computers of the future.
Higher education is facing a crisis, and professor Bowen offers some solutions.
Some might argue that 7 billion people, while a lot in itself, isn’t necessarily a cause of concern, not even when this is expected to sour to 10 billion by 2100. After all, 7 billion people can be squeezed in an area the size of Texas, but I think that’s besides the point. Yes, the […]
Homes cleaned at least once a week with bleach might provide an environment that puts children at a higher risk of catching viral infections. The observational study suggests the modest, yet significant higher risk of infection may be due to a suppression of the immune system. Also, it might very well be due to the irritant properties of volatile or airborne compounds generated during the cleaning process that can damage the lining of lung cells, sparking inflammation and making it easier for infections to take hold.
Exploiting plants' natural response to stress caused by drought, researchers have engineered crops that build tolerance and can withstand longer without water, while also extending the point of no return when no amount of water can save the withered plant. This "buy more" time method might hopefully help vulnerable crops fare better during long periods of drought - like the one currently in full swing in California, which is experiencing its worst drought in recorded history - and increase yields.
A new test analyzes the free DNA inside the blood of pregnant women to detect Down Syndrome in fetuses with a greater accuracy than standard tests. The test can be made by women between 10 and 14 weeks pregnant.
Most of the 100 children hospitalized with acute flaccid myelitis haven't recovered from paralysis and weak limbs. CC BY-NC 2.0
After carefully calculating the net nutritional gain polar bears have from land-based food like caribou, berries or bird eggs, researchers found this is far from enough to compensate their typical fat-rich diet based on marine mammals. In consequence, as ice retreats and spring hunting season shortens polar bear populations are expected to fall dramatically. According to the study, two-third of the world's polar bears will disappear by mid-century and by the end of the century the could follow, if the issue is not addressed.
More than half a century in question, scientists now confirm that the tiny blackpoll warbler flies nonstop over the North Atlantic Ocean each autumn from New England to South America. The trip takes three days, during which the bird foregoes any rest, sleep or meal. It also absorbs its own intestines.
There's a fine line between being seen as a non-conformist (higher status) and sloppy dresser (lower status). But what sets apart people like Zuckerberg from regular people like you or me (apart from money, of course...)? Well, to get to the root of this silver line, the Harvard researchers studied the observers themselves to understand what are the boundary conditions and signals that make people confer higher status to nonconforming individuals over conforming ones.
I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding the biblical sacrifice, but also the psychoanalytical reasoning behind sacrifice. Quite brilliant.
The flying lemur is the most accomplished mammalian glider.
In a most unexpected find, the same University of Manchester team that isolated graphene for the first time in 2003 found that water flattens into square crystals - a never encountered lattice configuration - when squeezed between two layers of graphene. The square ice qualifies as a new crystalline phase of ice, joining 17 others previously discovered. The finding could potentially improve filtration, distillation and desalination processes.
Stem cells were coaxed to grow into 3D dimensional mini lungs, or organoids, for the first time. These survived for more than 100 days. These pioneering efforts will serve to deepen our understanding of how lungs grow, as well as prove very useful for testing new drugs' responses to human tissue. Hopefully, once human tissue grown in the lab becomes closer and close to the real deal (cultured hearts, lungs, kidneys etc.), animal testing might become a thing of the past.
Some 30 new bean varieties have been cross-bred by researchers in order to make these more resistant to rising temperatures. Often called the 'meat of the poor', more than 400 million people around the world depend on beans for their daily protein intake. Being particularly vulnerable to temperature means that bean farms, whether large or home subsistence gardens, could be obliterated by climate change this century. The new beans can withstand temperatures three to four degrees Celsius greater than those currently grown by farmers, enough, the researchers say, to keep yield losses to a minimum.
When you gotta eat... well you gotta eat, even in space. On March 23, 1965 astronaut John Young launched to Earths' orbit aboard the Gemini 3. With him was crewmate Gus Grissom and a two days old corn beef sandwich, smuggled without permission on the spacecraft.
Boeing, a major aircraft and military manufacturer, just secured a patent that describes a Star Trek-like force shield, meant to protect vehicles operating in war zones. I love it when engineers are inspired by science fiction - it means that the authors really did a great job, not only at foreseeing the future, but also in offering the incentive to bring these sort of contraptions to real life.
The Stork’s Bill (Erodium circutarium) is a incredible plant which evolved its own seed drilling mechanism. The vitamin K rich seeds have little tails that coil and uncoil with changes in humidity, burying the seed. When there's high humidity, the seeds turn clockwise. When it's dry, they turn counter-clockwise. This makes it particularly brilliant since no matter how wet it is outside, the seeds will still drill in the ground like a screw, thereby increasing the chance of sprouting.
A longitudinal study that spanned 26 years found that kids exposed to their Finish parents cigarette smoke are at risk of developing plaque in their carotid arteries as they grow into young adults. Previously, second-hand smoke exposure at a young age was linked to later breast cancer and a predisposition to nicotine addiction. Psychologically, having parent smokers may influence children to become smokers themselves when they grow up, triggering a cascade of other health risks.
For its annual report, the The Alzheimer’s Association in the US claims that more than half of all reported early Alzheimer's diagnoses aren't disclosed to the patient by doctors. This is a situation reminiscent of the 1960s and 1970s when cancer diagnoses were rarely disclosed to patients as the disease was generally seen as incurable. Like in the case of the long-gone cancer stigma, doctors may be doing more harm than good. They don't want patients to lose hope, but being kept in the dark as to their suffering can be equally bad, if not worse.
Even if it was first discovered more than 90 years ago, insulin is still out of reach for a shocking 29 million diabetes patients in the United States. Yes, this is the 21st century, but even so a staggering number of human beings are forced to live in life threatening conditions. But why is insulin so prohibitively expensive? According to Jeremy Greene, M.D., Ph.D., and Kevin Riggs, M.D., M.P.H., it's all because of a series of perverse updates to insulin treatments. While insulin made today is more effective in some instances, previous versions weren't that bad. In fact, they saved lives. Yet, these were replaced with very expensive versions, while the older, much cheaper versions are nowhere to be found on the market anymore. The two authors explore all that's wrong with today's insulin big pharma.
Cloning the woolly mammoth is a life long dream for many geneticists and biologists, but the challenges are numerous. Now, we've come a step closer after researchers replaced snips of elephant DNA with those from the woolly mammoth. The changes they've made so far are stable, and even though there's still much work ahead, little by little scientists are building the mammoth's genome one piece at a time. Next stop: actually cloning the mammoth, effectively resurrecting the species back from the dead.
At a recent meeting of the of the American Chemical Society, researchers proposed a novel source of valuable metals: waste water. They proposed a method that could be used to extract valuable metals like gold, silver or titanium which end up in waste water plants via the city's sewage.
Biologists at Tufts Universityand University of Minnesota showed for the first time that bioelectricity signaling between cells guides embryonic brain development in tadpoles. When bioelectricity signaling was hampered, the frog embryos developed abnormal brains. By using drugs that target specific ion channels, the researchers could restore normal patterns to ensure healthy brain growth. This means that careful manipulation of electricity inside the tissue can repair abnormalities caused by genetic defects. It can also be used to grow all sorts of wacky stuff.
Spring officially began in the northern hemisphere Friday on 22:45 GMT, around 30 seconds later than last year. As it so happens, every year spring gets shorter by 30 seconds to a minute, losing the time to summer which gets longer by the same amount. Whose to blame for the later bloom? Why, that wretched tilted axis of course.
The 2008 financial crisis explained by the Federal Reserve chairman.
While in South American during his 1830 expedition with the HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin came across the fossils of two peculiar hoofed species which he was unable to classify properly. One was Macrauchenia, which looked like a camel with the head of an ant eater, and the other was Toxodon which had the body of rhino, the head of a hippo and the teeth of a rodent. So, was the Macrauchenia related to the camel or the ant eater? Who was Toxodon's closet cousin, the hippo or the rhino? Darwin was puzzled and to no avail concluded these were “perhaps one of the strangest animals ever discovered”. But Darwin didn't have the tools we have today. Now, using a ground breaking technique researchers have sequenced the collagen of a myriad of South American mammals, including Darwin's 'strangest animals' and finally found their real taxonomy.
Barton Bibler, a long time employee of Florida's environmental protection department, was forced by his boss to take a leave of absence after mentioning 'climate change' in a public hearing. He was told not to come back at the office until he had sought mental health examination. This was in response to a violation of an unwritten policy that came into effect after Governor Rick Scott came to office, a notorious climate change denier and controversial figure, which bans employees from using 'climate change', 'global warming', 'rising sea level' and such from public communication. If you find this hilarious, you can stop laughing now. This not the Onion. This is Scott's Florida - the land of ignorance and denial, or so he would like us to believe.
Long before T-rex claimed the top dog spot among terrestrial predators, a vicious crocodile ancestor that walked on its hind legs was at the top of the food chain during the Triassic. The fossils of the Carnufex carolinensis, also known as the the “Carolina Butcher,” were discovered decades ago in the Pekin Formation, a geological formation in North Carolina's Chatham County. It was only recently that researchers reanalyzed the fossils and concluded they were dealing with an all new predator that roamed the Earth several million years before dinosaurs were even around.
