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Harvard roboticists made an insect-like flying robot that perches on ceilings to save energy, like bats, birds or butterflies.
When self-driving cars finally take off, these should be safe. But right now, there's no guarantee they are. A small autonomus mini rally might help changed this.
Portugal covered its citizens' and industry's electricity demand using power generated by wind, solar and hydro for an extraordinary 107 consecutive hours.
Stanford University invented a new low-cost tech that diagnoses diseases from a urine sample.
Random numbers are essential for cryptography and computer security. The problem is that algorithms don't really generate totally random numbers.
Paleontologists have discovered two new triceratops relatives that simply looked amazing. One had two forward-curving spikes running from the back of its shield, in addition to the classic triceratops horns, while the other sported beautiful coloring akin to butterfly camouflage, but also a tragic life story.
A faint, blue galaxy 30 million light years away from Earth could help us understand the conditions from the birth of the Universe. Nicknamed "The Little Lion", the galaxy contains the lowest level of heavy chemical elements ever observed in a system of stars - meaning its make-up is similar to what was happening directly after Big Bang.
Researchers have sequenced the genomes of the tallest mammal on Earth, as well as it's unlikely closest cousin, the okapi. By comparing the genomes of the two species, we now have a firmer grasp of the evolutionary timeline in which the split from a common ancestor took place.
Machii Isao is an Iaido master and an expert sword wielder. He holds five Guinness World Records including "fastest 1,000 iaido sword cuts (36 min 4 sec)" and "most iaido sword cuts to one mat" (8), but you might know him as the real-life "fruit ninja" if you saw some of his stints up on YouTube. Check out how Isao fared against a robot.
A new discovery may place the first appearance of complex life on Earth a full billion years earlier than previously thought. The scientific community is divided on the value of the find, some hailing it as rock-solid evidence while others dismiss it as inconclusive.
Few drugs have had a more undeserving bad rep as LSD, but acid is finally making a comeback, it seems.
Lazy physicists from Australia programmed an artificial intelligence system to maneuver a delicate experiment with little to no oversight. The A.I. had to control an array of lasers that are used to cool atoms near absolute zero temperature, where the slightest hiccup could destroy the fragile state of matter of the atoms. But the machine performed marvelously.
. Perhaps the most impressive feature of spider silk is that it's taut even when it's been stretched to several times its original size. Inspired by the orb spider's silk, researchers at University of Oxford and the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris made their own artificial spider silk thread that extends like a solid, but compresses like a liquid.
If I asked you to guess where we have the best chances of finding life outside of Earth, you’d be hard pressed to think about Europa. But Jupiter’s frozen moon is beginning to look more and more attractive, and may even harbor an Earth-like ocean. We’ve written extensively before about the life harboring possibilities of […]
Ava Winery, a start-up based in San Francisco, wants to let you enjoy the best of wines for a fraction of their current cost. To this end, they'll bypass the costly growing and fermentation processes; in fact, they won't use grapes at all. Their wines will be synthetically produced, by combining aromatic compounds with ethanol.
A new study published in the Lancet Psychiatry reports that "magic mushrooms" could help in otherwise "untreatable" cases of depression.
A team from IBM Research dramatically increased the storage capacity of an alternative memory structure called phase-change memory (PCM) to 3 bits of data per cell. Many specialists think that PCM is the future, in a way similar to how flash is replacing hard drives.
Harvard researchers have demonstrated an all new 3-D printing technique that creates metals objects with complex shapes right in mid-air. This is fundamentally different from the approach of traditional 3-D printers which ooze polymer material layer by layer.
Robots are taking our jobs once again - or rather, helping us do our job a little bit better.
By analyzing telltale chemical signs which marked the environment, like led isotopes, a team of researchers tracked the water quality following the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79.
Paleontologists have identified an ancient hyena-like canine that occupied eastern North America approximately 12 million years ago. The coyote-sized dog had a massive jaw which scientists say it used to crush bones.
Despite these tentative first steps definitely look like a work in progress, don't look so stunned when you'll learn about the first best-selling novel written by a robot (I've seen worse things published). It all starts now.
The wild poliovirus is about to go extinct. In 2015, only 74 new cases were reported or 80 percent less than in 2015. Furthermore, these cases were contained in two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The vaquita marinas are on the verge of extinction, with only 60 individuals remaining in the wild.
Conventional computers are starting to reach their physical limitations but rest assured - a new technology is being worked on that will take computing to new, unforeseeable heights.
Using a chemical technique, researchers removed the complex organic polymers that give wood its characteristic appearance and, in the process, made the wood transparent. The see-through wood was then imbued with epoxy which made the material stronger than glass.
A man recovering from penile cancer is the first American citizen to receive a penis transplant. The operation, a first in the United States, was performed by doctors at the at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. According to the doctors involved, more transplants will occur in the coming years. This is still, however, an experimental procedure at the forefront of medicine.
In almost all mammals, the babies develop inside the mother before they are born, a process we all know as gestation. Outside mammals, though, live baby birth is quite rare, especially among insects. That's why everybody got excited by the discovery of a new long-horn beetle species which uses ovoviviparity -- a reproductory mode in which females hatch eggs inside the body.
The park will be the biggest urban protected area in Europe.
An offshore of Royal Dutch Shell is responsible for a new oil spill which covered a 13- by 2-mile sheen of oil on the waves.
I for one welcome our new robot TAs.
Mount Ruapehu on New Zealand’s north island is starting to show signs of eruption, and hikers have been warned to stay away from it. This is the real-life Mount Doom from The Lord of the Rings, where many scenes of the movie were shot. Mount Ruapehu is a stratovolcano with three major peaks: Tahurangi (2,797 m), Te […]
Kinda looks like the Sarlacc, doesn't it? Well take your geek hat off cause it isn't a sarlacc. Now put your paleontology geek hats on because this is Fossil Friday and we're talking about Zaphrentis phrygia.
We've gone a long way since simple keys and locks. Things like digital encryption or biometric validation methods based on fingerprints, corneas and so on have helped secure data and access to sensible information.These methods were developed, however, because we had to keep up with the threats. There's nothing truly unhackable, some say, but you can darn well make it really hard for the wrong people to get in. These researchers really thought outside the box, though.
It was bound to happen. This week, Jared Overton, a Tesla Motors Model S owner, reported his car spontaneously started itself and drove into a trailer parked right in front of it. No one was hurt, but the car itself broke the windshield. Tesla Motors claims their software wasn't to blame. Instead, internal logs suggest Overton used the 'summon' feature by mistake from his phone. Overton disagrees. It seems like a lawsuit might follow, but the accident begs a more important discussion: are Tesla's autonomous features really safe?
The decline of the oil industry continues.
The entire world of archaeology was electrified by recent announcements of a hidden chamber in Tutankhamun’s tomb. The story had it all – maybe even too much – false walls, hidden riches, even a mummy, Nefertiti’s mummy. But while the whole situation is still in the air, more and more doubt is being cast on the […]
It's almost like a sixth sense that protects you - but it doesn't help you at all when you're texting.
A team of researchers is investigating the Chicxulub crater, of the asteroid that wiped the dinosaurs (and many other creatures) some 65,5 million years ago. Now, they've set out to Reddit to answer all our questions
The 2016 Olympics in Rio are riddled with problems, one of them being a potentially global pandemic. Medical doctors are worried that the huge gathering could spark a massive Zika epidemic.
If you like burgers - and let's face it, you do - then we have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that most of the burgers in America are OK - a molecular analysis showed that there is nothing wrong in terms of nutritional content and ingredients. But a small minority was not OK.
Even though they're genetically identical and live in the same environment, not all bacteria are the same. When times are tough more bacteria become individualists gobbling resources in the detriment of the colony, but in doing so the individualists actually enhance the colony's survival rate.
It's hard to quantify the total contribution of a university or research group to science, but the Nature Index is one of the more reliable options. It is basically a database of author affiliation information collated from research articles published in a selection of 68 high-quality science journals. These are the ten most significant institutions in 2015.
A team from Monash University, Australia, and Imperial College, U.K., found the oldest micrometeorites ever and by studying them could determine what the planet's atmosphere looked like 2.7 billion years ago when these objects impacted the surface.
The AAA Foundation for traffic safety ordered a handful of studies that assess the effects marijuana legalization had on driving safety. The studies arrived at a number of worrisome conclusions. Fatal crashes involving drivers who used marijuana doubled since the state lifted the ban. Also, researchers found the marijuana blood limit allowed for driving, known as per se limits, is arbitrary and not based on actual science.
On May 8, Germany generated a record high amount of renewable energy. Solar, wind, hydro and biomass plants together generated 55 GW of power or 87% of the demand thanks to unusually good winds and sunny conditions.
A new study has found that the 35,000 gas filling stations have been overcome by more than 40,000 recharge points, although many are private-owned.
How many friends do you think you have? A hundred, twenty... two? Chances have it, you actually have only half as many 'real' friends as you think. At least, those who look to you as a friend too, say researchers at MIT's Media Lab.
Carrots are the richest source of vitamin A in the American diet, which is why you hear "they're good for your eyes". But did you know carrots were initially yellow and purple? Even further back, before humans domesticated carrots, the wild variety was white. Scientists know this by sequencing the DNA of the carrot, and a recent study deciphered its full genetic code. We now know what genes trigger the production of carrots' most important nutrients, but also what teaking is required to improve the crops.
"Be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy only when others are fearful," said Warren Buffet, arguably the most astute contemporary investor in the world. Research by Caltech and Virginia Tech backs this sound advice, after delving deep into the investor mind and framework by analyzing stock market behavior at the neurolevel.
