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According to a new study conducted by German researchers, even somehow magically removing massive amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere won't solve our climate problems - we need to find ways to stop emitting.
If you want to help protect endangered species, there’s a new app that might facilitate that. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) said Monday it’s teaming up with Sweden-based FishBrain to develop a social, free-to-use app that might make a difference for local wildlife. The app can be downloaded for Apple and Android devices. Anglers are among […]
After graphene proved to be one of the greatest discovery of the century, material scientists became inspired to see if other 2D meshes (just one atom thick layer of material) could be made from other elements. In time, we've heared about silicene, phosphorene or germanene. Now, a group from China reports for the first time stanene: a honeycomb 2D arrangement of tin (Sn) atoms, with a a bismuth telluride support that buckles the whole structure. Stanene is extremely exciting because it's been previously theorized that it could transfer electricity without heat loss, implying huge energy savings and increased performance for semiconductor applications.
Women often complain the AC is turned way too high at work. Many are forced by necessity to come to work on a hot summer day with a spare sweater or a freaking Snuggie, while men coworkers seem to be all fine, comfortable wearing only shorts and a T-shirt. Clearly, some people feel colder or hotter than others when exposed to the same temperature. However, I think nowadays it's no secret that most women get terribly uncomfortable in the conditions set by most thermostats at work. Now, a new study suggests that the way climate control in office buildings has been designed in the past couple of decades is discriminatory and doesn't reflect reality. That's because although in most workplaces today you'll find men and women in equal proportion, the AC is geared to provide the optimal comfort conditions for a 154 pounds, 40 year-old man. This profile may have been representative 50 years ago, but today it's outdated. It's time to align thermostats with today's needs.
Before the Cambrian, more than 541 million years ago, intriguing creatures named rangeomorphs that grew up to 2 meters dwelt in marine environments. They were unable to move, had no apparent reproductive organs and there is no evidence of them having a gut or a mouth. But a new study has found that their reproductive techniques […]
Many of the things we take for granted can be challenging and difficult for blind people - smartphones especially have much less utility for them, as do smartwatches. Enter the stage Dot - the world's first Braille smartwatch could close that gap, allowing people without sight to use and interact with smart devices.
Japanese researchers have just fired the most powerful laser ever fired on Earth, producing a 2 petawatt pulse – 2 quadrillion watts. Located at the Osaka University, the Laser for Fast Ignition Experiment (LFEX) has a concentrated energy equivalent of 1,000 times the world’s electricity consumption. However, it could only be sustained for a trillionth of a second. The […]
Value Farm is not necessarily a new concept, but manages to bring a stunning innovation; its scale and effectiveness and a crowded and polluted urban environment is a breath of fresh air in Shenzen, one of China’s largest cities. Value Farm is a collective effort farming effort developed by Thomas Chung, together with Tris Kee and […]
A $13.8 bn railway project funded by China linking Nairobi to Mombasa will pass right through the Nairobi National Park. Although the park hosts a huge amount of tourism and boasts a very sensitive wildlife, authorities are adamant in seeing the railway built.
Nabire was a 31-year-old Northern White Rhino from the Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic. She suffered from uterine cysts, which made it impossible for her to breed naturally, and ultimately, one of those cysts brought her demise. She was also one of the last 5 white rhinos on the Earth.
The sea, which is actually a lake, is well known for being 10 times as salty as the ocean and for boasting the lowest exposed strip of land on Earth. The climate and unique water and swimming conditions made the Dead Sea a popular tourism spot. In the last few decades, however, it's shores have become better known for their sinkholes rather than tanning spots.
CSIRO, Australia's peak science body has reportedly discovered one of the more sought after cures in human history: the cure for a hangover. The secret? A simple fruit, the pear.
Distillers have long been interested in the particularities of the aging process, and how to mature the drink to bring out that specific, mellow flavor we search for in a glass of quality whiskey. Japanese based distillers Suntory set their hopes high for what they feel is the next big thing for whiskey aging - as high as the ISS, to be specific. They announced earlier this week that several samples of their beverage will be sent to the ISS with the intent to study the "development of mellowness in alcoholic beverage through the use of a microgravity environment."
Evenwin Precision Technology, an electronics processing company, sacked 90% of its employees, replaced them with robots and saw productivity soar. Previously, there were 650 employees at the factory, now there are 60 - mostly engineers and accountants that oversee the production lines - and the number should go down to 20, according to company officials. The robots have produced almost three times as many pieces as were produced before. Quality has also improved. The product defect rate was 25%, now it is below 5%.
NASA scientists have taken grainy images of a peculiar asteroid nicknamed the "Space Peanut". The asteroids measures 1.2 miles across and made its closest approach at 7.2 million kms from Earth - 19 times closer than the Moon.
If you were born in 1900, you could call yourself lucky if you'd seen a day past your 50th birthday. The XXth century, however, marked an amazing leap in longevity thanks to the advent of vaccines, increased public health awareness and medical discoveries. In time, the leading causes of death and illness have shifted from infectious and parasitic diseases to noncommunicable diseases and chronic conditions. Sure, more people die today of cancer and heart disease than ever before, but it sure beats dying of typhoid. The extra decades in lifespan sure don't sound bad, either. Life expectancy at birth now exceeds 83 years in Japan—the current leader—and is at least 81 years in several other countries. The trend seems to be accelerating, especially for those at the extreme lifespan end. The population of adults 85 and older is projected to increase 351 percent by 2050, while those older than 100 will increase 10-fold between 2010 and 2050.
Self-driving cars have a promising future, and leading the pack technologically is Google, now a household name that has long transcended its status as a search engine. First and foremost, Google is a technology company and its interest are aligned with anything cutting edge, whether it's information technology or hardware (smart homes, smart appliances, cars). Since 2011 when Google first showcased its extremely successful self-driving Prius, later switched for a Lexus, the company has been making rapid progress. But Google rarely experiments just for the sake of it. Part of its philosophy is turning disruptive technology into a product, get it out to the people. But how do you go about self-driving cars, considering the auto business is one of the riskiest in the world? Well, just like it did with the Android for smartphones, Google could partner with the leading automakers supplying the technology. Indeed, Google confirmed this January that it had talks with General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Daimler and Volkswagen. But some highly interesting documents gathered by The Guardian suggests a possible alternate route. Google might actually build its own cars, all from scratch.
In its most recent flyby, NASA’s Cassini space probe discovered some strange red streaks on Tethys – one of Saturn’s 62 known moons. “Like graffiti sprayed by an unknown artist, unexplained arc-shaped, reddish streaks are visible on the surface of Saturn’s icy moon Tethys. As the Saturn system moved into its northern hemisphere summer over the […]
When it comes to vaccines, the young bees don't really have a choice - they're naturally immunized against specific diseases commonly found in their environment. For the first time, researchers have figured out just how they do it.
A year ago, we were telling you about the Canadian robot that successfully hitchhiked Canada from east to west all by itself - a spectacular achievement which prompted its inventors to attempt the same thing in the US. However, hitchBot was vandalized beyond repair and abandoned in Philadelphia.
Scott Kelly has been in space for 6 months, and will stay for a full year. The American veteran astronaut actually commands the International Space Station, and his Twitter account is an absolute delight, with often updates on what’s happening on the ISS and glorious pictures of the Earth, as it’s seen from outer space. […]
“Having seen the devastating effects of Ebola on communities and even whole countries with my own eyes, I am very encouraged by today’s news,” said Børge Brende, the foreign minister of Norway, which helped fund the trial.
Two different Philae instruments, known as Ptolemy and COSAC (Cometary Sampling and Composition), hunted for organic compounds— the building blocks of life as we know it — on and around Comet 67P. While the initial data burst received from the lander did hint at the existence of organics on its surface, the data was limited and its meaning not very clear. The new data is much more interesting.
On Wednesday, the Department of Defense issued a report in which it highlights the global security implications of climate change. In the report, the authors note that climate change will exacerbate current world problems like " poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation, ineffectual leadership and weak political institutions that threaten stability in a number of countries."
Plants signal stress when they're affected by drought, high temperatures or a disease using the same chemical and electrical signals that animal use. In animals, these chemicals and signals are delivered, carried and interpreted by the nervous system, which is why it's surprising to find plants use this mechanism. The "machinery", however, is different suggesting plants and animals separately evolved the same communication mechanism.
A couple decades ago, satellite were solely the provision of governments, since they were the only ones that could afford launching billions dollars worth of tech into space. Slowly but surely, corporations hitched a ride and now, when an imaging satellite can fit in the palm of your hand and costs only a fraction it used to, small enterprises are flourishing. Along with them is innovation.
Taking inspiration from nature, scientists in South Korea hijacked millions of years of evolution and devised their very own robotic version of a water-strider - insects that can jump on water. Their tiny droid mimics the water-strider in both its water balancing acts and jumping on water, which is a lot harder than it sounds.
Boy, was this year a scorcher! Well, what can I say, apart from get ready for more. According to an exclusive info ran by New Scientist, all but one main tracker of global surface temperature will report that this year will mark the first full degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels. I remind you that the International Panel on Climate Change warns that a two degree Celsius warming should be avoided on all costs if irreversible consequences like sea level rise, habitat loss and cataclysmic events are to be averted. This means that we're already halfway there, and the two degree mark might be reached by 2050. A four degree warming might end civilization as we know it.
Coffee and tea taste bitter to most people because of the caffeine. Of course, some like their coffee dark, but most people, including yours truly, can't have a sip without at least a lump of sugar inside. Apparently, we're on to something. Adding sugar to coffee or tea not only cuts the bitterness, but changes the chemistry of the drink at a fundamental level, according to Dr. Seishi Shimizu at University of York.
Most of the yarn used today is synthetic, but in the last couple of years yarn sourced from biological raw materials have been making a comeback as manufacturers look for renewable alternatives. A PhD student at ETH Zurich developed one such promising alternative after he devised an innovative process to make fibers out of gelatine. Gelatine is mostly made of collagen, a main component of skin, bone and tendons which can be found in plentiful amount in slaughterhouse waste.
Japan just powered up the world's most powerful laser, a monster that shines a 2-petawatt pulse of light. The pulse lasted only one picosecond, or a trillionth of a second, but during this brief time frame the laser definitely concentrated a phenomenal amount of power.
A geological survey found Washington DC and the surrounding Chesapeake Bay region is gradually sinking. By the end of the century, the Chesapeake bay would be six inches lower than it is today. This is due to a natural phenomenon, not man-made global warming. But when the two add up, it could put the nation's capital a couple of feet under water, significantly affecting the lives of local residents and the city at large.
Different ant species employ various tactics to forage food and keep the colony in tip top shape. Most often scouts will scour for food, and when a source is deemed fit a trail of pheromones guide worker ants to pick up the crumbs, leftover pizza or cheerios. Ants aren't very picky, you know. What they are is very strong. It's common knowledge that ants carry loads multiple times heavier than their own weight. Some species, like longhorn crazy ants are able to carry some of the biggest loads among ants by working together, joining in a band to perform the lifting. It's a curios matter, one you might have often noticed in your very own backyard.
The dark paintings of Martin Wittfooth depict a beautiful yet frightening world – only animals, no humans, but with a desolate landscape likely caused by our species. We see a world of animals suffering, desperately trying to adapt to the scorched world that we’ve created – much like we’re seeing now, in the real world. […]
Chinese researchers sampled water from an underground aquifer in the Tarim Basin and found these store vast quantities of carbon dioxide as a result of human activities. If the same holds true for all the desert aquifers around the world, the trapped carbon would amount to about a quarter more than the amount stored in living plants on land. Previously, the carbon trapped in aquifers was thought to be negligible. Clearly, this isn't the case and these should not be disturbed so that the carbon doesn't wash up into the atmosphere.
Are bullies hard wired (genetically) to be abusive to their peers or are most bullies the product of their environment (abusive parents, emotional problems etc.)? This is already turning out to be an age old question among psychologists. A new study seems to lend credence to the idea that bullies behave the way they do because they really want it, and of course because of the rewards. The study published by Canadian researchers found that high school bullies had the highest self-esteem, status and lowest rates of depression.
In what can only be heralded as a major breakthrough, a group at Arizona State University reports the demonstration of the first ever white laser - a laser that emits light over the full spectrum of visible colors. Up until now, lasers were designed to emit a distinct spectrum, either red, green, blue and so on. Combining multiple colors has always proved challenging and previous attempts had been slumped with shortcoming. This latest version seems to work wonderfully. If this technology can and will be scaled commercially, it could radically transform the industry. Its contrast and lighting capabilities, watt per watt, are well over LEDs and, moreover, it could help devise a new generation of Wi-Fi, called Li-Fi, which works on laser light and is 10 times faster.
A team of students from the University of Stuttgart just designed, built and raced what could be the fastest accelerating electric vehicle in the world.
It’s common knowledge that dogs don’t see the world the same way we do, but there are a lot of misconceptions about how dogs see the world — now, a new app simply called Dog Vision shows us just how dogs see. Dog vision differs significantly from human vision, primarily in color perception and visual […]
If you do something "once in a blue moon", that's really rare - once every 2 or 3 years, to be more exact. There's no exact pattern for blue moons, sometimes they grace us with their presence sooner, and sometimes it takes more time. It's been about three years since we had the last one, and it will be another three before we have the next one: the blue moon comes on Friday.
A half a million year old human tooth was discovered in France in a place called Tautavel, one of Europe's most important prehistoric caves. Anthropologists hailed the discovery as an extremely important one, with chief researcher Tony Chevalier calling it a "major discovery".
You may have observed how ants can carry things many times their size, both individually and in groups. Researchers have now figured out how ants manage to carry large objects in groups - it takes individual ideas, a lot of teamwork, and the ant equivalent of an air traffic controller.
"Skypunch" is the colloquial name of a phenomenon known as a Fallstreak hole - a large circular or elliptical gap that can appear in cirrocumulus or altocumulus clouds.
The Golden Records were the recordings NASA sent into space to represent our planet's life and culture, ranging from the sound of rain to samples of Beethoven and Mozart, Chucky Berry and Blind Willie Johnson.
Following a three-year-long trial in the rice of fields of China, scientists report a new genetically modified strain that promises to dramatically reduce the otherwise huge carbon footprint of rice farming. The new GMO crop emits only 1% of the methane - a highly potent greenhouse gas - that an unaltered rice paddies leaches out into the atmosphere. So far, the crop looks extremely advantageous but the unfavorable social climate against GMOs doesn't help at all, particularly in China where the public is very sensitive and no genetically modified rice variety has been allowed on its fields apart from this trial. China is the second largest producer of rice in the world.
A novel analysis reveals T-rex and other theropods – the top land predators that dominated the planet for no less than 165 million years – had teeth of unrivaled complexity. The long and powerful teeth were serrated like steak knives to disembowel prey easily, while on the inside tissue supported the teeth for maximum resistance against […]
If you’re thinking about the future days when robots will replace humans, well… those days are already here. The Henn-na Hotel (“Strange Hotel”) is staffed entirely by robots, including a dinosaur receptionist. They also have no room keys and a remarkable energy efficiency. ‘What we have strove to achieve with Henn-na Hotel is “The Ultimate […]
Scientists have created a mixture of oil and fluorescent dyes that can be safely added to human cells – the dye then gets activated by short pulses of light and starts behaving like a laser, communicating the tissue’s position to doctors. The technology could add new ways for light to be used in diagnosis and treatment […]
New Horizons has sent over so much data that NASA will be analyzing and learning more about Pluto for over a year - such is the case now: these new images from New Horizons reveal flowing ice, impressive mountain ranges and a surprisingly thick atmosphere.
The metric system is due for a mass makeover, as scientists are preparing to redefine four basic units by the end of 2018 in an effort to provide accurate measurements at all scales.
