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The genome sequence of the Ice Age skeletal remains of a 1-year-old boy gave scientists tantalizing proof that the first settlers in North American originated in Asia, and not from Europe as some theories might suggest. The boy belong to a group of people known as the Clovis, the direct ancestors of modern day North […]
A new stretchable and transparent electrical conductor has been created at last, one that could finally allow entirely foldable tech to be made. Finding a material that meets all three conditions was thought impossible until recently, although there are plenty of materials that meet two of the three. We know of materials, for instances, that are […]
In popular view, the scientists is a white, skinny male, clothed in a white lab coat, wearing glasses. Of course, in reality it’s not always the case, but there’s no question that a certain gender, race and social upbringing dominates positions in science. Are females and minorities discriminated or is the lack of a balanced […]
Right on the English coast, near Happisburgh, scientists discovered what so far are the earliest footprints discovered thus far in Europe, dated 800,000 years old. Some five human ancestors left these historical footprints in mud on the bank of an ancient river estuary. Perfect timing and the geological circumstances of the time allowed the prints […]
Dennis Aabo Sørensen is the first amputee in the world to feel sensory rich information (in real time), thanks to a prosthetic hand hard-wired into the nerves in his upper arm. After nine years ago he lost his left hand, Dennis Aabo Sørensen got lucky. Silvestro Micera and his team at EPFL (Switzerland) and SSSA […]
It’s estimated that some 8 million people in the United States suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), causing great angst, depression and poor social integration. There are numerous therapies and techniques designed to help patients recover and banish the specters that lurk in the deepest recesses of their minds, haunting them. A common psychotherapy is fighting […]
It’s always depressing when we hear stories of dogs attacking people, more so when injuries lead to death. As always after such an unfortunate, yet statistically isolated, event there’s always a massive group of people bantering and calling for “something to be done.” In some countries, public pressure can rule death sentences for thousands of […]
One of the biggest arguments against renewable energy deployment on the truly massive scale is their unreliability. Justly so, wind doesn’t always blow at desired velocities and the sun fluctuates in sunshine throughout the day. With this in mind, if you don’t have a back-up storage medium, intermittent renewables will always be an alternative – […]
Who would have thought snooping into people’s private lives pisses them off? A new study by North Carolina State University researchers found that job candidates who found out their social media profiles were being peered through by employers were less likely to view the hiring process as fair. In consequence, these people are less likely to […]
A lot of hype has been going D-Wave’s way in the past decade or so. The company is considered by many the leading quantum computing company in the world, boasting clients such as Lockheed Martin or Google. Before munching up on the hype, though, it’s important to understand that to this day no one has […]
While happiness and meaningfulness often overlap, the two are distinct states of being. A Stanford project looked into the lives of various people inline between the two and found some key differences based on how people choose spend their time and what experiences they cultivate. The findings may surprise some of you, while others will choose […]
In the movie “Back to the Future”, Marty McFly almost ends up erasing himself from existence after nearly having prevented his parents from falling in love. This idea is often referred to as the “grandfather paradox” – if you traveled back in time and killed your grandfather, then your father or mother would have never […]
Whenever you buy an electronic, that ‘Made in [country]‘ label only shows where it was maufactured or put together – there’s no way of knowing where the materials for it came from; usually, they come from troubled countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo. But today Intel CEO Brian Krzanich promised at the Consumer […]
Every dog owner can attest that canines are remarkable navigators, like some sort of living, breathing compasses. For some time, researchers have suspected that they can sense Earth’s magnetic field and use it in turn for navigation. A recent study confirmed this as a fact, however the findings came after studying the dogs in one […]
In nature, organisms communicate in various ways, be it through acoustic or biological signals. Insects, for instance, communicate and relay important information, such as a threat to a hive, using pheromones – an excreted chemical with a particular signature. Scientists at the University of Warwick in the UK and the York University in Canada have […]
Reading this paper just blew my mind – and I’m still not sure I fully understand it. As a matter of fact, I think only a handful of people worldwide can understand exactly how something like this works – but I’ll do my best to explain. Most computers (especially laptops) emit a high-pitched noise during […]
The fact that chimpanzees are extremely intelligent should no longer surprise anyone. Most people also know that they have their own social cues and are very sensitive to them, but even so, they usually refuse to conform to what the majority of group members are doing, preferring to stick with their personal preferences. However, now, […]
Carbon nanotubes are cylindrical nanostructures with a myriad of potential applications. They are the strongest and stiffest materials yet discovered in terms of tensile strength and elastic modulus, they can withstand immense pressures and also have very interesting electrical properties. Now, thanks to work from researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, […]
This is the cat That killed the rat That ate the malt They say it’s easy to train a cat only to do whatever it wants – but cats have come a long way since their wilderness days. Thousands of years before they were immortalized in this lovely English lullaby, cats were doing just fine […]
Medicine and 3-d printing fit together like a glove. Imagine how many transplants and surgical procedures are so difficult to make or downright impossible because you can’t find a matching tissue or body part for the patient at hand. With 3-D printers, you can even make new bones – identical to those modeled from a […]
Every business out-there, be it a corporate giant or a small shop, has it in its mind that it needs to employ highly original and market disruptive leaders in order to grow and prosper. A study that studied Chinese workplaces found that leaders don’t need to be transformational to lead a highly productive group. Instead, managers […]
Prosthetics have come a long way in recent years alone, mainly due to advancements in brain-machine interfaces. Incredibly articulated artificial limbs can now allow a disabled individual to move an artificial hand (with up to seven degrees of freedom!) and individual fingers just by thinking about the movement the person wants the limb to perform). While an artificial hand […]
Biking to work or downtown when the weather allows it is one of the greenest things you can do – not only does it prevent the gases you would be emitting by driving, but it’s also a great way to keep in shape. But a new concept unveiled in Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, could take things […]
With just one footstep, you can illuminate a thousand LED bulbs – with no batteries or power cord; the energy comes from rubbing two different materials together to create static electricity. A researcher called Zhong Lin Wang has finally learned how to harvest this power and put it to work. Triboelectricity? What’s that ?! A […]
Playing an instrument comes with a wide range of benefits, especially for children. It teaches them discipline and how to focus on an important task at hand. It also fuels creativity. There’s a well constructed myth, however, that playing an instrument makes you smarter, as in it improves your cognitive abilities somehow. This idea is […]
The way people play Battlefield or Call of Duty could change forever by bringing the heat of action to your living room. More specifically, by making action video games into real-life action as the gamer’s movements are tracked and reflected in the virtual world. The idea isn’t new, but a new 3-D positioning system developed […]
We haven’t actually shied away from praising the marvels of 3D printing. We’ve told you all about printing fossils, medical implants, even skin, bones, bacteria or organs! Of course, these are some eccentric uses since, after all, 3-D printing was designed for manufacturing in mind. It’s easy imagine a not so distant future where most goods […]
A truly monumental task has finally been finished: the final part of an epic dictionary of medieval Latin is to be published this week, finally closing a project that started over 100 years ago. The Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources has more than 58,000 entries, and spans over 15 volumes. The 16th and […]
Imperial College London accepts heavy criticism from independent reviewers after exposé by animal-rights group. The Imperial College London is one of the most prestigious Universities in the world, but they are currently under severe criticism today from an independent review set up in the wake of allegations of malpractice. As the report claims, the university’s […]
In a fantastic discovery, a team of archaeologists have dated a pair of footprints preserved in the mineral-rich sediment in the Chihuahuan Desert to find that these are 10,500 years old. These are the oldest human footprints discovered thus far in North America, predating any previous find by some 5,000 years. Moreover, the footprints mark for […]
Fractals are non-regular geometric shapes that have the same degree of non-regularity on all scales. Fractals are the kind of shapes we see in nature, basically, and even though the term was first coined only a coupled of decades ago or if this is the first time you’ve heard about fractals, chances have it that you […]
Generally, you can view services like any other commodity and apply strict goods economics. So if the same type of service is available elsewhere, even in another country, at a cheaper price it makes sense, economically, to outsource. Is health care a different matter, however? Apparently, if you took an X-ray in the past decade, […]
In transportation, there aren’t that many alternative energy sources like in conventional industry, where you can supply a plant or even a home using solar, hydro or wind power. Before electric vehicles make a significant contribution (don’t hold your breath for too long), alternative means of fueling engines need to be found. This is why […]
One of the predictions derived from Einsten’s theory of general relativity is the existence of wormholes – spacetime shortcuts. In theory such bridges may offer instantaneous travel between the two bridgeheads or wormholes even if these are light-years away from each other. Two independent studies suggest that there’s a link between quantum entanglement and wormholes, […]
It’s been previously shown that the jellyfish are the world’s most efficient swimmers, and researchers wanted to see if they could implement some of its features into a flying machine. New York University researchers have built a small vehicle whose flying motion resembles the movements of a jellyfish – possibly paving the way for small […]
Drug delivery encapsulated in tiny nanoparticles are thoroughly studied with great interest because they offer the chance to deliver treatments more efficiently. That’s not all though – with nanoparticle pills you can selectively target key areas and deliver drugs which otherwise wouldn’t be possible without using invasive methods. Take diabetes for instance – patients need […]
Your gut is home to some 100 trillion bacteria – more than the entire number of cells in the whole human body. Clearly, bacteria are fond of human intestines, as we humans, unknowingly or not, are fond of them. After all, without bacteria our organisms would be deprived of extremely vital vitamin sources and digestion […]
Google Glass is a hands-free technology, with potential applications in a myriad of fields Surgeons have recently started performing surgeries with Google Glass They report great results, as this technology can save a lot of time and effort Google Glass seems like the technology of Star Trek – except it’s here, now. For those who […]
Aside from being really cool and enabling wicked video game graphics, 3D imaging is also extremely useful in research, entering the labs as one of the most powerful tools in the 21st century. Using an imaging technique known as high-speed holographic microscopy, Laurence Wilson, a fellow at Harvard’s Rowland Institute, created detailed 3D images of […]
Ever found yourself in a hazardous relationship in which your spouse makes your hair go white? Well, if the answer’s yes then you’re not alone. A new study provides new evidence that key aspects of the social environment of some animals significantly influence life span after researchers found that sexually frustrated fruit flies and “haunted” […]
Carbon nanotubes and graphene have been hailed time and again as the wonder materials that will change the face of technology in the future. Before silicon can be dethroned from its reigning position, however, a lot of manufacturing issues need to be addressed. A new technique developed by researchers at University of Illinois provides a […]
The wonder material Graphene, the new wonder material that promises to open a new age in technology, just got a whole lot better. Researchers have reported improved interfacing of graphene with other 2-D materials – basically ‘growing’ graphene on silver. This resulted in an exceptionally pristine sample, presenting opportunities for ultrafast electronics and advanced optics/ […]
The Bonobo, or Pygmy Chimpanzee as it was once called, is one of our closest relatives, yet one of the most poorly studied. This fascinating ape displays unique social order and other highly interesting traits, and unfortunately like all great apes it is also endangered. Very little is known, however, about how many specimens are […]
Researchers have developed a camera that can capture translucent objects in 3D The camera is very cheap, at only $500 The camera could be used in medical imaging and collision-avoidance detectors, among others A $500 “nano-camera” that can operate at the speed of light and take 3D pictures has been developed by researchers in the […]
At one of the sites where it’s possible that Buddha was born, archaeologists have identified the remains of an ancient shrine – a timber structure which used to encircle a tree – right at the heart of the present day Maya Devi Temple in Lumbini, Nepal. Carbon dating reveals this ancient structure is at least […]
Among the many laudable initiatives for which Bill Gates is donating a lot of money (including HIV and malaria vaccine research and artificial clouds to fight greenhouse gases), there’s also a prize for developing better condoms. Because current latex varieties can dull sensation, Gates encouraged entrepreneurs to create a condom that “significantly preserves or enhances […]
A team from Columbia Engineering researchers, led by Mechanical Engineering Professor James Hone and Electrical Engineering Professor Kenneth Shepard has managed to take advantage of graphene’s unique properties (it’s strength and electric conduction) to create a nano-mechanical system that can create FM signals – in other words, the world’s smallest radio. “This work is significant […]
University of Utah researchers found that female mice that live in a competitive social environment and choose to mate casually with multiple partners give birth to males who are much more attractive to female mice, at the cost of a dramatic cut in life expectancy however. You only have one life, says the sexy male […]
There’s only so much you can cram into conventional magnetic storage devices. We’re already seeing these slowly, but surely lose ground in the face of solid-state drives, which offer more storage density and don’t have any moving parts (last longer, make no noise, etc.). What about even further ahead in the future? Well, it’s most […]
In a synergy between biology and electrochemistry, researchers at MIT cleverly exploited genetically modified viruses to assemble metal molecules into extremely thin nanowires that can be used as cathodes in a lithium-air battery. This type of battery has been thoroughly researched in the past few years and has sparked the interest of scientists because of […]
