Cancel

gear Push settings

bars

homehome Home chatchat Notifications


Mysterious Russian idol is the oldest wooden object in the world

More than twice the age of the Stonehenge, the Shigir Idol has been recently dated to 11,000 years ago, which makes it the oldest wooden object in existence by far. The idol is also covered with some drawings which may actually be a written language that no one understands.

This electric generator is only a few atoms thin

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.

In the last 50 years, droughts and heat waves destroyed 1/10 of crops

Agriculture is a very risky line of work since its inevitable once in a while extreme weather will take a huge toll on the crop yields. This is common knowledge, but the quantitative impact of droughts and heat waves has only recently been investigated in great detail. A paper published in Nature by researchers at University of British Columbia found droughts cut a country’s total crop yield by 10 percent, and heat waves by 9 percent. Floods and cold spells oddly did not affect crop production in a significant way. These effects vary from country to country and another surprising finding is that crops in developed countries suffer up to twice as many losses than those in developing countries.

Stanford researchers develop heat-sensitive batteries

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.

MIT's online courses can now lead to a degree

“Anyone who wants to be here now has a shot to be here,” MIT President L. Rafael Reif said. “They have a chance to prove in advance that they can do the work.” By now, you should know that MIT posted many of their courses and materials for free, on the internet. If you didn’t, […]

This winter is so hot Canada's squirrels are getting fat

The very hot winter of 2015 is having some unexpected consequences: squirrels are getting fat. The winter season for overindulgence has come and passed, but for these little critters in North America and Europe, it left behind a big mark. The mild climate of this winter meant that trees had lots of seeds and nuts, […]

New MIT material can soak up solar heat and release it on demand

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 […]

Prehistoric Art - The Trois Frères Cave

In a cave in France, three bisons stand next to each other, modeled from the clay from the walls of the cave. They’ve been standing there alone for 14,000 years, propped against a small boulder in the darkness. The craftsmanship and durability is remarkable, up to the point where you’d almost think they’re modern; one can […]

Dutch collective plans to "plant" a forest on Rotterdam's waters.

Where do we find the space for trees in our cities with all the buildings already vying for the limited space available? Dutch collective Mothership's answer is waterways. The group plans to install the "Dobberend Bos" (Bobbing Forest) in Rotterdam's Rijnhaven harbor next spring.

Almost 500 new cases of Zika-induced microcephaly reported in Brazil

The government has declared a state of emergency in the most affected areas while scientists are trying to figure out why so many babies are born with this often lethal condition.

Your brain on gambling: neural connection strength predicts risky behaviour

When faced with a risky decision, like gambling, some people falter and become very cautions, while others get super excited. As it happens, this trait of character may be determined by the strength of the connection between key brain areas of the brain. It's not only drugs that cause addiction -- gambling is psychologically addictive and can be just as dangerous as substance abuse. Three to five gamblers out of every hundred struggles with a gambling problem and as many as 750,000 young people, ages 14 to 21 has a gambling addiction. The findings might help therapists devise better measures. At the same time, using brain scans doctors can finally see whether their patients are making any progress.

Scientists examine over 1,000 chemicals from fracking fluids: many linked to reproductive or development toxicity

The indispensable chemical mixture that allows the industry to fracture rock and release the gas trapped inside looks almost like a black box. More than 1,000 chemicals are used in the fracking fluid, but a paper published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology found toxicity information was lacking for 76% of them. In other words, these could be harmless or dangerous. There's no way to know at this point. Concerning the rest -- about 240 substances -- the researchers found evidence that suggests reproductive toxicity for 103 (43%), developmental toxicity for 95 (40%), and both for 41 (17%).

First 'growth chart' developed for the Milky Way

The Milky Way has been around for at least 13.7 billion years, but it has its younger and older areas.

144-year old whaling ship found thanks to global warming

Archaeologists working at NOAA made a surprising discovery - they found the remains of a century-and-a-half old whaling ship

Largest man-made Earthquake comes after fracking activity

A new unfortunate world record has been triggered by fracking

The world could go 100% renewable by 2050, Stanford study finds

A new study from Stanford University found that the world could realistically go 100% renewable in a few decades, using only wind, water, and sunlight (WWS). Right now, we’re still a long way to go. Less than 5% of the planet’s energy demands are satisfied with renewables, but things are improving fast. “As of the end of […]

Scientists reveal the first ever digital geologic map of Alaska

Scientists working at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) have released the first ever digital geologic map of Alaska.

How fruits and veggies looked like before we domesticated them

Imagine a banana. The familiar yellow, seedless shape pops to mind, but that’s only how domesticated bananas look like. Before we “molded” and modified the plant, it looked completely different – as you can see below.   The first bananas we know of were cultivated in Papua New Guinea, stocky and filled with seeds. By […]

What is the Anthropocene: how people are pushing forth a new geological era

It's official - humanity has changed the Earth so much that we've basically created a new geological era, one that scientists call the Anthropocene.

Huge rubbery mass found floating inside man's abdomen [descriptive images]

Of all the odd things you’d expect to find in a human body, this is definitely one of the top spots. A 62-year-old man knew something was wrong; he had been complaining of irregular urination frequency; but he wasn’t expecting this. Described in The New England Journal of Medicine as a “free-floating, smooth, firm, rubbery mass […]

What are sinkholes: how they form and why they're so dangerous

Sinkholes can be dangerous. Here's what you need to know.

State of Emergency declared in California after gas leak

As we mentioned before, the largest gas leak in history is unfolding in California, but oddly enough, few people seem to care enough or understand the magnitude of what's happening.

Compulsive gaming rewires the brain, both beneficial and harmful

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.

The Kepler Telescope comes back with 100 new planets

Fresh discoveries made by the Kepler mission remind us that there's a myriad of potentially habitable planets just waiting to be discovered.

Interbreeding with Neanderthals gave humans an immunity boost, but also allergies

Some 50,000 years ago Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans co-existed, mingled and interbred. While only the human lineage exists today, these inter-species third degree meetings left a permanent mark on our genome. For instance, an ancient human who lived in what is today Romania had 9% Neanderthal DNA. Today, most Europeans and Asians have between 1 to 4 percent Neanderthal DNA.

US Post to Issue Special-Themed Space Stamps

Old-school letter writers will be able to adorn their envelopes this year with nice images of all the planets in the Solar System, as well as Pluto, the Moon and Star Trek icons. I can only assume how many people still use stamps and regular post, but I’m happy to see the US Post use something different than […]

This is the biggest sapphire in the world

Gemologists working in Colombo, Sri Lanka, have confirmed the finding of the largest sapphire in the world.

How your brain distinguishes safety from danger

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.

Mother who birth more children age slower, not faster

The prevailing assumption is that mothers who birth more children live short lives due to accelerated biological aging. Researchers turn this historical thinking upside down after they found having more offspring actually prolongs the life of mothers and slows down cellular degradation.

Dinosaur love dance impressed on sandstone offers first glimpse of dino courtship

Birds are literally dinosaurs, so many scientists suspect millions of years ago dinosaurs shared similar courtship tactics like fancy plumage or complex dances to impress potential mates. While fossils can teach us so much about how dinosaurs looked and, in some instances, behaved (herd behavior, diet, hunting patterns etc.), inferences on mating rituals have been speculations at best thus far. A paper published in Scientific Reports offers some of the first tantalizing evidence that supports the idea that dinosaurs indeed employed similar courtship displays to modern birds. The researchers at University of Colorado, Denver found tracks etched into sandstone surfaces to create nest displays, hoping to attract a female to mate with. These scrapes are one of a kind, found nowhere else in the world.

This is the first human-carrying drone: is the world ready for it?

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.

Garlic might help millions suffering from a nasty parasitic worm infection

Schistosoma mansoni might not as famous as other nasty parasitic worms like flatworms or roundworms, but outside the U.S. this pesky bugger infests more than 200 million people. Symptoms range from rash to organ damage to paralysis. For years, patients have had to rely on drugs that ward off the infection, but for remote or communities in the developing world this may be out of the question. There's a widely available remedy found almost anywhere in the world though, according to Egyptian researchers. And it's so cheap that it literally grows in the ground: garlic.

Mexico's soda tax is working, sales drop by 14%

A new study looking into how Mexico's soda tax is impacting consumer habits one year after implementation. The results show a decrease in sugar-sweetened beverage consumption accompanied by an increase in sales of untaxed drinks throughout the country.

Meditation improves cardiovascular health almost as much as exercise

A new study, performed at Howard University Medical Center found that practicing the transcendental meditation technique seems to stimulate the production of telomerase, an enzyme associated with reduced blood pressure and heart disease. This correlates well with earlier research which found that meditation techniques reduce rates of high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke, as well as slowing of biological aging.

Study finds why New Year's resolutions to lose weight fail

Throughout our hunter-forager days, humans have developed a subconscious urge to over-eat and became less and less psychologically equipped to avoid obesity, especially during the winter months, a University of Exeter study recently found.

A pocket-sized gadget uses spectroscopy and tells you what's inside food

One of the most exciting gadgets we've seen at CES this year comes from a French startup called DietSensor, which collaborated with an Israeli company called Consumer Physics. Their latest product called SCiO is a pocket-sized device that uses near-infrared spectroscopy to tell you how many carbs or calories are found inside your food.

Beijing wages war on smog: plans to reach clean air by 2030

The Chinese capital is notoriously polluted and frequently plagued by smog, a noxious gas mixture made of nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, ozone, smoke or particulates. While 2015 saw cleaner air in Beijing than the year before, the current state of affairs lack in resolution, as echoed by concerned Beijing residents. With a lot of planning, hard work and a bit of luck, this situation might change for the far better as the Beijing Environmental Monitoring Center announced it plans to cut airborne pollution by more than 200% by 2030.

Water-breathing scuba mask design still has a way to go

South Korean designer Jeabyun Yeon has just unveiled his new concept of a scuba mask that would allow anyone to breathe underwater without requiring air tanks. His design, named the Triton, includes two arms linked to a mouth piece. The branching arms are designed to extract free oxygen atoms from the water and supply breathable air directly to the user. But I'm not sold on it just yet.

Forgot how to speak a foreign language? Maybe. Your brain didn't, though

Even though they can't remember a word in mandarin, children from China adopted in France bear the same brain activity response as bilinguals. Essentially, their brains use the same patterns and neural areas as bilinguals even though by all accounts they must think they're monolingual. The implies that the impact of early developmental experiences on later neural outcomes is much more significant than some might think.

The tiny Egloo keeps your room warm for about 20 cents a day

Winter's here with all its holiday cheer and if you're like me, way too much food. Also something that winter's very good at is making the great outdoors cold and the small indoors even colder. But worry not because Marco Zagaria, a student at Rome's Academy of Fine Arts, promises he can make your home warm and comfortable for a measly 10 cents a room each day, without using any electricity.

Energy storage hardware cost to drop 41% by 2020, further accelerating clean tech

A GreenTechMedia analysis forecasts that energy storage systems, like large density batteries, will become a lot cheaper in the coming years. According to the report, the cost of installing an energy storage system will drop by some 41% by 2020. Energy storage is tightly linked with renewable energy generation, driving a lower cost overall for clean energy.

What a worm's brain looks like fired up

These aren't Christmas lights, but the actual neural activity of Caenorhabditis Elegans, a parasitic nematode. The brain imaging was done by researchers at Princeton University, and no worm had to be cut open. Instead, the researchers used a special protein which fluoresces in response to calcium.

How climate change is driving Australian farmers mad

Everybody has to eat, but for all their efforts farmers can easily lose a year's worth of crops due to a dry season or some other freak weather event.

Poachers use scientific papers to target newly discovered species

Scientists are pushing the non-publication of geographical data of new species in order to protect them from poachers.

New SpaceX photos show dusty but apparently undamaged rocket

SpaceX got a much deserved Christmas gift – on December 22nd, became the first group (private or state-owned) to ever launch a rocket and then safely land it on Earth where it can be used again. Now, new pictures reveal not only that the rocket survived, but that it’s in pretty good shape. It all started […]

First SciFi novel ever: A 2nd century AD book about traveling to outer space, meeting aliens and Homer

Some argue that the first genuine science fiction novel is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, where technology bordering necromancy is used to reanimate the dead. But labeling what falls under science fiction can be troublesome. Christopher McKitterick says that in the strict etymological sense, it's literature about scientific discovery or technological change, but then argues that this definition misses the mark; instead Mckiterrick believes "SF is about how we have changed, how external change affects us, how things we do change the world around us, and how we will continue to change over time." What about works of fiction written in a time when science wasn't even considered a distinct field, separate from natural philosophy, or study of religious truth, etc? Depending on how you class what makes science fiction, Lucian of Samosata's "True Stories" might be the first science fiction novel. The characters venture to distant realms including the moon, the sun, and strange planets and islands. The star protagonist is Lucian himself who happens to stumble upon aliens on the moon and finds himself in the midst of a war between the lunar and sun empires.

Hints of Higgs Boson spark floods of science papers

Almost 100 manuscripts have been submitted following last week's tantalizing announcement from CERN.

Ketamine might become our secret weapon against depression

Scientists find the specific brain pathway used by ketamine to relieve depression. Now, it's possible to design a new drug like ketamine, sans "K hole".

New 3D printing technique offers strong, intricate ceramics

Researchers have developed a new technique that allows them to create ceramics with 3D printing faster and cheaper, incorporating complex shapes.

Engineers create first true sonic tractor beam

There's three things every good alien movie needs, in my opinion: aliens, spaceships and tractor beams; so far, science hasn't really delivered well on the "alien" part, and our spaceships still have a way to go. However, recent work in the UK might pull the third element out of the realm of sci-fi into reality.
1 … 321 322 323 324 325 … 418