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Worldwide, motor vehicles currently emit well over 900 million metric tons of CO2 each year, amounting to more than 15 percent of global fossil fuel CO2 releases. With this in mind, major automobile manufacturers have been investing massively in developing more fuel efficient power systems and lower emissions for the past few decades. We’ve seen a […]
The prospect of medical implants capable of delivering drugs directly to the patient’s blood stream or tissue has been an important subject for research. Recently, a microchip was implanted in 8 women, with the sole role of delivering an osteoporosis treating drug. The human trial is the culmination of 15 years worth of development work by […]
While there’s a common assumption that once with old age, sleep quality tends to deteriorate, a recent study published in the journal Sleep suggests that the opposite is actually true. Thus, the older you are, the higher the chances of you having a good night’s sleep. The conclusion came after more than 150,000 adults were telephone […]
A newly published paper in the journal Science provides a worrisome report – the world’s oceans are acidifying at a rate, which if set to continue, will be unprecedented in the last 300 million years. The scientists report that this comes as a direct consequence of the alarming ever increasing carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere, […]
The term Mars opposition basically refers to a geometric event. Thus on the 3rd of March, Mars will appear exactly opposite the sun in Earth’s sky, 180 degrees away from it, as well as come at one of the closest distances to Earth, making it easy observable even with the naked eye. This event takes […]
This year’s TED conference (Technology, Entertainment, Design) recently took place in Long Beach, California, and as expect, the event was filled with a slew of amazing speakers, each with an idea definitely worth spreading. One presentation, however, particularly blew my mind, namely that of roboticist Vijay Kumar, who along with colleagues from University of Pennsylvania’s General Robotics, Automation, Sensing […]
Located beneath the three stars that form the belt of Orion the Hunter, the Orion Nebula is one of the dearest sights for amateur astronomers in the night sky, due to its great visibility, being one of the few nebulae visible with the naked eye. Also known under the name of the Sword of Orion, […]
During man’s exploits through out history, a great number of species were driven to extinction, either by excessive hunting, habitat destruction, disease or pest introductions and so on. There are currently around 11,000 animal species listed as endangered, and the list is getting ever thicker each day. During the past few decades, as awareness to […]
Psychedelic mushrooms have been used for medical, ceremonial and spiritual purposes for thousands of years, due their mind-alterating properties which induce hallucinations, perception disorders or altered states of awareness. It’s been found that the active ingredient responsible for the psychedelic state, which many associated with a religious experience, is a substance called psilocybin. Though a lot is […]
Last week we reported about a 300 million year old fossilized forest which was discovered underneath a coal mine in China. A highly remarkable find by all means, fact confirmed by the overwhelming response the story gathered from your part, the reader. If you found that interesting, wait until you learn about the oldest fossilized […]
An immortal worm isn’t exactly what comes to mind when researching how to live forever, but this inconspicuous creature could hold some very valuable clues on eternal youth. Biologists from University of Nottingham spurred this big debate in 2008 when they claimed their object of study, the planaria or “flatworm” might actually be immortal. Essentially, this worm […]
So we heard you like the International Space Station, so we made an ISS inside the ISS. Humor aside, I was pleasantly surprised this morning to read that Lego teamed up with NASA to assemble a scale model of the International Space Station in space. Flight engineer Satoshi Furukawa, which we featured earlier on ZME […]
Although the T. rex isn’t the largest carnivorous dinosaur to have roamed Earth, a new study that used computer models to reconstruct its skull muscles reveals that his bite was the most powerful one ever of all terrestrial animals, extinct or living. Biomechanics experts at Liverpool University, UK, used laser scanners to digitize the skulls […]
According to a recently released study authored by American physicians, sleeping pills are linked to a more-than fourfold risk of premature death. If that wasn’t enough, the study goes on to state that people who take high doses are associated with a 35-percent increased risk of cancer, compared to non-users, although a valid explanation as to why this happens […]
A new study which analyzed Neanderthal DNA suggests that our close, now extinct relatives were on the point of dying off as a race well before humans made their appearance in Western Europe. The team of international researchers analyzed the mitochondrial DNA extracted from the bones of 13 Neanderthals, and studied its variation. Mitochondrial DNA is copious […]
A recent study performed by a team of American/Chinese scientists shows that there’s a direct link between the progressive shrinking ice in the Arctic and in the increasingly harsher snowy winters in the US, Europe and China. In the year 2007, the level of Arctic sea ice hit a record low, which hasn’t recovered to this day. […]
A linguistic study found that people who regularly text message are less likely to accept new words, as opposed to those that read more traditional print media such as books, magazines, and newspapers. For the study, student volunteers were asked about their reading habits and text messaging frequency, and then presented with a set of […]
Part of a the recent slew of revolutionary technological and scientific novelties coming off IBM‘s research and development lab, the company has just announced that it has successfully managed to measure and image for the first time how charge is distributed within a single molecule. The achievement was made possible after a new technique, called Kelvin probe force microscopy […]
For a number of years now researchers have been studying the sirtuin gene and the proteins encoded in it as it is believed to be directly linked to prolonged lifespan. A myriad of individual studies were performed with mixed results, and so far hundreds of millions have been allocated for research in this direction. A […]
A team of researchers comprised of scientists at the NanoScience Center of the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, and at Harvard University, US, have shown through computer simulations a novel technique for generation nanomaterials. The whole process revolves around the extremely simple idea of twisting narrow graphene nanoribbons until they become rolled up into carbon nanotubes, […]
Each year, billions of chickens are raised all over the world with the sole purpose of providing meat at the end of their couple of weeks-long lives. The animals are forced to live in precarious conditions, thousands lined up next to each other, and are stuffed with nutrients designed to make them grow a lot […]
NASA recently issued a call-out to all those interested in joining a special, four-month long study, in which a stay on a Martian outpost would be simulated. The main objective is that of assessing space food, namely whether it’s better if astronauts are provided with meals made out of “shelf-stable” ingredients such as flour, beans, rice […]
Bergmann’s rule states that mammals of a given genus or species are smaller in hotter climates, and bigger in colder climates. Adapted, when faced with climate change cycles, mammals shirk as temperature rises and scale back up in size, once the cycle ends and makes room for cooling. Simple correlation, based on fossils and temperature readings […]
Last week, the U.S. Air Force released a report in which it outlines its technological and energy plans for the forthcoming 15 years. Among others, the Air Force means to deploy a space-based solar power station, which would serve energy wirelessly to both Earth and space satellites, as well as a new generation of spacecraft […]
Good news for men, and especially women: the Y chromosome, which holds the male sex determining genes in most mammals, including humans, is not going extinct, as some claim, as a new research found that the diminishing gene numbers have come to a halt and will remain this way. Sex chromosomes come in pairs, such […]
This is the kind of engineering feat that sounds so preposterous, so crazy, so … foolish, that it might actually work. A Japanese construction company plans to build an elevator that can lift tourists in space, up to a quarter the distance between Earth and the moon. While entrepreneurs like Richard Branson or Paul Allen […]
Scientists at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania have set on a path that promises to revolutionize the way paleontology is studied, and model reconstructions are made from fossils. By using 3D printers, the researchers intend on cheaply and efficiently replicate bones, without going through the hassle of casting with plaster molds. This way, they can actually build very […]
The hunt for the second Earth, a similar life-bearing paradise like our own, rages on, and while no candidate came any close so far, scientists have made some extraordinary discoveries in the process. The latest exciting find is a super-Earth, a planet larger than Earth, but no bigger than Neptune, that represents the first of […]
Astronomers at NASA‘s Chandra X-ray Observatory have come across a true astronomical oddity at the outskirts of the Milky Way, a stellar-mass black hole which exerts the fastest winds ever observed so far in its class – so fast that it rivals those blown by supermassive black holes, which often are billion times more massive. […]
Since the advent of modern DNA sequencing technology, biological research and discoveries has been dramatically accelerated. It’s absolutely instrumental to genetic research nowadays, which among other great achievements, has lead to the sequencing of the human genome. The methods and technologies involved in DNA sequencing are terribly complex, however, and usually require sophisticated research laboratories. […]
There are currently an estimated 19,000 individual space debris swirling around Earth’s orbit at 17,000 miles/hour, posing great threat to current active satellites, telescopes, future launches in orbit, the International Space Station and even astronauts out on space walks. It’s very clear that something must be done, before the Earth gets one of its own […]
There’s some good coming off China’s extensive coal exploitation (the nation holds the top place for most pollutant emissions resulting from burning coal), as recent mining activities around Wuda in Inner Mongolia, China, has uncovered an almost perfectly preserved 298 million year-old forest. The forest, which also features intact trees with leaves, branches, trunk and […]
Exactly two years ago, NASA launched a $850 million spacecraft, called the Solar Dynamics Observatory, on a five-year long mission to record high-definition videos of the sun, which should help astronomers better understand its weather cycle and how and how it might affect life on Earth. To celebrate SDO’s 2nd anniversary, NASA has released a […]
A team of German and American researchers have discovered four new species of tiny chameleons on the island of Nosy Hara, just off the northern coast of Madagascar, which considered one of the smallest reptiles known to man. Some are so small they can balance on the tip of a match. The four new species […]
You’d be surprised by how many of today’s day to day devices were first developed after its creators got inspired by various SciFi movies. A new project currently in works at DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) intends to bring the James Cameron’s blockbuster “Avatar” to real life. However, researchers there have been tasked to […]
Australian scientists at University of New South Wales have successfully managed to build the first single-atom transistor, using a scalable, repeatable technique. The scientific community all over the world have already hailed this achievement as a highly important milestone, as single-atom transistors are considered as a critical building block for the eventual development of quantum computers. […]
In what can only be hailed as a breakthrough in the “smart drugs” field, scientists at Harvard University have successfully managed to create nanorobots made out of strands of DNA, folded together by the DNA origami method. These act like drug-carrying recipients, which specifically target various types of cells and deliver complex molecular instructions – […]
The Robonaut 2, an autonomous NASA robot commissioned to ease the lives of astronauts on board the International Space Station by taking over some complex tasks and, also, cure boredom, has finally been booted to move a limb, although he’s been on the station since February 2011 – a whole year. The Robonaut recently went […]
Most of the robots we’ve featured on ZME Science are more or less humanoid in their characteristic. Either they can see in the same manner human eyes do or, most commonly, feature articulations, say hands, very similar to those of a human. Human hands are incredibly complex, allowing for very highly sensitive manipulation of objects […]
Researchers report that after testing on lab mice an FDA-approved drug, used as treatment for skin cancer, that significant improvements in cognitive recovery were signaled, shinning a new ray of hope for Alzheimer patients. Neuroscientists Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine discovered that bexarotene, a skin cancer drug, remarkably also appears to reverse cognitive […]
Researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison recently carried out an linguistic analysis that compared descriptions posted by online dating sites users (height, weight, age, personality traits etc.) and their actual, true characteristics. The results weren’t that surprising at all – almost everybody lied at least about something. Interestingly enough, the communication experts involved in the study […]
Butterflies are one of the most enchanting beings in the animal kingdom, a symbol of grace and beauty encountered in every art form. From a crawling larva to a majestic winged creature, it’s difficult not to take notice of the similarities between the butterfly’s metamorphosis process and the ups and downs life serves before one […]
Night is quick to sound the alarm for most of us that it’s time to hit he sack. While you’re peacefully sleeping and dreaming away, up stairs things are a bit different. For the brave men and women stationed at the International Space Station there is no night or day, and considering the station orbits […]
Scientists from China, US and Mexico have used light detection and ranging laser altimetry (LiDAR) to study how an earthquake can change the surrounding landscape. Using this technique, the researchers were able to establish with high accuracy where the Earth’s crust ruptured. If the same technique were to be established around all major high-risk areas for earthquake, […]
The leading theory that explains why zebras are striped (remember the age old riddle? black stripes on white or white stripes on black?) is because it offers them protection against predators, by providing camouflage, as colour blind animals confuse the strips with tall grass in the savanna. A team of researchers from Hungary, however, offer a different, […]
The first genetically engineered or biotech food products were released on the market for the first time in 1994. Consumers received them fairly well, and since then more production intensified, such that between 1997 and 2010, the total surface area of land cultivated with GMOs had increased by a factor of 87. In 2011, biotech […]
This incredible photo of the Carina Nebuna, a massive star formation , was taken by the The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), in the infrared spectrum. Even the astronomers from the ESO, who are privileged enough to witness some of the most amazing sights in the Universe, claim in a recent press release that […]
Last year, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, produced a draft of the Denisova genome, in order study in what proportion they relate to homo sapiens sapiens. The Denisovans, are a new group of hominids, discovered just two years ago, which is believed to have lived around 30,000 years ago, alongside Neanderthals and […]
The size of a fist when fully grown, the tiny Philippine tarsier has always been considered a very quiet being. Ironically, this big eyed, lemur-like animal wasn’t quiet at all, you just needed the right ears to hear him our. Recently, researchers at Humboldt State University in California have proven that the Philippine tarsier is quite the chatty being, […]
If you’re reading this post via e-mail or RSS, please visit the post’s page on the website to view the video interview. MIT researchers, guided by Andreas Mershin’s vision of a world fueled by cheap and renewable electricity, have recently published a paper in which they explain how photovoltaic panels made from plants can be […]
