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Mantis shrimp are probably best known for the dazzling colors that adorn their shells. The second thing they're best known for is their tendency to violently murder anything they come into contact with.
It’s extremely unusual for journals to publish papers from non-scientists, but three gamers will have their thoughts covered by one of the biggest and most respected publishers: the Journal of Molecular Biology. EteRNA is a browser-based “game with a purpose”, developed by scientists at Carnegie Mellon University and Stanford University, that engages users to solve puzzles related […]
This quartz disk could revolutionize storage.
In what seems to be the largest study of its kind, researchers in the US have found that women’s code has a higher average rate of approval than men’s code. However, when their gender is made public, the approval rate drops significantly for women, showing a high gender bias. To examine the prevalence of gender […]
It seems medicine is prepared to enter a new age - an age in which not only can we fix bones, cartilage and muscles, but also create new ones.
Russian scientists have found a way to use the country’s surplus of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) to protect themselves from another threat: falling meteorites and asteroids. I’m happy to see that more and more people are starting to look at ways to protect Earth in the case of an incoming asteroid. In January, NASA announced the […]
Creating artificial blood vessels is a pivotal aspect of reconstructive medicine. However, time and time again this has proven very tricky to accomplish. Now, a researcher believes he has found the key: weaving blood vessels with cotton candy machines. Traditionally, researchers would allow cultured cells to spontaneously develop capillary systems of their own. This process can […]
British researchers at the University College London set the record for the fastest data transfer rate: a mind-boggling 1.225 Tbps/second. That's 50,000 faster than the average UK broadband (24 MBs/s) or just fast enough to download the entire Game of Thrones series in HD in just one freaking second.
This polymer can change shape and release tremendous amounts of stored elastic energy relative to its weight simply by being exposed to a temperature change. This in itself isn't exactly new, but the team led by Chemical Engineering Professor Mitch Anthamatten at the University of Rochester innovated by making the polymer react to room temperature -- a first.
Grass could enable researchers to create the new generation of condoms and make our lives a little bit better. A team from the University of Queensland found a feasible way to extract nanocellulose from the grass and use it as an additive in latex. If you think about it, condoms haven’t changed that much in past […]
A new study examined the way gene families evolve from ancestral genes, finding the original genes were promiscuous in that they had a wider range of function than the later descendant genes, which often evolved to be more selective in their effects.
The transplant community has established a new committee to address the recent Zika virus outbreak, and protect organ transplant patients from the potential dangers of the virus.
In a study published in the January 19, 2016 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), scientists at Tsinghua University in China confirmed that something very unusual is happening inside extremely heavy atoms, causing them to deviate from their expect chemical behavior predicted by their place on the Periodic Table of Elements.
How fast can your camera shoot? 60 frames per second, maybe 100? If you’ve got a good one, maybe 1000, or maybe you’re super pro and you shoot 10.000 fps. Puh-lease! The new MIT camera shoots at 1 trillion fps – that’s 1.000.000.000.000 frames every second ! Think of it this way: 1 trillion seconds […]
Robots really are starting to take over jobs - a company in Japan has just announced they will open the world's first "robot farm".
The idea of six degrees of separation was introduced more than 80 years ago. It suggests that you are six introductions away from meeting anyone in the world. In other words, everyone in the world is connected through a chain of six links. For some, fewer introductions are required to come in direct contact with Barrack Obama or Stephen Hawking. A study made at Facebook suggests that, among its users at least, there are now only 3.57 degrees of separation on average.
German scientists have turned on a device called a stellerator, the largest of its kind. The machine could pave the way for nuclear fusion, a clean and safe type of nuclear power.
After shutting down its nuclear reactors, Japan needs to look elsewhere to generate energy. Problem is Japan is kinda crowded, so one ingenious company proposed a creative idea: install solar panels on water.
"Unless you've been in a wheelchair, it's very difficult to see all the various small details - what a person would actually need within an exoframe," said one Phoenix exoskeleton user. Developed by California robotics startup SuitX, this exoskeleton is the lightest on the market today. It's aim is to eventually become so cheap, durable and practical that it will make the wheelchair obsolete and the lives of millions of paraplegics a lot less daunting.
To the romantic eye, a tree swaying in the wind is a testimony of nature's heart beat. An engineer might be moved by the same feeling, but he might also add: "well, that looks like a lot of wasted energy."
The Ontario Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) mailed free nicotine patches to smokers to see if they really help you quit without any behavioral support. And for one in four of participants who kept to the treatment, it did.
Europe's laser communication network has taken off!
Griffith University Associate Professor Joan Vaccaro believes she may have uncovered how our reality differentiates the future from the past. Her paper could topple our understanding of time flow (ironically) forever.
In what seemed impossible just a few years ago, a computer has beaten a Go champion.
University of Florida researchers have discovered how our bodies control dopamine transport in and out of brain cells.
In a time when a barrel of oil can cost less than a ... barrel, the EV market suffers. Market leader Tesla Motors saw its shares take a dive this month after it reported sales in the bottom range of its forecast for the 2015 fourth quarter. So, how can Tesla, Nissan or any other player in the EV space right now protect themselves against fluctuating oil prices. When the price is high, the EV market flourishes and, conversely, goes down with oil that sells for pennies. Tesla's boss, Elon Musk, has this covered: he wants to make electric cars that are so exceptional that you won't care anymore about how much a full tank costs.
An innovative type of concrete has the potential to save lives and millions off of taxpayers' money.
A study from Emory University looking into prairie voles' consoling behaviors provides new evidence in support of animal empathy. The tests had pairs of voles isolated from each other, one being exposed to mild electric shocks, to study how the rodents react to a distressed mate.
A North Sea wreck has been identified as a German world war one U-boat, announced ScottishPower Renewables. The vessel found its resting place 90 kilometers (56 miles) off the Norfolk Coast.
The Namib Desert Beetle lives in one of the most inhospitable and driest places on Earth, in the southwest coast of Africa. The beetle, however, employs a nifty trick: it can virtually make water out of thin air, thanks to its body whose geometry collects water droplets and directs them right into the insect's mouth. Now, engineers have adapted this design to keep ice bridges from forming and keep critical aircraft components freeze-free.
A supercomputer checked if a 22,338,618 digits long number is prime in less than 3 days. Here's how.
Researchers have developed a new graphene-based elastomer that can revolutionize prosthetic skin.
According to a study conducted by NASA in 2013, using nuclear energy instead of coal saved almost 2 million lives since 1979 - by allowing us to not use coal.
Creative thinking requires the simultaneous activation of two distinct networks in the brain, the associative and normative networks. Higher connectivity between these completely different systems of your brain leads to new, original and useful ideas, University of Haifa research concludes.
A new paper published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology examines women's efforts to guard their mates from sexual competition -- especially other ovulating females.
Tatarenko Vladimir Nikolaevich, a Russian inventor, has designed an audacious new safety mechanism for airplanes: a detachable passenger and cargo cabin that springs away from the aircraft in case of emergency. Once unhooked, the cabin deploys parachutes that safely touch down the cabin on land or water.
MIT scientists have developed a material that can absorb solar energy, stores and release it on demand to produce heat. Made from a film of polymer, the material could be used to used to tailor cold climate garments that charge up during the day and keep you pleasantly warm in the evening.
Austrian archaeologists said on Thursday that they've uncovered Europe's oldest prosthetic implant -- a wooden foot dated from the sixth century AD.
Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a method that allows them to coax stem cells to morph into retinal ganglion cells. This type of nerve cells reside in the retina and transmit visual input from the eyes to the brain. If these cells become damaged or die vision-loss conditions develop, such as glaucoma or multiple sclerosis.
Though incandescent light bulbs have been used to light homes for more than a hundreds years, and still do so in most of the world, these are ridiculously inefficient. This has prompted many governments to completely phase-them out, among which the E.U., Australia, Canada, Russian, as well as the United States. Their place has been taken over by fluorescent bulbs (CFLs), and the even more efficient LEDs. A team at MIT, however, has a bright idea that might revamp the unfavored bulbs. They've designed a new sort of incandescent bulb that uses a photonic crystal to recycle the waste energy. The resulting bulbs could be more power and light efficient than anything on the market right now.
Elon Musk is a man of bold claims, but he also walks the talk.
Indiana University scientists have built a highly efficient bio-material that can serve as a catalyst for hydrogen production. This material takes us halfway towards the long sought-after "holy grail" of splitting water to make hydrogen and oxygen for fueling cheap and efficient cars that run on water.
University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) scientists have identified a new enzyme that could protect the body from toxic levels of intra-cell sugar. When there is too much sugar in the body it gets processed to glycerol-3-phosphate, a buildup of which can damage internal organs. The team behind the study proved that G3PP is able to extract excess sugar from cells.
3D printing has developed fantastically this year, but there are still some areas where it struggles. For example, if you’d want to create complex shapes like in origami, paper is much better than the plastic polymers 3D printers use; but while origami doesn’t seem like much of a stake, industrial origami is much more important. […]
Researchers from Columbia Engineering and the Georgia Institute of Technology report the first experimental proof of piezoelectricity and the piezotronic effect in an atomically thin material, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). This makes it the thinnest electrical generator in the world. The resulting generator is optically transparent, extremely light weight, as well as very bendable and stretchable. In the future, such generators could be used to power extremely tiny devices harnessing energy from the environment, be them remote sensors or nanotech that travels through your bloodstream.
Stanford scientists have developed the first lithium-ion batteries that run normally, shut down when they start to overheat, and then restart when the temperatures go down.
A team of researchers from MIT created a material that can make use of solar energy in a novel way, absorbing heat and releasing it later, when needed. The researchers led by MIT Prof. Jeffrey Grossman published their results in the journal Advanced Energy Materials. Heat will inevitably dissipate sooner or later, no matter how you try […]
Brain scans of nearly 200 adolescent boys recorded as part of a new study performed in South Korea show that compulsive video game players have radically different wiring in their brains, most notably increased communication (known as hyperconnectivity) between several functional brain networks.
Columbia University researchers have successfully identified the cellular network that allows mice to remember which environments are safe and which are dangerous. The study also looks into what happens when these neurons are tampered with, offering insight into how conditions such as PTDS, panic attacks and anxiety disorders can be treated.
hinese drone making company Ehang recently showed off one of the most impressive contraptions at the CES convention in Las Vegas: a manned drone. It can fly as high as 11,500 feet, top speed of 63mph and a range of 20 minutes worth of powered flight. It can fit one person and a small backpack. It looks and sounds impressive, but is the world ready for it? For sure no, but the prospects for the future already sound appealing. Finally, the age The Jetsons foretold might finally be nigh.
