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After a devastating earthquake, most often buildings will crumble trapping people inside its ruins. Search and rescue teams work effortsly in such situation, employing both high tech solutions like heat-seeking or the simple, yet ever effective trained dogs to save people. Twenty four hours after a disaster though, the chances of a person trapped alive […]
Humans are hot-wired to scan other people in their surroundings, and determine whether their trust worthy or not, all by reading various signals like body language, facial expression etc. – the so called first impression. A team of researchers from UC Berkeley have now conducted a study which claims that some people are genetically predisposed to […]
Sensitive robotic arms capable of mimicking the precise movement and manipulation of a human’s hand have been used extensively in the past, especially in delicate research where normally human hands would be exposed to hazardous environments. But a robot controlling a human arm? That’s unheard of. A team of french researchers have developed a system […]
A stroke of pioneering science, researchers have managed to restore hearing to a significant level in guinea pigs by using gene therapy, bolstering hope for a similar procedure to cure human deafness in the future. The therapy works by promoting the regeneration of hair cells in the cochlea, the part of the inner ear which […]
Researchers of Texas A&M University have managed to develop a synthetic compound capable of breaking apart the AIDS inducing virus before it has the chance to infect healthy cells. While the compound doesn’t cure HIV, it may provide effective means of preventing infection. Dubbed, “PD 404,182″, the compound works by quickly ripping and dissolving the virus […]
In a remarkable find, archeologists have uncovered two ancient pits, perfectly aligned with the sun’s natural summer cycle. These suggest that the Stonehenge site was a place for sun worship at least 500 years before the first stone was erected. Archaeologists from the universities of Birmingham, Bradford and Vienna were involved in an on-going survey work […]
On November 26, after countless delays, budget overruns and buckets of sweat, humankind’s most capable machine of landing on and traveling through the red planet will finally touch base and launch towards its ambitious destination. The Curiosity rover‘s lift off is currently scheduled for 10:02 a.m. EST, this Saturday. Also known as the Mars Science Laboratory […]
The term “urban jungle” gets tossed a lot, however it can take a literary connotation when you think of beautiful moss graffiti. As people become more eco-friendly and environmentally aware, the idea of making living, breathing graffiti has become a more green and creative outlet for graffiti artists. Moss paint is a lot more eco-friendly than […]
Dogs have a long history alongside humans, as faithful companions. Besides friendship, however, canines offered humans also the means to keep warm and stylish alike, as their hair was used to manufacture fabrics from cloth to carpets, a practice particular to the North American residents off the Pacific coast. The fact is highly debatable, but […]
A group of ophthalmologists and optoelectronics scientists are currently working on contact lens that can display information directly to the retina. So far the device is quite rudimentary, displaying only one well focused pixel, however further research might allow individuals wearing this special computerized lenses to read e-mails, receive real time notifications of important events or even acquire Terminator-style […]
Currently, China is the world’s largest carbon emissions contributor. Despite their efforts to make energy consumption more efficient, China’s linear industrial growth not only cancels their efforts, but leads to an overall increase of greenhouse gas emissions year after year. On the brink of the highly important U.N.-sponsored climate change conference that starts Nov. 28 in […]
The ever faithful Hubble telescope has offered us yet another fantastic glimpse into the Universe’s hidden gems. Captioned below is the NGC 1846 globular cluster, which lies 160,000 light-years away in the constellation Doradus. The cluster is actually the product of the Large Magellanic Cloud, which neighbors our own Milky Way. Check out this very large, […]
Two weeks ago, panic engulfed the Russian space agency after one of its dearest project, the $170 million Phobos-Grunt mission, which was set to land on Mars’ moon Phobos, collect samples and then return to moon, got stranded in orbit, completely blocked off from any kind of communication. Valiant efforts were made to restore the craft, […]
Scientists from the École Polytenchnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), with the aid of colleagues from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the University of Lausanne, managed to improve the muscle constitution of mice by knocking out genetically a “co-repressor” of the DNA transcription process. The end product are mice that are faster, stronger and healthier […]
This weekend four unmanned robot vehicles set out to cross the Pacific Ocean, for the longest voyage of this kind so far attempted. During their 300 days trek, the Wave Glider crafts will gather immense data regarding composition and quality of sea water, which will provide researchers with invaluable data regarding the current status of the ocean’s health. […]
Authorities have come across a giant mound of 250,000 scrap tires in rural South Carolina, so spread out that it occupies 50 hectares and is visible from space. A transportation and recycling operation of the mound has began since then. The rural clearing in which the tires were dumped is practically impossible to notice, since its only accessible […]
Paleontologists have found a link between cataclysmic volcanic eruptions around 252 million years and greatest mass extinction the Earth has ever seen, responsible for wiping out 90% of the biosphere in both land and sea. Paleontologists, led by Shu-zhong Shen of Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology in China, analyzed nine rock outcrops across Southern China which they […]
This year, mankind celebrated 50 years of space exploration since Yuri Gagarin‘s pioneering flight around Earth’s orbit, however the American Museum of Natural History is more concerned to set its eyes towards future, once with the opening of its new “Beyond Planet Earth” exhibit, which features tomorrow’s space age wonders, as well as relics from the […]
Frogs are able to leap across huge distances, multiple times greater than their body length, however their leg muscles are only a fraction as powerful as they should be to support these kind of jumps. A new study by researchers from Brown University shows that this ability doesn’t come from leg muscles, but lies in […]
The idea which states that nothing can travel faster than light is a corner stone of modern day physics, upon which scientists have built up models and theories of how the world, the Universe, works. If the statement is proven to be false, than our understanding of physics becomes undermined, and as such needs to […]
Yesterday, NASA held a press briefing where scientists involved in a recently published study, of intense consequences to the scientific community, and people looking for signs of extraterestrial life alike, discussed how Jupiter’s icy satellite has great chances of fostering life in the warm oceans beneath its surface. Europa’s surface is covered in a […]
Scientists have genetically engineered mice able to express a certain enzyme, which allows for an increased metabolic rate. The lab mice infussed with this enzyme in their fat tissue were able to eat more, but gain far less weight than their naturally bred brethren. It’s generally acknowledged that obesity and inflammation cause insulin resistance, however […]
For years and years scientists have tried to make hydrogen exhibit metal properties, by experimentally proving what’s already been more or less acknowledged in theory. Hydrogen is an alkali metal, and under the right circumstances it can be fooled into becoming a metal. These “right” circumstances have yet to be found, until recently when a […]
Cancer is currently responsible for 13% of all worldwide deaths, and although remarkable progress has been made in treating this vicious disease, we’re still a very long way from curing mankind of this pest. Even the latest news from around the world is that cancers like mesothelioma and other harder to find cancers are running […]
Here’s how renewable energy can be proliferated easily trough out the world, the developed one at least – scale it and make it cheap for the user. At least this is what Germany did and it’s working incredibly well for them. The country just recently announced that feed-in tariffs for solar energy will be 15% cheaper […]
A new study which capitalized on an extensive ongoing survey, shows that children with high IQs, especially girls, are more likely to indulge in illicit drug use in their 30’s than people with lower IQs. Dr. James White of Cardiff University and his team of researchers used data gathered from the British Cohort Study, an ongoing […]
In 2009, a rather controversial new wing of the CIA was formed under the climate center moniker. This division was, and still is apparently, although absolutely no tangible results have been shown to the public, responsible for studying the effects of climate change on political and economic developments and their implications for U.S. national security. […]
Paleontologists have unearthed the remains of numerous whale fossils, dating back from seven million years ago, in Northern Chile. On further analysis it was revealed that the site in question is actually home to numerous other specimens, so far no less than 80 fossils have been recovered from the whale graveyard. “In 15 days, we […]
The rotifer is an extremely fascinating creature, mainly due to its wheel-like head, which also also earns it the name of “wheel animal”. A microphoto of a rotifer, which can be seen depicted above, earned the photographer, Charles Krebs, the first prize in the 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition. Rotifers are only 0.1–0.5 mm long, and are commonly […]
Conservationists are prepared to declare the Western Black Rhino officially extinct soon, after poaching killed off the remainder of already scarce wild specimens scattered around the area of Cameroon. Until 2000, ten wild specimens were still roaming free, however prized by poachers for the animals’ horns, used in traditional medicine practice by the local populace, […]
On November 1st, only a few weeks ago, China opened a new chapter in its space program after successfully docking two unmanned spacecraft in Earth’s orbit, an unprecedent event for the nation. On Monday, Shenzhou 8 craft re-docked with the Tiangong 1 module, the later which is set to become the first component for China’s own […]
Biofuels are considered one of the leading alternative fuels on the market right now, because of their lower impact on the environment. Biofuels are made from plants or animals, and have gained a lot of attention from the general public and scientists driven by a need for increased energy security and concern for greenhouse gas […]
One of the fundamental backbones of the Big Bang theory states that after the rapid expansion of the Universe only the lightest elements were formed. A group of scientists stumbled across an amazing discovery recently when they found a gas cloud dating from the time of the early Universe exclusively made out of hydrogen and helium, proving […]
After the International Space Station was completed, scientists noticed that exposure to weightlessness may have some deleterious effects on human health. The human body is too adjusted to the gravitational conditions on Earth, so extended periods of weightlessness can cause various physiological systems to change and atrophy. Astronauts on-board the International Space Station battle nausea […]
A recent art photography exhibition, dubbed Amazon, is currently on display at Somerset House in London, which brings together two remarkable, distinct bodies of photography to highlight the plight of the Amazonian rainforest and the people living within it. Thus, the work of Brazilian Sebastião Salgado depicts the virgin beauty of the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical […]
University of Nottingham researchers are currently involved in synthetic biology project, whose scope and prospects are so ambitious, that if successful it will completely revolutionize the field of science. Their aim – developing programmable cellular life which can work as an “operating system.” Currently, scientists are looking studying how to make the E. coli bacteria […]
In the first study of its kind, a group of researchers have quantified the financial impact of climate-change infused natural disasters on health care in the U.S., during the past decade. Floods, famines, fires and other natural disasters are reported to have cost the US government $14 billion in lost lives and and heath care […]
There’s nothing not to love about animals. Since the dawn of mankind, animals have offered humans food, clothing and company. However, some have ventured this relationship farther from its platonic grounds, and expressed their love for animals in a more… intimate manner. A recent study conducted by Brazilian researchers has found that more than 35 percent […]
The Hubble telescope has captured through an innovative technique, which harnessed light bent from a distant galaxy in a optical lens-like manner, a direct image of a disk of matter surrounding a black hole. The disk, made out of gas and dust, slowly swirls around a giant black hole’s center gradually getting consumed. Powered by […]
The city of Dubuque, Iowa is a quite and clean city, housing a population of 60,000, making it the 8th largest city in the state. If you happen to pass through this tranquil ville you might get fooled to think this is just another town like any other, however this is not the case – […]
Almost one year and a half ago six volunteers embarked on a fictive mission to Mars, designed to simulate the harsh conditions of interplanetary travel and isolation from the rest of the world. Today, November 4th, the team composed of volunteers from Europe, Russia and China is set to end their mission, hypothetically land back […]
Part of an ambitious NASA survey over the Antarctic, which intends on 3D mapping the continent’s glaciers in detail, one of the project’s planes has sighted a huge, emerging crack on the icy surface. The crack is a 8-mile-long break in an ice shelf, the first sign hinting to the formation of an iceberg that will […]
A very intriguing theory says that the Vikings used to navigate through traitorous Arctic waters, and possibly even through the Atlatic towards North America, by using a coveted mineral called the “sunstone“. These glowing, fabled stones used to guide the northsmen by revealing the position of the sun even when it was obscured by cloud […]
The gecko is one of the most fascinating lizards, because of its feet’s unique ability of dry adherence to solid surfaces allowing it to surmount any geometry and making it an excellent climber in the process. Unlike other animals which employ a liquid or some kind of suction to climb walls, the gecko uses inter-molecular attraction forces known as […]
Trekkies might rejoice at the news that NASA has recently decided to fund a research group employed to study how tractor beam technology might become applicable in space exploration missions. The agency has awarded a $100,000 initial grant to a team of reserachers who will study three experimental techniques involving capturing small-particle samples with lasers. […]
Developing safe, reliable, compact, and cost-effective hydrogen storage technologies is one of the most technically challenging barriers to the widespread use of hydrogen as a form of energy. Hydrogen is a great fuel, and if used in perfect conditions it can power numerous applications. However, with today’s tech a hydrogen powered car can’t even travel […]
“I’m never gonna get used to the 31st century. Caffeinated bacon? Baconated grapefruit? Admiral Crunch?”, Fry, Futurama. The clumsy yet beloved Futurama hero did have an extremely valid point this time. The latest product to come off a tiny Army research facility near Boston, where new food rations are developed and tasted tested, might turn him […]
A biblical-like creature has sprung out into the world recently, when a two-headed albino milk snake was born – an event of extreme rarity. This comes right on the heels of the three-eyed fish found next to a nuclear power plant in Argentina. In this case, nature alone and its experimentation seems to be responsible. The snake hatched […]
In just a few hours, at 5 p.m. EDT, China will make another giant leap forward in its ever ambitious space program after it will launch the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft in a premiere mission for the nation, which will involve an unmanned docking with the Tiangong-1 spacecraft in Earth’s orbit. Besides the PR-driven first docking, the […]
I’m pretty sure some of you went out costumed as robots this Halloween weekend, be it as Star Wars’ C3PO (there’s always one at every party, and it never gets lame) or you simply strapped on a drawn out cardboard box. Well, I hope you all had your fair share of laughs and scares, but […]
