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Lighting has gone a long way since Thomas Edison ushered in the first mass-produced light bulbs, causing not only a lighting revolution but also sparking an electricity infrastructure boom. Still, lighting isn’t as efficient as one might expect in the 21st century, currently amounting in the US alone to 30% of the energy consumption. The […]
Scientists at MIT have created tiny, millimeter-scale robots inspired by proteins that join together and can fold into various shapes. Though the research is still in its incipient form, these tiny robots could pave the way for the first real-life Transformers. Appropriately called milli-moteins, the robots can’t shape into complex shapes like a car or spaceship. Actually, […]
The much discussed soil analysis samples taken by Curiosity have finally been made public by NASA at the recent American Geophysical Union annual meeting in San Francisco. The findings are indeed exciting, as scientists have read the presence of organic compounds – critical prerequisites for the both the present and past existence of life. However, scientists have yet to be […]
The Voyager probes have provided scientists with invaluable data for the past four decades as they circled our solar system’s outmost planets, and most importantly as they prepare to leave our solar system. Though expected to exit the solar system by the end of this year, Voyager-1 has yet to achieve this. The reason for […]
Society today is trying to make-up for lost time during the western world’s patriarchal culture and bridge the gap between genders. For a safe transition between the sexes in society, however, maybe it’s important to understand where men and women are fundamentally different. A recent study, for instance, shows that men and women view the […]
Passionately considered by its founders as “the biggest breakthrough in propulsion technology since the jet engine”, a still in development reusable engine, which would allow commercial aircraft to travel at incredible speeds both in the atmosphere and sub-orbital space, promises to revolutionize the way we fly. A trip from London to Sydney could be made in under […]
In a breakthrough for nanotechnology, researchers at the Harvard’s Wyss Institute have found the right mix of chemistry and molecular programming to trick DNA strands to fit together perfectly, just like Lego bricks, and thus form various objects and shapes, all based on the scientists’ software design. Thus, a myriad of objects made out of […]
The fist planet from the sun is the unlikeliest place you’d expect to find water ice, but new tantalizing evidence beamed back by the Messenger spacecraft orbiting Mercury suggests just so. On the surface of Mercury, temperatures can reach boiling 752º Fahrenheit (400ºC), clearly water in any state can not exist. At its poles, however, things take a […]
Astronomers using ESO‘s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have discovered the most powerful quasar outflow discovered to date – five times more energetic than the previous record holder. Dubbed SDSS J1106+1939, the quasar outflow is at least equivalent to two million million times the power output of the Sun or 100 times higher than the total power […]
Nanocrystals have always interested researchers since their electrical and thermodynamic properties show strong size dependence, which could potentially lead to some highly efficient new technologies. Scientists at University of Pennsylvania recently showed that nanocrystals of semiconductor cadmium selenide can be easily printed or layered on-top of flexible plastics to form electronic devices. This could potentially open up a […]
The short answer is, no. Not with the naked eye at least, but if you use a highly potent set of binoculars or a telescope, this is indeed possible. There are a number of accounts, some dating back from ancient times, that tell of how star gazing is possible during the daytime. Various old wives’ tales speak […]
Eye contact plays a very important role in human interactions, however a recent research study made by psychologists at UC Santa Barbara found that looking below the eyes is the best place to get the feel of what a person is up to. Besides, apparently most of us are already hard-wired to fix our initial gaze to […]
Paranoia, fear and the prospect of total global annihilation. These thoughts constantly plagued the leaders of the developed world during the cold war, as the two super power of the time, the US and USSR, pranced back and forth in a potentially deadly dance. It was during this time that some of the most devious, inconceivable […]
We could go on about what free will is until dusk and still not reach a conclusion. Indeed, philosophers have been theorizing free will for thousands of years, but haven’t we neglected an important aspect? There seems to be a general consensus that free will is entirely a human trait, but what of other animals? […]
Tonight’s the last chance, for some of you, to experience an eclipse in 2012, and moreover a special kind of eclipse for that matter – a penumbral lunar eclipse. The event will start at 4:14 a.m. PST and end at 8:51 a.m. PST, according to timeanddate.com , and should be visible in East Asia, Australia, Hawaii and Alaska, […]
A recent report released by the UN and compiled by he Met Office and the University of East Anglia suggest the average temperature for 2012 will be about 14.45C, placing it in the 9th position of the hottest years list currently on record since 1850. Still, 2012 is cooler than the past decade’s average, registered as […]
Scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory have successfully tested out the prototype for a nuclear-reactor engine, meant to serve in the future as an “a simple, reliable space power system.” Although the experiment, dubbed Demonstration Using Flattop Fissions (DUFF), rendered only 24 watts of power, barely enough to power a common household light bulb, the system […]
Last week we were all filled with enthusiasm at sight of recent rumors that had Curiosity on the brink of a monumental find worthy of “history books”, no less. Since a soil sample was being analyzed at the moment, people began speculating that something organic in nature may have been found. I personally didn’t have […]
You’ve heard about white color and white noise, but know there’s a new neutral signal that balances the senses, the sens of smell to be more exact – white smell! Scientists at the Weizmann Institute have shown that white odor indeed exists, although it can’t be found in nature, after they created a mixture of various […]
Seems like Saturn and its moons make up for a veritable gamer’s paradise after infrared imaging of the moon’s Tethys surface revealed a pattern that bears an uncanny resemblance to the 1980s video arcade emblem. Actually, this is the second time the Pacman feature has been spotted in the Saturn system, which suggests Saturn and its […]
A new study found a direct correlation between the frequency of cognitive activity at later life and brain health. As we age, the brain’s structural integrity begins to dwindle, however these effects can be hampered to a certain degree by engaging in intellectual activities like reading, writing or playing chess. Any kind of activity that puts strain on the […]
After the Large Hadron Collider‘s monumental find of the Higgs boson, the scientists in Geneva might have made new breakthrough finding. Scientists working with the Compact Muon Solenoid, one of the two major-magnet particle detectors in the LHC, have discovered a new form of matter known as color-glass condensate after studying proton-lead high speed collisions. The Large […]
In 1982, a local resident of Bletchingley, about 20 miles south of London, found the remains of a pigeon while cleaning his home’s chimney. Among the remains, the man found a red cylinder that contained a single sheet of paper marked with 27 codes, each comprised of 4 to 5 characters, delivered through the famous British Pigeon […]
A real life Peter-Weyland, SpaceX founder and self-made billionaire, Elon Musk, has stirred up controversy with his space exploration claims on a number of occasions, mostly because they’re considered rather “too ambitious”. A few months ago Musk suggested that in a mere few decades, his company will be offering $500,000 there and back trips to Mars. […]
Along with technology came a series of new afflictions that plagued mankind. Most of them are psychological, like internet addiction or the ever worrisome jet lag. The latter is a big problem for millions of people regularly traveling in different time zones, causing them to miss hours of sleep, feel extremely tired, not eat well […]
which your pet seems to actually understand what you’re telling him – no matter how silly the actual act of speaking to a dog might seem to you. Whether its catching a ball or climbing up ramps or chairs to get to your bed, dogs learn to understand commands.. The fact that dogs can identify and […]
Of the hundreds of exoplanets discovered thus far, many of them are classed as super-Earths, planets with a mass up to ten times that of our planet. Due to their inherent different structure however, their cores would be far from being similar to that of the Earth, leading many scientist to claim that they might […]
There’s an age long question that even some of history’s greatest free thinkers, philosophers and theologists haven’t been able to answer – are humans good in nature? Many have tried to seek answers to this riddling puzzle, and for many the conclusion was a gloomy one – that man is simply doomed to stray the […]
Previous research has shown that babies still in their mothers’ wombs regularly stretch, swallow and even hiccup. Recent observations have found another item to add on the list – yawning. The doctors involved in the research that identified yawning in fetuses believe this could serve as a new indicator for assessing an unborn baby’s health […]
Today’s birds’ ancestors descended from non-avian dinosaurs according to a recent paper that thoroughly studied Anchiornis (155 million years ago) and Archaeopteryx (between 152 million and 168 million years ago) – the oldest known feathered dinosaurs. Archaeopteryx is so far the oldest bird-like dinosaur found thus far, and since it was first discovered almost 150 years ago, it was thought that […]
There’s a rather common image that might pop inside someone’s head when thinking of penguins – an entire flock of such animals, standing very close together, keeping themselves warm as they confront extreme sub-zero antarctic temperatures. Don’t be fooled, though. According to the results of a mathematical simulation that modeled penguin huddling, the penguins stick […]
NASA officials are flooded with media requests from journalists recently looking to find out exactly what all the fuss is all about. Oh, haven’t you heard? Well I’m getting ahead of myself. Well, apparently scientists onboard the Curiosity rover mission have come across data that’s right “for the history books.” A monumental find, nothing less, […]
In an age where the developing world is shadowed by paranoia in face of waves of terrorist attacks, no measure of precaution is spared. Preventing terrorist attacks has been a top priority for governments for a long time, especially since 9/11, and detecting explosives at critical check-ins like airport and customs makes for the first […]
Astronomers have for the first time confirmed a bridge of hot gas with a temperature of about 80 million degrees Kelvin connecting a pair of galaxy clusters 10 million light-years apart. The discovery is of particular importance since it might help shed light on the missing baryonic matter that has been puzzling scientists for decades. The […]
While current solar energy conversion technology is preoccupied with generating electricity with as much efficiency as possible, researchers at Rice University have invented a new technological set-up consisting of nanoparticles smaller than the the wavelength of light that can transform solar energy into steam almost instantly. Their findings show a registered efficiency of 24%, while current […]
There’s an age old myth that as the moon lights bright and fills the night sky, some people simply stop being themselves. No, I’m not referring to werewolves. After all, some scientists actually thought this was actually worth investigating. As one might expect, no connection between the phases of the moon and psychological disorders has […]
In a remarkable medical feat, physicians at Cambridge University have restored movement in the hind legs of 23 dogs after they transplanted nerve cells from the animals’ noses. The results suggest that the procedure might hold similar promising prospects for humans suffering from spinal cord injuries. The researchers used 34 pet dogs for their experimental procedure, of […]
While the owl is commonly associated with wisdom, make no mistake – it’s a vicious predator of the night. It’s main weapon is its stealth, as it silently dashes through pitch black catching pray off-guard. This remarkable ability of noiseless flight has intrigued scientists who are looking to develop aircraft inspired by the owl. The owl has […]
NASA scientists have announced they have discovered the farthest object discovered so far in the Universe, a 13.3 billion old galaxy or a mere 420 million years after the Big Bang. That’s not to say that its 13.3 billion light years away from Earth, since the Universe has expanded greatly since then and the actual […]
First initiated in 2008 by IBM, the Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE) program whose final goal is that of developing a new cognitive computer architecture based on the human brain. Recently, IBM announced it has reached an important milestone for its program after the company successfully simulated 10 billion neurons and 100 trillion […]
Popular scientific consensus says that DNA code is identical in every cell of our bodies. A new study from Yale University that could pose extreme far reaching consequences in the field tested a highly controversial hypothesis that claimed genetic variations are widespread through out the body. The researchers found that this claim is true. For […]
For his fantastic Lord of the Rings trilogy, director Peter Jackson relied on two volcanoes in New Zealand, Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Ruapehu, to portray Mount Doom. The latter, however, is keen on showing that it can be bad off-screen as well, after geologists warn that it’s nearing an impending eruption. “The current situation can’t […]
Scientists at University of Texas Dallas have made artificial muscles capable of supporting 100,000 times their own weight and generate 85 times more mechanical power than natural muscle of the same size. Applications for this kind of technology are quite numerous, ranging from extremely strong and intelligent textiles to high-temperature applications since the fabric has […]
In a new monumental find, Curiosity data readings suggest that radiation levels on the surface of Mars are very much similar to those in sub-orbital Earth. This means that astronauts or marsonauts can indeed set foot on the red planet, albeit for a limited amount of time. The findings came after the Curiosity rover, still […]
As of 2010 wind power amounted to 2.5% of the world’s energy production with an estimated 25% increase in quota each year. Yes, eolian power is one of the cleanest forms of energy production, but like any other renewable sources, its no entirely all green. During a wind power turbine’s manufacturing hundreds of tons of […]
Researchers at MIT have created a new metamaterial that they used to fashion a concave lens capable of focusing radio waves with extreme precision. The result lens is extremely lightweight compared to its counterparts developed from conventional materials, and could see promising applications in satellite telecommunications and space exploration of distant stars. In many ways […]
Paleontologists have come across the oldest fossils identified as a relative of the giant panda in Spain, dated from 12 million years ago. A highly peculiar find since this unique animals is native to central-western and south western China. The giant panda belongs to the order Carnivora, which is rather ironic since its highly specialized diet […]
Data storage has reached great heights in the past two decades. You can now fit in a typical PC hard-drive thousands of CDs and millions of floppy disks (who else remembers these?). However, magnetic hard drive developers have almost reached the physical limit to where they can cram up data. Researchers at University of Texas at […]
If you ever wondered why you have to pay for broadband on your smartphone or tablet know that it too, like physical commodities, is a limited resource. Voice, text and Internet services, such as streaming video and music are transmitted on a limited spectrum, and at the current rate of deployment, broadband demand will soon […]
The reason why we don’t trade with gold, diamonds or cheese is because these do no offer the exact interchangeable value. Money the other hands, does. If you loaned someone with $50, and the other person returned the money all in coins for instance, you’d still have the same exact value back in your hands. A new […]
