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In the quest to understand what are the crucial differences between human and chimpanzee brains, scientists have isolated a stretch of DNA, once thought to be “junk”, near a gene that regulates brain development in mice. The engineered mouse embryos grew significantly larger brains. Those which received human brain DNA strands had 12% larger brains than those bred with chimp brain DNA. Research like this, though ethically controversial, might help identify which DNA sequences give a brain human characteristics, but also aid in findings treatment or cures for brain diseases like Alzheimer's.
Mollusks such as oysters, clams and scallops are highly vulnerable to the increasing acidification of the world's oceans. A new study concluded that the acidification is so intense that the mollusks aren't able to properly produce a hard shell, putting them in peril.
Paleontologists diving beneath the surface of a water-filled cave in Madagascar made a monumental find: a graveyard filled with the bones of a wide variety of species,some very rare, other extinct for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Some of the remains that dot the bottom of the Aven Cave in Tsimanampetsotse National Park include those of the extinct elephant bird, a flightless giant similar to an ostrich, but most bones belong to the long-lost giant lemurs.
Jupiter's satellite Europa is definitely one of the most interesting places in our solar system - despite being really far from the Sun and frozen on the surface, NASA researchers actually believe it is the best bet to search for extraterrestrial life. Now, scientists and engineers have actually planned a mission aimed to reveal whether life on Europa exists or not.
Here’s another reason for children to do their chores: washing dishes by hand boosts children’s immune system. The findings were reported by Swedish doctors who found that in households where dishes are washed by hand children have much fewer allergic incidents than in those where the dishes are washed by a machine. Yet again, the findings […]
“I am getting sick and tired of dinosaurs being forced on our children.” You just know something’s up when you hear that kind of phrase. Apparently a group of concerned Christians stood up against what they believe to be the grand conspiracy of scientists: shoving dinosaurs into the world so they can make money. I’ll […]
Wei-Hock Soon, an aerospace engineer and a part-time employee at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is one of the few respected scientists who spoke against the general consensus that human activity is a significant contributor to climate change. He has published 11 papers on climate change since 2008. However, it was recently shown that he received $1.2 million from oil companies in exchange for his "science". According to leaked documents, the papers were simply “deliverables” that he completed in exchange for their money. He used the same term to describe a testimony he prepared for Congress.
The mighty Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan wasn’t all that different from New York City today, or any major city for that matter, despite the former has been deserted for 500 years. You see, both cities grew under the same rules, independent of political or economic systems, according to a new model. Scott Ortman, an anthropologist at University of Colorado, Boulder, heard […]
Marine animals today are 150 times larger than they were 540 million years ago, according to a new study which seems to suggest evolution favors animals bigger in size.
A new report highlights the reprehensible state of women working in STEM fields—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics— where they’re not only under represented, but also under constant pressure to over perform. The report also stresses how sexism and racism is “still a thing” in labs, universities and technology companies. In fact, there’s seems to be […]
Here's a question: what's the difference between actor Sean Penn and the charitable Mother Theresa? Bear with me for a second. Here's a bit of context: following the onslaught left by Hurricane Katrina, Penn hurried to New Orleans to aid victims. Allegedly has has personally saved 40 people. Today, however, he's scorned and mocked of because he also brought a camera crew and publicist along for the ride to document his humanitarian effort. Both Mother Theresa and Sean Penn have engaged in what can be described as humanitarian aid, yet one's seen as a saint, while the other is made fun of. The key difference is motivation and now game theory may finally be able to account for it.
In an attempt to make programming more attractive, MIT has developed a stunning “robot garden”, dozens of fast-changing LED lights and more than 100 origami robots that can crawl, swim, and blossom like flowers. I’ll tell you, if this doesn’t make kids want to code… nothing will! The “garden” was created by a team from MIT’s Computer […]
US researchers have conducted a national survey and found that the percentage of U.S. teens who get seven or more hours of sleep is steadily decreasing. The number of teens suffering from sleep deprivation has continuously decreased, up to the point where less than half of all teens sleep adequately.
Beekeeping can be quite difficult, but thanks to a new invention – it just got a lot easier. Stuart and Cedar Anderson, a father-and-son developed a tap system which allows the honey to be harvested without actually disturbing the bees. The Flow Hive not only reduces bee stress, but also eliminates one of the most laborious […]
Until now, only two species of seadragon had been reported, with the last one being discovered 150 years ago! Now, biologists have discovered a new species off the coast of Australia: a red hot sea dragon. “All this time we thought that there were only two species,” marine biologist Nerida Wilson of the Western Australia […]
Dark matter and black holes are some of the most mysterious things in the Universe, so a connection between the two is absolutely thrilling. In a new study, astronomers report a strange link between the amount of dark matter in a galaxy and the size of its supermassive black hole. That’s an amazing new black […]
The ability to keep malaria under control is crucial - the disease is highly contagious and the potential health hazards are immense. Efforts have been somewhat successful, with fatalities dropping from over 1 million in 2000 to 584,000 in 2014. But the protozoans that are causing the disease are starting to become immune to the drugs we are using, and that's a huge problem.
An ingredient in extra-virgin olive oil kills a variety of cancer cells in a matter of minutes, without damaging healthy ones. The ingredient is called oleocanthal, and it breaks down a part of the cancerous cell, destroying it.
A new study has found that unlike monotheistic religions, buddhism doesn't promote intolerance - instead, it promotes both selfless behavior and tolerance of people we perceive as unlike ourselves.
Can you judge a person by his fingers? If that person's a men, yes you can, some scientists would agree. Researchers at McGill University found that men with short index fingers and long ring fingers are on average nicer to women. Not entirely a correlative study, the findings seem to have weight as previously a link was found between high levels of testosterone in the womb and shorter index finger relative to the ring finger. You can stop watching your fingers now.
Suicide rates have generally remained the same for decades, with slight increases in some areas of the world. Basically, scientists and medics don’t really know how to effectively tackle this issue, so they’re considering more unorthodox approaches. A new study has found that classic psychedelic use may reduce suicidal thinking, ultimately dropping suicide rates. “Despite […]
The most populated city in the United States is already experiencing its fair share of floods, hurricanes and heat waves, but these will only intensify in years to come. According to the New York City Panel on Climate Change by the 2080s there could be an 8.8-degree Fahrenheit rise in temperature from 1980s levels and as many as six heat waves a year or three times as many as in the 1980s. Sea levels could also rise by as much as six feet, pressing the municipality for swift adaptive measures.
Languages like English, Greek or Hindu, all Indo-European tongues, stem from a common ancestral language family which originated 5,500 - 6,500 years ago, on the Pontic-Caspian steppe stretching from Moldova and Ukraine to Russia and western Kazakhstan. The findings were reported by a group of linguists at University of California, Berkeley after data from more than 150 languages were analyzed. Today, some 3 billion people speak the more than 400 languages and dialects that belong to the Indo-European family.
Life has found our blue gem planet as a welcoming host, but it hasn't always been all fun and games. To our knowledge, life has gone through five major mass extinctions over the past couple hundred millions of years. During this time countless species and even families were wiped out in a heart beat, but geological time frame standards. When faced with overwhelming odds, nature favors those who can adapt. According to researchers at the University of Gothenburg plants have always been surprisingly resilient to these challenging times, compared to animals. That's not to say that plants didn't go extinct as well - sure, countless as well, but others soon filled their space at a much great pace than animals could.
Many scholars who still seek to explain why more women leave the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) pipeline than men are stuck in old times. If in the 1970s, men were 1.6 to 1.7 times as likely as women to later earn a STEM Ph.D., by the 1990s the gender gap had closed and both sexes are as likely to complete their education. Efforts to bridge the gap and promote gender diversity have thus been fruitful. There's still gender gap in STEM among those who first enroll in college, with roughly three times as many men than women.
Alec Falkenham, a 27-year-old PhD student at Dalhousie University in Halifax, has invented a special cream that will wipe out tattoos for good, without the pain and scaring expected today following laser surgery. Time to erase your ex-lover's name off that shoulder... or keep it! Good or bad memories are what make you the person you are today, you shouldn't be ashamed of that. Either way, soon enough you might have the means to make your own choice - one that doesn't involve burning you skin.
After scientists discovered a huge hole in the ozone layer above the Antarctic, an emergency UN panel banned the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in 1987. These build up in the atmosphere, react with the triple oxygen molecule and break it down. Since then, ozone has thankfully replenished, thought it might take decades before it reverts to pre-1980 levels. Progress is slow because there are still some plants through out the world who illegally use CFCs (the stuff that used to go into refrigerants or deodorants), but also because there are other ozone-depleting chemicals out there - some recognized, others new and extremely dangerous. One class of chemicals that has been allowed in the industry since the Montreal Protocol, despite the danger it posses to ozone, is made up of so-called 'very short-lived substances' (VSLS) which breakup in under six months. A new study, however, found that these have dramatically increased over the past couple of years and despite their short reaction times, these could prove to be extremely dangerous.
British researchers have demonstrated three ways gold nanotubes can be used against cancer: 1) high resolution in-vivo imaging; 2) drug delivery vehicles; 3) agents that destroy cancer itself. Their work shouldn't be viewed as yet "another" hack that seeks to eradicate cancer. We need to be more realistic than this. Instead, the findings have the potential to be a great measure that both diagnoses and treats cancer at the same time, complementing conventional surgery and, hopefully, avoiding the need for chemotherapy.
As global oil prices continue to drastically fluctuate up and down over the years, the Kingdom of Jordan has announced that all of their mosques will soon run on solar energy, in an attempt to save money and promote sustainable development.
Pollution talks are often about the atmopshere, but we tend to foger that the most part of the pollution goes into the oceans. About a quarter of the carbon dioxide emitted by humans ends up in the seas, which causes them to become more acidic, significantly altering the oceanic environment on which corals, fish, and ultimately, we depend on.
Too close for comfort – a team of astronomers from the US, Europe, Chile and South Africa concluded that a dim star passed through the Oort cloud, our solar system’s distant cloud of comets. The star missed the Earth by less than one light year, and passed five times closer than the current closest star, Proxima […]
According to a new study, limpet teeth may be the strongest material known to man, stronger than spider silk or kevlar. Scientists from Portsmouth University made the surprising discovery after analyzing limpets with a technique called atomic force microscopy.
The Mercury level in tuna has been a subject of debate for decades now. Paul Drevnick, Assistant Research Scientist at University of Michigan and his team analyzed data from over the past 50 years and found that mercury levels in Pacific yellowfin tuna, often marketed as ahi tuna, is increasing at 3.8% per year. If 3.8% per year doesn't seem like much, that translates into a doubling at every 20 years. So in 50 years, mercury levels have increased 6 times.
Scientists believe that collagen extracted from fish (especially tilapia) can be applied as a "wound dressing", to help clean the wound and accelerate healing.
The US government approved a genetically modified apple that doesn't turn brown when bruised or sliced. While most genetic alterations of plants involve making these more resilient to pests or yield more, the non-browning apples were made out of cosmetic considerations. Of course, the apples will still rot and eventually get brown, but in time and not so easily when stressed (cell rupture). But despite the government approval, voices run rampant against the genetically modified fruit from behalf of anti-GMO groups, as well as rivaling food companies.
The team behind Interstellar's awesome special effects meant business when they set out to emulate space, celestial objects and black holes as scientifically accurate as possible. In a paper published in the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity, the special effects crew describe at length the innovative computer code they used to generate stunning imagery, but also make new scientific discoveries. Whenever a SciFi movie spews new scientific advancement, well, you know it's a good one!
We know that things like eye or skin colour are encoded in our DNA and passed down by our parents, but many other traits are significantly influenced by another hereditary mechanism: bacterial offspring. A paper in Nature suggests microbes are passed down from mother mice to pups, passing down traits similarly to how genes influence illness and health.
South Londoners who smoke skunk weed - a much more potent strain of cannabis - were found to be three times more likely to register at hospitals with first-episode psychoses, according to a study made by British researchers. The research has many shortcomings though, as is to be expected from a case-control design where it's always difficult to account for external variables. As the old saying goes, correlation does not equal causation, so take these findings with a grain of salt. The study is valuable however considering it's among the few which actually considered the relationship between cannabis use and psychosis, often ignored by mainstream cannabis research. Cannabis is used by millions of people worldwide, yet its long-term effects are seriously under reported.
Bald Eagles are bouncing back from the brink of extinction, research shows. The official US mascot is now thriving and populations are continuously growing, but challenges are not yet over.
Selected from more than 200,000 applicants, 50 men and 50 women have become the final contenders for the one-way trip to Mars. A Dutch not-for-profit company is planning to send groups of four people on a one-way trip to the red planet in about a decade to start a permanent human settlement - now, we can take a better look at those people.
Speaking at the 2015 AAAS Annual Meeting, US researchers showed a coloured map of the quietest regions in the United States, based on 1.5 million hours of acoustical monitoring from places as remote as Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and as urban as New York City. Apparently, the eastern half of the country is much more loud […]
A new study has found that as the climate continues to warm, we will be dealing with more infectious and parasitic diseases. Ultimately, we'll have to face epidemics caused by climate change, researchers say.
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake (initially 6.9) has struck Northern Japan earlier today, with a small tsunami striking the coast without any significant damage. The tsunami was on the order of tens of centimeters. There was some worry, despite Japan being one of the most well prepared countries in the world to deal with earthquakes. “Overall, the […]
A randomized clinical trial has found that mindfulness meditation is significantly more effective than sleep hygiene education (e.g. how to identify & change bad sleeping habits) in reducing insomnia symptoms, fatigue, and depression symptoms in older adults with sleep disturbances.
A new liquid-infused polymer can make sure that medical equipment is bacteria free by being extremely slippery. This technology, which involves silicone infused with a silicone oil also has a myriad of potential applications outside of medical equipment - in the oil industry, in air planes and cosmetics.
This is a picture of a cat, obviously, but do you notice something strange about it? Sure looks like a cat, but let's have a closer look - zoom in!
The Dutch Windwheel is a concept for a sustainable landmark that will not only generate wind energy silently, but also capture rainwater, recycle tap water, produce biogas - and most importantly, house 72 apartments. It will also have some rotating cabins providing a brilliant view of the Dutch city of Rotterdam.
Penguins have lost most of their sense of taste - they can't detect the savory taste of the fish they eat, and they also can't enjoy fruits or sugar. For penguins, food come in two tastes: salty and sour.
The best storage medium might actually be DNA, considering the vast amount of information it store relative to its weight - one gram can theoretically hold some 455 exabytes or more than the data collectively stored by all of Google, Facebook and every other tech company. It's also very durable. Remember how some scientists thought about cloning mammoths? Well, the DNA they would use is at least 4,000 years old, but DNA has been extracted and sequenced from much older samples, like a 700,000 years-old horse. With this in mind, some scientists got the idea of storing the most critical pieces of modern human knowledge into specially treated DNA - maybe the most effective time capsule ever.
Mysterious cloud-like formations hovering over Mars challenge our understanding of the Red Planet's climate. Interestingly, amateur astronomers spotted the bizarre feature rising off the edge of the red planet in March and April of 2012 and since then, no satisfying answer regarding to their formation has been put forth. Now, scientists have concocted a new theory, but there's only one problem - it poses more questions than it answers.
