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It's official: 2014 hottest year on record - all without the help of El Niño

At the beginning of the year, ZME Science reported 2014 was the 18th straight year to have surpassed average 20th-century US temperatures and the warmest year yet, according to the Japanese meteorological agency. Now, both NOAA and NASA have confirmed 2014 to be the warmest on record, despite there was no El Niño event.

Republican voters shift their stance against Climate Change, yet those in Congress lag behind

Republican voters, not to mention those in power, are notorious for their refutal of man-made climate change, yet according to a report issued by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication many of them have shifted and believe it to be real. As more and more republican voters become convinced of the reality of man-made global warming and its effects on the climate, it's only common sense that those elected will come to terms as well.

Overwhelming majority of college students prefer paper books to digital copies

Despite ebooks and their corresponding electronic reading devices have become extremely popular, surprisingly most young adults and children prefer reading in print than digitally. Moreover, this trend seems to be on the rise after a momentary preference for ebook readers.

Songbirds inspire next generation hearing aid, faithful to the human ear

Hearing loss can be devastating: you lose friends, become ever trapped inside your head and alienated from society. Yet, only one in five Americans choose to use a hearing aid. Some ignore their problem, others can’t afford treatment or installing a hearing aid, but really a lot of people choose not to wear a hearing […]

Insulating nanowire cloth that traps heat perfectly could help tackle climate change

Researchers at Stanford University coated flexible textile fibers with metallic nanowires to form a cohesive network that acts as a fantastic thermal insulator. The flexible material, made of silver nanowires and carbon nanotubes, is knitted together so closely that the space between individual strands is smaller than the wavelength of infrared radiation. As such, the radiation emitted by our bodies bounces between the skin and cloth.

Long working hours increase the risk of alcohol abuse

The most comprehensive study of its kind found that people working more than  48 hours a week are at a significant risk of drinking more alcohol than it is safe. The study’s findings which included correspondents from 14 countries were not affected by socioeconomic status or region, suggesting they universally apply.  The findings bear important […]

The oldest stone cutting tools may have sparked the evolution of language

A far from definite, yet highly interesting explanation for the origin of language was recently proposed – not by linguists or geneticists, but by a psychologists who took an archaeological route. Thomas Morgan, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley presents us with a chicken or the egg dilemma: was tool use proliferated by language […]

Why does it rain so much in London? Well, it's not that much really

Did you know it rains more in Miami, Orlando and NYC than in London?

Inside the human body in real time: GIFs demo the power of CT scan

CT shines in its ability to image tissue inside the body otherwise unapproachable using other methods. All of the GIFs in this post were made from computer images taken using General Electric's Revolution CT, first introduced in 2013. The device is designed to emit less radiation and provide more comfort. Guts, veins, brains and hearts have now been imaged in the gruesomest detail ever.

Naps are key to infant learning and memory consolidation

People spend more of their time asleep as babies than at any other point in their lives, but even if this has been common knowledge for some time we're only beginning to understand what role sleep plays during this key stage. University of Sheffield researchers claim that sleeping is key to leaning and forming new memories for infants as old as 12 months. Babies who didn't nap were far less able to repeat what they had been taught only 24 hours earlier.

Paralyzed rats regain use of hind legs with flexible spinal cord implant. Humans to follow

Swiss scientists demonstrated a flexible ribbon-like implant that attaches itself to a paralyzed rat's spinal cord, allowing the animal to walk again. The prosthetic, described by foremost experts in the field as 'remarkable', works by delivering timed electrical impulses and drugs along the spinal cord. In this particular case, rats aren't that different from humans, and true enough clinical trials are now one step closer. In the future, paralysis might just be another word for "walking funny."

This protein makes you sleepy with the flu, but helps speed recovery

When the flu hits, an unmistakable feeling of drowsiness sinks in. Washington State University Spokane scientists have now found a specific protein that is uniquely involved in sleep responses triggered by the influenza virus in mice. They found that the protein boosts the healing power of sleep and helps recovery. The researchers speculate that it might be possible to develop treatments based on it that might speed up recovery even more.

First man-made biological leaf might actually be useless

If the leaf really works as the hype would have us believe, then it's really a fantastic display of ingenuity.

Biggest indoor farm is 100 times more productive than conventional agriculture

An inspired entrepreneur, Shigeharu Shimamura, took an old semiconductor factory that was abandoned following the 2011 Japan disaster and turned it into the largest indoor farm in the world. Using state of the art growing technology, his company manages to make some 10,000 heads of lettuce per day out of the 25,000 square feet facility. This makes it 100 times more productive per square foot than traditional agriculture, all with 40% less power, 80% less food waste and 99% less water usage than outdoor fields.

Algorithm beats any opponent at heads-up Texas hold’em poker

We’ve come to understand that human players will never stand a chance against a computer with enough fire power at  finite and open games like checkers or chess. Poker is sensibly different because the computer doesn’t know his human opponent’s hands. No matter, a group of computer scientists  from the University of Alberta in Canada […]

Monkeys can also recognize themselves in mirrors, but only with training

Only humans and great apes can recognize themselves when looking in a mirror, but new findings suggest that it's possible for rhesus monkeys to realize they're looking at themselves if trained properly. The findings bear important implications for humans as well, since they suggest patients with impairment of self-recognition can have their condition remedied with training.

Meet the slickest, meanest 3-D prosthetis yet

By combing biomechatronics and aesthetics, William Root developed a prototype that's a custom fit for each wearer, uses a minimal amount of top class materials and assures high mobility, all while looking as fit it came off a SciFi movie.

Why birds crash into planes and cars like a deathwish

Birds are experts at avoiding predators, quickly dodging out of harms way when felt threatened. Likewise, they're fantastic at navigating through crammed environments very quickly woods or packed urban dwellings. Even so, when faced with high-speed objects like cars, not to mention airplanes, the birds seem to make little effort to fly off a path that means most certain doom.

Neil deGrasse Tyson gets his own Late Night show

Following the success of his 2014 Cosmos, the famous astrophysicist and science communicator just nabbed a weekly late-night series for National Geographic Channel called Star Talk. The format and name have existed for some time online as a podcast, where Tyson regularly talks and debates science and major topics concerning it, often featuring celebrities, comedians and scientists as guests.

Toyota releases all its 5,680 hydrogen car patents for free

Major automaker Toyota announced at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that it would release all of its nearly 6,000 patents pertaining to hydrogen car technology royalty-free for the next five years. Officials most likely hope that this sort of move will encourage other auto manufacturers and capital to invest in the hydrogen economy.  […]

Oceans soak less carbon due to global warming

Since the mid-XIXth century average global temperatures have risen by ~0.8 degrees Centigrade, yet this figure would have been much higher were it not for the world’s oceans ability to soak up most of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases. The IPCC estimates that some 90% of the heat trapped by CO2 and methane since […]

Nuclear power wrongfully stigmatized. It's essential to scrapping fossil fuel, top biologists say

An open letter authored by more than 65 biologists calls for conservation groups and efforts to take a step back and rethink their agenda concerning nuclear power, heavily criticized in the past few years following the Fukushima incident. With all its risks and shortcomings, the authors argue, nuclear power is still the most cost-effective “green” solution […]

Finland is warming twice as fast than the rest of the planet

Finnish researchers analyzed meteorological data gathered over the past 166 years and found the country’s average monthly temperatures have increased by more than 2 degrees Celsius. Over the same period, the rest of the planet has warmed by only 0.8 degrees C on average. Overall, Finland and other sub-Arctic countries are warming at double the […]

Long-term memory isn't stored in synapses, meaning it could be restored even when struck by Alzheimer's

For a while, the general consensus was that long term memories are stored in synapses. A new  UCLA research topples this paradigm after experiments made on snails suggests that synapses aren’t that crucial storing memories as previously believed, but only facilitate the transfer of information someplace else, most likely in the nucleus of the neurons themselves […]

Shrimps become less tastier as a result of climate change

The effects of climate change on food stock quality is well documented, yet a new study suggests that climate change might not only affect survival rates of marine life, but also how it tastes too. The findings came after an international team of researchers sought to see how high water acidity affects the sensory quality of shrimp.

Past High Tech, Future Low Tech: Mechanical Calculator Gallery

You might be surprised to find mechanical calculators – completely analog computational devices with no electrical parts – competed shoulder to should with their digital counterparts well until the late 1960s, in some respects surpassing them. These devices, like the  Monroe PC-1421 – a high speed multiplication and division device – were among the most complex of […]

When following goals, people pay attention to progress more than they do to setbacks

Hopes are high this time of year, but before your make your New Year’s resolution you might want to consider an important cognitive bias: when following goals, progress is given a lot more consideration than setbacks. Say your resolution is to lose weight, so next year you’ll be on a diet. Chances have it, according […]

Do people learn anything from Psychology?

Psychology is maybe most valuable when it exposes our inherent biases and what's commonly known as irrational thinking. But you'd expect people to learn and correct their behavior after learning the findings of surprising psychology experiments. For most people, this isn't the case.

Quadriplegic instructs robot hand to flex, move, rotate or grip objects with her thoughts

The latest in brain-computer interface technology was recently demonstrated after woman with quadriplegia shaped a sophisticated robotic hand with ten degrees of freedom using her thoughts. Through the interface, she instructed the robotic hand to move up, down or sideways, pick up small or big objects and even squeeze them. In just a couple of years, […]

Quantum physics used to make virtually uncrackable authentication system

Security experts have devised a novel authentication system that exploits quantum effects to make fraud-proof credit cards or IDs. Called Quantum-Secure Authentication (QSA), the technology relies on the quantum properties of single light beams, called photons, including their ability to be in multiple places at once. Quantum physics keys “We experimentally demonstrate quantum-secure authentication (QSA) of […]

The key to high-temperature superconductivity might lie in manipulating electron spin

Superconductivity or zero electrical resistance at room temperature is any physicist’s dream, but so far the challenges have proven too great. Typically, metals like mercury become superconductive at temperatures close to absolute zero or -273 degrees Celsius. This means that we need to add a lot of energy to refrigerate the material so we might […]

NASA wants to explore Venus in a manned airship, then set up permanent cloud cities

As far as manned spaceflight is concerned, all attention seems to be directed toward Mars, which makes sense after all considering it’s the most Earth-like planet in the solar system. It’s not as hospitable as it was a few billion years ago, though, and because of the long trip that realistically takes at least two […]

Holographic microscopes might be the cost-effective alternative of the future

Microscopes have gone a long since  Zacharias Jansen first invented them in the 1590s. Besides optical telescopes, we now have digital microscopes, atomic force microscopes or, my favorite, electron microscopes. Now, it may be the right time to add a new class to the list: holographic microscopes. While these have been investigated for some time, […]

Fracking banned in New York state over possible threats to public health

New York state officials have chosen to ban fracking also known as hydraulic fracturing after a two-year period of review where numerous ‘red flags’ were raised concerning public health. The decision was made recently  at a cabinet meeting in Albany. No fracking in New York For the past five years, the state had fracking under  […]

Microbial life found 2.4 km beneath the ocean floor - it's the deepest marine drill ever

An expedition that drilled 2,400m beneath the seabed off Japan – the deepest marine drilling ever –  found life in cores brought back to the surface. The tiny, single celled organisms survived there without any oxygen or light, relying only on a harsh diet of hydrocarbons to make means. Because of the limited resources available to […]

Storing info in computers frees up memory in the brain, helping us learn new things better

Widespread use of computers is said to make people dumber or more prone to forgetfulness. It’s true, while we’re less inclined to memorize things such as poems or mathematical formulas, this doesn’t necessarily make it a bad thing. A study made by US psychologists found that when people save information on their computers or phones, […]

One in five Australian homes use solar energy

Amazingly, 19 percent of all Australian households have solar panels or solar water heaters installed, according to  the Australian Bureau of Statistic (ABS). The statistic is even more astonishing when you consider only three years ago five percent of the households had rooftop solar panels. A land of sunshine Of the 19 per cent, 14 […]

Worm 'brain' controls LEGO robot - what this means for the human brain

One of the most interesting projects in science today are the  BRAIN Initiative in the US and the Human Brain Project in Europe, which aim to map all the synapse connections in the human brain, or connectome, and ultimately simulate it. It’s an ambitious project with numerous challenges, but the possible benefits are well worth […]

Magnets could help make less foamy beer

There isn’t a less dreaded sight in any respectable bar than a beer bottle gushing foam. It’s not the bartender’s fault though (not necessarily), since different assortments of beer have their signature foam – some make more, some make less. Breweries nowadays use all sorts of anti-foaming agents, and now food scientists in Belgium – the […]

New process turns CO2 into alcohol using enzymes

We’ve previously told you how our ancestors’ adaptation to metabolizing alcohol which first happened some 10 million years ago may have been essential to their survival. There’s more to it though. The same enzyme that metabolizes alcohol, dehydrogenase (ADH4), may be eventually used to transform CO2 into alcohol, which could be later used as a […]

Stacked "high-rise" computer chips add a new dimension to manufacturing

Moore’s law says that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit doubles every two years, hence doubling also the computing power. Since it was first predicted in 1965, this trend has hold true allowing computers to evolve at an exponential rate. To support the law, scientists tweak one or all of these three main […]

Making walls talk - new technique extracts audio from video

A very simple, yet effective optical technique was demonstrated that can transform video inputs, such as the motion of a piece of paper, into audio. To achieve this, the researchers involved exploited a simple principle that describes how sound waves causes objects in their path to vibrate. If you reverse engineer the vibrations, you can […]

All birds lost their teeth 116 million years ago

A mind blowing international project performed a mass genome sequence to build the entire avian tree and reveal how birds evolved, particularly after the fall of the dinosaurs some 65 million years. A fallen dinosaur kingdom was replaced by a bird republic, as the direct descendants of the dinosaurs began to fill all the now […]

The cost of culture and learning is disease, but it's been worth it

Transferring knowledge from one individual to the other forms the basis of all human cultures, whether we’re talking about learning how to chop wood, how the Earth actually revolves in a counter-intuitive manner around the sun and no the other way around, or how the Earth is a planet in the first place and everything […]

Dragonflies hunt prey like dancing a ballet, similar to the internal model used by humans

Arguably the most efficient predator in the world today is the dragonfly, which boats a 95% success rate. Obviously, there’s more to the dragonfly than meets the eye or more than you would expect from some random insect, at least. One of the reasons it’s so successful may be due to how the dragonfly moves […]

Both seed size and number can be increased at the same time, an important find for food security

For a long time, scientists have believed there’s a sort of net trade-off between the number of seeds and the size of the seed a plant yields. Namely, if a plant yields more seeds, these will be smaller or, oppositely, if a the size of the seed is greater, there will be fewer seeds. Now, […]

How the brain transforms bad experiences into long-lasting and unpleasant memories

Really bad experiences, like going through a particularly stressful or frighting situation, are a lot easier to remember than the things we do a day to day basis, or even those special pleasant experiences. That’s because we’re sort of evolutionary geared to remember those particularly nasty experiences so that we might avoid these in the future. […]

Time for the prosthetic skin: granting touch where its been lost

Brain-computer interfaces have helped prosthetics go a long, long way. ZME Science showed you a couple of such examples, like the case of a mechanical arm remotely controlled by a man using only using thoughts or the mind-blowing high-tech prosthetic by DARPA that empowered a veteran who had lost him limb to perform all sorts of […]

Laser weapon demonstrated aboard US Navy ship - the weapons of the future

Shells and bullets have evolved significantly in the past couple hundred years since they were first used, but in principle they’ve remained the same – discharge an explosive to propel a projectile. The 21st century might finally make way to a new class of widespread weaponry based on lasers. These are powerful, much more accurate than […]

Smart fibers can turn your sweater into a medical monitoring station

The more data doctors have of their patients’ health, the better the treatments they can prescribe. Ideally, you’d want patients to be constantly monitored for key life signs like heart rhythm, glucose levels or even brain activity. Typically, this is only possible in a hospital setting, but what if you want to follow how a […]
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