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Bio-engineered algae kills cancer cells and leaves healthy ones unharmed

Scientists have genetically engineered algae to kill up to 90% of cancer cells in the lab, while leaving the healthy ones unharmed.

How to easily determine your eye dominance

Not many people know it, but just like you have a hand dominance, you also have an eye dominance. Here's how you can figure it out.

New Horizons images suggest Pluto is geologically active

NASA released a stunningly colorful new image of the dwarf planet Pluto, the latest in a series of images that steadily trickle down from the New Horizons probe since it left the solar system this July. And it's not only eye candy either; the features this picture reveals has left the smart guys at the agency scratching their heads.

Orphan gene boosts the protein levels of crops

A recent study from Iowa State University shows how a gene, found in a single plant species so far, can increase protein content when grafted into the DNA of staple crops. Their findings could help improve a huge variety of crops and improve nutrition in developing parts of the world, where available sources of protein are sometimes limited.

Prematurity is the leading cause of death in infants. What you need to know

Today is World Prematurity Day - a global effort to raise awareness about the deaths and disabilities due to premature births. Each year around the world, 15 million babies are delivered ahead of term and 1 million children die before their fifth birthday from related complications. Some who make it past this dangerous threshold might get to live with serious disabilities.

Scientists use laser to cool something down for the first time

Cooling things with lasers? I'm down!

There's a fourth tribe of founding European forefathers

It's widely agreed that modern Europeans trace their roots from three ancient tribes, or three important migration events, if you will. But after researchers sequenced the genomes of two hunter gatherers who lived roughly 13,000 years ago, there's evidence that suggests a fourth tribe lent our genes.

A rare success story: squirrel moves off the endangered list

Unfortunately, stories of animals becoming endangered are way more common than the reverse, but perhaps this makes it even more important to celebrate the success we do have.

Scientists reveal the first global groundwater map to date

A team of researchers has analyzed a swarm of data and created the first map that tries to estimate how much water is located beneath the Earth.

Male ruff birds cross-dress to steal females, and it's all in their genes

Self-preservation and reproduction are the most powerful instincts, and life forms on Earth have devised all sorts of gimmicks and tactics to become successful (pass on those genes). Just look at the male ruff sneak tactics to grab girls. There are three distinct approaches: the cocky aggressive, the sneaky 'satellite, and the cross-dresser. You might think this isn't necessarily peculiar in itself. After all, human males employ similar approaches to seek women's attention. The peacock, the friend-zone dude, the jock, the joker etc. What's odd about ruff males is that this behavior is coded inside their genes - from the way they act, to how their plumage looks like. And they're all, ultimately, males of the same species.

NASA reveals the suits astronauts will use on Mars

If everything goes according to plan, we'll be going to Mars in the mid 2030s - using these suits.

It's music to my ... eyes?!

When you're listening to music, it's not just your ears that are reacting to it, your eyes feel it too.

Mining disaster in Brazil is an environmental catastrophe

The collapse of two dams at a Brazilian mine spells an absolute catastrophe, with effects that could haunt Brazil for years to come.

A new, beautifully detailed geological map of Mars

Geological maps can be awesome here on Earth, but when we have geological maps of extraterrestrial bodies... that's when we get really excited.

Pharma corp. hikes infant epilepsy drug price by 2,000%, from $33.05 per vial to $680 per vial

The free market once again showed its limitations, or rather its power of abuse, after a Canadian pharmaceutical company priced gauged a drug critical for a rare form of epilepsy that affects infants. Questcor Pharmaceuticals hiked the price from $35.66 to $801.19 per vial. "Luckily", Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children and the Ontario Drug Benefit (ODB) program negotiated the price down to $680 per vial, bringing the total cost of treatment to $14,280.

New, different type of life could be living in our guts

In recent years, we’re finding out more and more that our guts are actually an impressive ecosystem, influencing not only how we digest our food, but also how we think and behave. But now, researchers have taken it even one step further: we may need to define a whole new life form to describe these […]

It pays to be a small fish in a big pond after a mass extintion

Some 360 million years ago, the oceans were teeming with big fish, some as big as a school bus. Then something terrible happened, the causes of which still escape scientists today: the Hangenberg Event. This was the last peak in a streak of mass extinctions known as the Late Devonian extinction which exterminated 97% of all marine vertebrate species. In the aftermath, it paid to be small a new study suggests. The researchers at University of Pennsylvania found that small fish dominated the ecological niches for nearly 40 million years. This tremendous rebound time is relevant today when overfishing is threatening countless large fish species. Once these disappear, it might be a very long time before we get tuna-sized fish back on our plates.

World's largest storage device: a 16 TB SSD that's 60% larger than closest competitor

In a leap of innovation, Samsung unveiled the largest storage unit ever: a 15.36TB flash drive which uses 256GB NAND flash as the basis for the storage. The hard drive is 60% bigger than its closest competitor and all that storage is packed inside a tiny 2.5-inch SSD case. And yes, I prefer to still call it a hard drive even though there aren't any motors, pivots or arms. Deal with it.

Fossil fuel subsidies are worth $452 bn. across G20 states

At the U.N. summit on climate change held in Paris soon, world leaders will join in an attempt to curb their emissions in order to avoid warming by more than 2 degrees Celsius past the industrial age. We're already 0.9 degrees warmer and by the looks of the pledges filed by member states ahead of the talks, a more realistic target seems like 3 degrees. In other words, the framework - which will not be legally binding - will only have moderate effects, when more ambitious action is required. One big part of the problem is fossil fuel subsidies, which last year amounted to $452 bn. in total for all G20 member states. Oppositely, renewable energy - a field which actually deserves to be subsidizes since its new tech and isn't mature yet - was subsidized by only $121 bn. or four times less.

First porous liquid could revolutionize carbon capture

Research at the Queen's University Belfast has produced a major (and mind-bending) breakthrough, in the form of the first synthesized porous liquid. The new material has the potential for a massive range of new technologies including carbon capture.

Ant colonies behave as a single superorganism when attacked

Ant colonies are incredibly complex systems -- the tightly knit, intensely cooperative colonies are closer to a single superorganism than to human societies. Researchers form the University of Bristol wanted to know how this single mind of the hive reacted to distress, and subjected colonies of migrating rock ants to differing forms of simulated predator attack to record their response.

Discarded festival tents turned into Sheltersuits for the homeless

In the wake of big festivals like Coachella or Glastonbury, you'll find trash and the ravages of partying littered across the whole site. Oddly enough, you'll also find loads of abandoned, but useful gear like phone chargers, couches and, most frequently, tents. A creative Dutch designer now has an idea on how to repurpuse the latter: turn them into suits that double as sleeping bags for the homeless.

Eating sweets with every meal may help your memory

Scientists at the Georgia State University, Georgia Regents University and Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center found that the brain uses sweet foods to form the memory of a meal. The paper shows how the neurons in the dorsal hippocampus -- a part of the brain that is critical for episodic memory -- are activated by consuming sweets.

Pregnancy related deaths down by half in the last 25 years

Between reports of melting icecaps, starving polar bears and reports of food shortages, it's easy to become pessimistic about life. But it's not all bad, as a recently released report by the UN, published in The Lancet, shows how pregnancy-related deaths have fallen almost by half in the past 25 years.

Some dude built a railgun that shoots with 27,000 Joules of force

YouTuber Ziggy Zee prides himself with building the most powerful mobile electromagnetic railgun ever made by a non-gov. Just look at that thing. I'm scared at it is, but wait until you hear what it can do.

Scientists 3D print models of impact craters on Moon and Mars

3D printing has ignited our imagination and pushed us to think about things in new, different ways.

Strange "illness" swept through a crowd of students in the UK

It's still not clear why this happened, but one of the most likely explanations is a rare phenomenon, a "contagious" panic spread.

Martian Moon is falling apart

Attraction to someone can tear you apart, metaphorically, but if you're the Martian moon Phobos, attraction can tear you apart - literally.

Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" voted most influential academic book in history

Charles Darwin’s monumental formulation of the theory of evolution has been overwhelmingly voted as the most influential and important academic book, ahead of works by Newton, Plato and Einstein. “Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, […]

Farmers have been using honey bees for almost 9,000 years

Bees play a critical role in maintaining natural plant communities and ensuring production of seeds in most flowering plants. But humans too have a close relationship with bees, which spans over a history close to 9,000 years, a study found which analyzed ancient pottery. That's a lot earlier than previous recounted evidence. Right now, however, honeybees are dying at an astonishing rate. The fact that bees have been feeding and nurturing humans for so long should only make us more humble, but also more steadfast in finding a solution.

Magination: play, interact and explore magnetism

What is this sorcery? Why, magnets of course, and two Norwegian students have found a way to make magnetism more entertaining than ever.

Paleontologists did discover fossilized brain tissue in 520 million year old specimens

It was a finding that sent ripples throughout the entire paleontology community. Met with heavy criticism, the authors are now vindicated.

Thermal scans reveal interesting anomaly in Great Pyramid

Even inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, outside of Cairo, researchers have found something interesting.

People would embrace gas tax, if it would be used narrowly - like fixing roads

While Americans are in favor of renewable energy and electric cars, when it comes to paying more for gasoline support dwindles. Are the voters hypocritical? Not necessarily. A new study suggests that voters would be in favor of a gas tax, if they'd know the cash would flow directly into measures that address energy efficiency, fix roads and bridges or gets refunded to taxpayers equally. In other words, if people know what they're paying for, they'll be more willing to pitch in. Who would've thought, right?

Microsoft scans photos to guess what your feelings are

Microsoft released an app that can guess emotions based on an uploaded photo.

Kid wins $250,000 scholarship for explaining special relativity

Not every groundbreaking idea is complicated to understand. Ryan Chester, a high school senior from Ohio, seems to think so too. Using simple props and graphics, Chester produced a fantastic short video explaining one of the most important theories in physics - the Theory of Special Relativity proposed by Albert Einstein one hundred years ago. If the name doesn't say too much, maybe E = mc2 will.

How maternal testosterone levels can cause anxiety in offspring

Women suffering from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) show elevated levels of testosterone and testosterone derivatives in their systems, as well as an increased risk of anxiety and depression. As the offspring of these women (both sons and daughters) show similar symptoms, it's been believed that PCOS can be transmitted through genetic code. However, a new idea comes to question this -- specifically, the fact that the fetuses of mothers with PCOS are gestating in high levels of testosterone is what causes these symptoms.

New most distant body in the Solar system identified

A new dwarf planet, designated V774104 has been identified and now takes the crown of most distant object in our solar system, being three times farther away than Pluto. The dwarf planet is estimated to be between 500 and 1000 kilometers across. Astronomers don't yet have enough data to estimate its orbit and estimate that about an year of observations is needed to gather enough data for a precise answer.

Shareholders file resolution urging Exxon takes moral responsibility for climate change

Last week, New York District Attorney Eric Schneiderman issued a subpoena to Exxon Mobil ordering the company to provide financial information, as well as internal communications including emails, and other materials as far back as 1977. Schneiderman is investigating Exxon over suspicion of willfully failing to mention to its investors the risks climate change might pose to the company's business. If this is true, then Exxon effectively violated its fiduciary duties and can be held liable. Moreover, the investigation might surface certain information that might uncover racketeering and securities frauds, since it's well known, although harder to prove per se, that Exxon has been involved in manipulating public opinion on the matter, risking public health in the process - a situation akin to big tobacco which actively sought to convince the public that smoking isn't bad for health.

Wireless implants can block or induce the sensation of pain

Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed implantable devices that can activate -- and in theory, block too -- pain signals traveling from the body through the spinal cord before they reach the brain.

What makes a planet? Finally a simple formula that includes exoplanets as well

There is only one clear set of official criteria by which we class or not a cosmic body as a planet. These criteria introduced in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union saw Pluto demoted to the status of dwarf planet. Oddly enough, though, these rules were made for classing planets only in our solar system, meaning the 5,000 exoplanets (what should be planets outside our solar system) identified so far are now in a "definitional limbo," according to planetary astronomer Jean-Luc Margot at UCLA. Luckily, Margot has come up with a solution which seems to work marvelously.

Meet the aye-aye: the strangest looking primate in the world

Exclusively found in the north-eastern parts of Madagascar, these peculiarly looking primates may both be the strangest and adorable looking things you'll see all day.

Astronaut food: what astronauts eat in space

Many of you reading this hope to one day be able to explore outer space; the thrill of discovery, entwined with the peace and solitude that only the silent void can provide. It's awesome stuff, I'm completely on board. But as it usually goes, great adventures come with great sacrifices.

Creating a microbial map of the city

Give it up for your city's sewer system - aside from handling our waste (well, at least most of the time), it also fights disease.

Disperstants used by BP for oil spill didn't do much

The oil company used dispersants, but the technique was actually counter productive, just creating the appearance of the oil going away

Canadian Doctors Treats Brain Tumor in World First

The blood-brain barrier has been broken for the first time in history, and this can revolutionize some areas of cancer treatment.

These futuristic flying pods could one day redefine transportation

Imagine if, instead of driving in the crowded traffic or taking the bus to work, you could just fly, above the street. That's the idea behind skyTran, a self-driving monorail that hopes to revolutionize the way we think about transportation.

Laughing at bad jokes might be a sign of dementia

We all have a friend that enjoys inappropriate jokes or slapstick humour more than any sensible person ought to. University College London researchers now claim that a twisted sense of humour might be an indicator of dementia setting in, particularly if the person in question used to have a different sense of humour.

Breeding 'super coral' might be our only shot to save the reef

According to NOAA's Coral Reef Ecosystem Division about 30 percent of the world's coral population has perished due to average ocean temperatures, El Nino's effects and acidification. Even if we halt all man-made CO2 emissions now (virtually impossible), the cascading effects of ocean acidification can not be halted once they've been set in motion. As a result, coral all over the world will bleach more frequently and intensely. Desperate times indeed, but a group of scientists are trying their best. They identified strong coral specimens and are currently stressing them further so they become more resiliant to changing conditions driven by global warming. In time, these super coral might be transferred all over the globe in an attempt to halt the rapidly deteriorating coral reef.

Scientists find Permian fauna from Gondwana

Researchers have found new fauna in northern Brazil, in what used to be the continent of Gondwana.
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