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A trillion species on Earth? 99.999% species of microbes remain undiscovered, scientists say

Microbes make up the vast majority of Earth's species but we're still clueless when it comes to identifying them

Size matters: meet the world's biggest jet engine

This beast is called GE9X -- the largest jet engine ever built. Standing at 13 feet in diameter, it's wider than a Boeing 737's fuselage.

Driverless trucks are coming - and they're going to automate millions of jobs

Six convoys of semi-automated, smart trucks drove across Europe, arriving at Rotterdam, in the Netherlands.

You don't need a brain to learn, scientists found

A new study from the University of Toulouse found that intelligence and learning aren't limited to organisms with brains. By studying the mold P. polycephalum they found it can, over time, learn to navigate even irritating environments.

Tesla's Autopilot reduces car accidents by 50%. Are you ready to give up the wheel?

During a meeting with Norway’s Minister of Transport and Communications, Tesla's CEO Elon Musk claimed that since 'autopilot' was rolled out, there have been 50% fewer car accidents.

Our best bet at stopping food waste is to be more responsible, not more efficient

Humans are throwing away an insane quantity of food, both in the developed and in developing countries. While in the latter case this can be attributed to economic and technological constrains, the former is primarily consumer-driven. And the sum of individual choices adds up to major impacts on a global scale, a new study finds.

Hackers rob $80 million from a central bank because it had $10 routers and no firewall

Being a cheapskate can sometimes backfire spectacularly as a central Bank in Bangladesh just found out.

Can't get any rest when sleeping in a new place? It's just your brain keeping you safe

A new study offers insight into why you might have a hard time sleeping on the first night in a new place: half of your brain stays awake to watch out for potential dangers.

Trees trade carbon through their roots, using symbiotic fungi networks

A forest's trees capture carbon not only for themselves, but also engage in an active "trade" of sorts with their neighbors, a new study found. University of Basel botanists found that this process, conducted by symbiotic fungi in the forest's soil, takes place even among trees of different species.

U.S. Air Force breaks Maglev speed record with a magnetically levitating rocket sled

Engineers at the 846th Test Squadron simply shattered the Maglev record with a sled powered by a very powerful rocket. The sled raced through a magnetic levitation track at an incredible 633 mph, or 120 mph faster than the previous record which they set only two days before.

Israeli archaeologists uncover roman-period glass factory underpinning trade throughout the empire

Israel Antiques Authority (IAA) archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of a 1,600 year-old complex of glass kilns in the Jezreel Valley. Their size indicates that Israel was one of the most important glass manufacturing center in the ancient world, says Dr. Yael Gorin-Rosen, IAA's Glass Department head curator.

Underwater maintenance robot-snakes look scary but are actually quite cool

Eelume company developed a snake-like robot for underwater maintenance tasks. The deceptively simple robots could drastically reduce operating costs for deep sea rigs.

Georgetown University team found you can literally zap creativity into your brain

Electrically stimulating the frontopolar cortex can enhance creativity, a new study from Georgetown University found.

MIT made an A.I. that detects 85 percent of cyber attacks

Security analysts rely on all sorts of automated software that spots suspicious activity. Even so, an analyst has to churn through even thousands of false positives on a daily basis, which makes it easy to miss a cyber attack. Coming to their rescue is MIT which reports an artificial intelligence 'tutored' by the best human experts can identify 85 percent of incoming attacks. Most importantly, it's not confined to a certain set of attack patterns and learns to adapt with each new attack.

The smallest heat engine ever is atom-sized

Heat engines, whether they're as big as a five-story building or as small as an atom, operate using the same thermodynamic processes. This was proven by Johannes Roßnagel at the University of Mainz in Germany who made a single calcium-40 atom behave like a Stirling engine. Nothing short of amazing!

For the first time in history, researchers restore voluntary finger movement for a paralyzed man

Using two sets of electrodes, scientists have successfully restored finger movement in a paralyzed patient for the first time in history. The results could be the starting point to developing methods that would allow people around the planet to regain limb mobility.

Navy's futuristic destroyer will sail with reflectors because it's too stealthy

This huge destroyer is apparently too stealthy for its own good – at least at peace. The U.S. Navy’s new Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer (DDG 1000) is so hard to detect that its crew plans to sail with giant reflectors just to make sure other ships can see it. The USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) is the lead ship of the Zumwalt […]

The Universe expands much faster than we thought, and current models can't explain why

Scientists have completed the most precise measurement of the Universe's rate of expansion to date; but the result just isn't compatible with speed calculations from remanent Big Bang radiation. Should the former results be confirmed by independent techniques, we might very well have to rewrite the laws of cosmology as we know them.

Consciousness comes in "slices" roughly 400 milliseconds long

This is the first time a two-stage model has been proposed for how consciousness arises, and it offers a more complete picture than the purely continuous or discrete models. It also provides useful insight into the the way our brain processes time and relates it to our perception of the world.

New software allows researchers to control what politicians are saying

Don’t believe your eyes – nothing you see is real, and everything can be manipulated. Many people have a long-standing belief that images are easy to forge, while videos are authentic because they’re impossible to tamper with. Well… that’s not really true. Several companies are making millions by tweaking how actors look on film, and […]

Study finds six components needed for a genuine apology

There are six components that make or break an apology, a new study finds. Depending on many of these you include, your feelings of regret will either be accepted or get a cold shoulder.

Researchers find hundreds of methane leaks at well pads in nation-wide thermal imaging study

The Environmental Defense Fund’s Oil and Gas program has released a new nation-wide report of the most common sites of methane leaks at oil and gas pads. Surprisingly, most of the leaks were traced back to faulty piping, vents or doors on gas tanks in newer, not older, wells.

New class of star-stripped super-Earths discovered

Astrophysicists have discovered a new class of exoplanets whose atmospheres and volatile elements have been blown away by the star they're orbiting. Their findings help cover a previously uncharted gap in planetary populations, and offers valuable insight for locating new worlds to colonize.

Graphene solar panels could create energy even when it's raining

A new solar cell prototype developed by Chinese researchers may change the way we use solar panels.

Would you be willing to take an electric shock in the name of curiosity? Science says yes, several actually

Curiosity is probably the single most powerful force behind our species' scientific discoveries. It can drive us to explore and discover even if the outcome might be painful or harmful. But this need to discover and learn can also become a curse; a new study found that people are willing to face unpleasant outcomes with no apparent benefits just to sate their curiosity.

Sugar addiction could be treated with the same drugs we use for nicotine addiction

People frequently overindulge, sometimes to the point of developing sugar addictions. There has been a lot of interest in the pharmaceutical industry in finding treatments that can combat this effect, with little results up to now. But, a world-first study led by QUT might change that.

New electric fork simulates a salty flavor by shocking your tongue

Adding extra-salt may make food tastier, but it can also has a negative effect on your health. With that in mind, Japanese researchers have invented a fork that creates a salty taste in your mouth at the press of a button, by releasing an electrical current which stimulates the tongue. Salt has long been associated with blood […]

People pick up and use discarded USB drives they find almost half the time

Portable data storage, such as USB drives, might not be quite as useful or sought after as they once were but they remain an undeniably handy method to carry your data around.

Scientists create artificial skin that sprouts new hairs and sweats

Creating artificial skin may sound weird, but it can be extremely useful (or even life saving) for people who suffered from burns or any type of similar accident; it is also useful for testing drugs or cosmetic products. Skin transplants are a growing need, and many teams from across the world hope to one day […]

The new Rembrandt: Computer creates new "Rembrandt painting"

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn is one of the most talented and famous artists in human history. It's been almost four centuries since he created his unique masterpieces. Now, a team of artists, researchers and programmers wanted to see if they can create a new Rembrandt painting - through a computer algorithm.

Composite metal foam better at stopping bullets than solid plates

Composite metal foam (CMF) is light, but strong -- it can even stop bullets!

White Nose Bat Syndrome spreads deeper into the U.S. -- first case confirmed west of the Rockies

The first case of white nose syndrome, a disease that has wreaked havoc on bat populations in the eastern U.S. has been identified west of the Rockies. The disease's spread threatens to drastically impact bat populations there, altering ecosystems throughout the country.

NASA plans to make airplanes cleaner and 50% more fuel efficient by reviving the wing truss

NASA plans to improve today's planes with a blast from the past -- re-implementing a structure known as a wing truss would reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions of common commercial aircraft by as much as 50%, according to computational models.

Touching a robot's 'intimate parts' arouses humans

Here's a great way to spend science dollars: see if humans literally find robots sexy. They do sort of, or so conclude Stanford researchers who asked volunteers to touch an anthropomorphic robot in various body parts.

Scientists develop Cello, a programming language for bacteria

Biological engineers have created a programming language that allows them to rapidly and efficiently program and design DNA-encoded circuits, giving new functions to living cells. There are already a myriad of programming languages. Fortran and C++ allow for rapid computations, PHP is a scripting language for web development, Ruby is a popular object-oriented language – […]

Chocolate-inspired technique helps researchers develop better polymer shells

For centuries, chocolatiers have been trying to develop the perfect chocolate coating for bonbons, honing their skill to the point of artistic performance. But scientists believe they can take things even further.

3-D printed electronic egg could help save vultures

Fake 3-D printed eggs packed with sensors help scientist learn how vultures incubate their eggs. This way, they might be one day able to incubate their own eggs, without having to rely on vultures.

Researchers on the hunt for students' junk-food-gene

Takeout, instant noodles and cheap beer -- the only known organisms able to survive solely on these three items are university students. A new study examined undergraduates' dietary habits to see what powers their resilience to low-quality food, and if this trait can be grafted into human beings.

The "war on drugs" has only harmed human rights and public health -- not supply and demand

A new report questions the legitimacy of today's "War on Drugs," seeing as the five-decade long process has failed to reduce either the supply or demand for narcotics. The authors urge for 'scientifically grounded' policies to be implemented, including regulated markets for cannabis.

The cake isn't a lie -- but the nutritional value on the box definitely is

Food packaging does influence the amount of calories consumed, a new study found. By showing portion sizes much larger than recommended, the pictures on various product's packaging could make it difficult to eat healthy. Extras such as toppings or frosting on cakes are also usually not taken into account on nutritional labels, exacerbating the problem.

KTH researchers develop transparent wood for use in building and solar panels

Wood, one of the cheapest and most widely used construction materials humanity has ever employed, has just had its range of uses expanded; Researchers at Stockholm's KTH Royal Institute of Technology have developed a method of turning wood transparent that's suitable for mass production.

New plasma printing technique can deposit nanomaterials on flexible, 3D substrates

A new nanomaterial printing method could make it both easier and cheaper to create devices such as wearable chemical and biological sensors, data storage and integrated circuits -- even on flexible surfaces such as paper or cloth. The secret? Plamsa.

Unicorns might have been real, but they look nothing like in fairy tales

Russian paleontologists dated the fossil remains of a Elasmotherium sibiricum, a giant beast the size of a mammoth with a saber like horn, and found these were 35,000 years old. That places the closest resembling unicorn animal in the same place and time with humans migrating and settling Asia.

Scientists may be able to read scrolls burned by lava in AD 79

In the year 79, the Vesuvius volcano erupted, wiping out the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum and killing at least 1,500 people. But while Pompeii usually takes the spotlight, it's Herculaneum that may provide us with key information.

Scientists achieve a record 57Gbps through fiber optic lines

Data is key to our modern society, and data transfer has become pivotal for many industries, as well as for our day to day lives. Thankfully, the maximum speed is constantly increasing and while we may not see this in current infrastructure, there are reasons to be optimistic. University of Illinois researchers report that they’ve […]

Viking treasure pot, opened more than 1,000 years after it was hidden in modern Galloway

The first images of Viking treasure, stashed in a pot more than 1,000 years ago and buried in a field in Galloway, have been made public by the conservators working to preserve them. The items, including six silver disk brooches, a gold ingot and Byzantine silk, are not currently on display.

Nano-enhanced textiles could lead us to a brighter future with no laundry

Tired of laundry day? Pioneering nano research into self-cleaning textiles could soon make cleaning your clothes as easy as hanging them out on a sunny day.

Climate change is impacting wine grape harvest dates in Switzerland and France, NASA finds

A new collaboration study between NASA and Harvard University found that climate change is breaking an important link between droughts and the grape harvests in France and Switzerland.

Scientists create graphene patch to help manage diabetes

Scientists have developed a graphene patch that can monitor sugar levels in diabetic patients as well as deliver metformin - a drug used to treat diabetes - through the skin.

Public Service Announcement: Old Kindles will be disconnected from the internet unless you update by Tuesday

If you’re like me, then you still use the old Kindle model because hey – if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. Also, if you’re like me, you’re usually pressing the ‘Skip’ button whenever updates are in store. If this is the case, then you should know that your old Kindle will be disconnected from […]

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