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Fox Glacier is one of the most spectacular sights in New Zealand, receiving on average over 1,000 visits every day. Sadly, like many other glaciers, Fox Glacier is retreating rapidly due to climate change. A pair of before-and-after images 10 year apart highlightthis perfectly, just like the time-lapse video below does.
At this years' Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium, NASA's Glenn COMPASS Team discussed at large the possibility of exploring Titan, Saturn's largest moon, with a robotic submarine that would dive deep inside the oceans of liquefied natural gas. Such a mission, if ever funded, could help answer some important questions like what are the defining chemical building blocks required to birth and sustain life. Titan is very similar to Earth in terms of cycling systems, elemental composition and terrestrial geography, so there's much insight to be gained.
Dr. Robert W. Levenson is a psychologist at UC Berkeley who has been studying 156 married middle-aged and older couples that were together for more than 20 years. Every five years, the couples were asked to come in and report on their current marital satisfaction. They were observed interacting with each other in a lab setting, where researches judged their interactions though their facial expressions, body language, tone of voice and topic of discussion. Of those involved, 125 also agreed to provide DNA samples.
Using ultra-fast laser techniques employed by the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, scientists have peered through the transitional state that reactants go through before joining in a molecule. The implications for chemistry are massive and the findings might spur a new field of science. Already, we’re hearing about some very interesting conclusions, although much […]
A rare Neolithic-era burial site was discovered by the northern entrance of the Alepotrypa (“Foxhole”) Cave in southern Greece. The skeleton remains show how a couple was laid to rest in embrace, close to a burial of another male and female who were found in fetal position - the most common burial position during the Neolithic. The embracing couple’s skeletons were dated with the C14 method to 3800 BC while their DNA analysis confirmed the remains were those of a male and female.
A new study has revealed the fun-loving side of crocodiles; the reptiles, generally regarded as ferocious and aggressive, are reported to surf waves, play ball and engage in piggyback rides to have fun.
Although mammals surfaced only 20 million years after the first dinosaurs evolved, there's a general consensus that mammals were shadowed and reclusive in the face of dinosaurs, seeing how they were the dominant animals on the planet back then. As such, early mammals are thought to have been mostly nocturnal with minimal interaction with dinosaur environments, occupying very limited ecological niches. This conventional thinking might be toppled by recent findings made by Chinese paleontologists who discovered two highly sophisticated early mammals each at least 160 million years old: the first tree-clinging mammal and the first burrowing mammal. These creatures munched on the same plants dinosaurs did, proving they seemingly coexisted in the same ecological framework.
Our oceans are clogged with plastic – that’s already a well known fact by now. A major study in 2014 concluded that there are over 5 trillion pieces of plastic in the world’s oceans, while another one suggests that the ocean’s bottom might also be a cemetery for garbage. To make things even worse, there’s […]
Science confirms what every dog owner has known in his heart: our canine friends can tell when we're happy or upset. The discovery represents the first solid evidence that an animal other than humans can discriminate between emotional expressions on other species.
It’s really awesome when the practice confirms the theory! Experiments at the Large Hadrdon Collider have revealed two never before seen particles – exotic types of baryons which were previously predicted by theoretical research. The new measurements serve to confirm and refine the existing theory of subatomic particles and help pave the way for the discovery […]
In recent years, a number of independent studies have concluded that the American Southwest and central Great Plains will experience extensive droughts in the second half of this century – and global warming will make things even worse, exacerbating the already worrying conditions. Now, a new study says that things are even worse than previously imagined, […]
A great explanation of Einstein's theory of relativity for laymen.
With Valentine's Day just around the corner, some of you might be tempted to employ some of those spray-on pheromone products. I won't give names, but you must have seen the ads - they're all over TV and the internet. Odorless pheromones are secreted by many animals to attract mates, and while synthesized versions have been shown to work for bees and other insects, the human nose and brain for that matter is a whole different thing.
Chinese researchers ran simulations and found that a pentagon-containing version of graphene is theoretically stable. The 2D allotrope of carbon is made up of atom-thick sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a repeating pentagon pattern, while graphene is made up of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagon pattern, like a chicken wire. Graphene is the strongest material in the […]
A recent report in the Hong Kong Medical Journal describes the case of a baby girl who was born carrying two masses in her body which are likely to be foetuses. But this doesn’t mean that she was “born pregnant” (as some media wrote), but is rather the case of “parasitic twins”. If they are […]
Alfred “Alfie” Date is Australia’s oldest living person, at 109; he’s also a self-taught expert knitter who is doing his best to help penguins in Australia and New Zealand survive oil spills – by knitting them sweaters. He told 9stories he answered the call of Phillip Island’s Penguin Foundation which asked for knitters from around the world to make […]
A new study found that unemployment is one of the main causes for suicide across the world - between 2001 and 2011, unemployment caused approximately 450,000 cases of suicide.
If you claim you're a doctor online, even without providing any proof, people may trust you more than the CDC. A new study has found that online comments have as much power as statements issues by health institutions - and in some cases, even more.
City smog significantly lowers children's IQ, while also raising the risk for Alzheimers disease. A new study has found that children living in highly polluted cities are at an increased risk for detrimental effects to the brain, including short-term memory loss.
Millions of years before rock and roll, LSD and the new age movement, dinosaurs were having a blast in the Cretacious, nibbling on ancient ergot - a parasitic fungus known for its poisonous and potent hallucinogenic effects. The idea is supported by a grass spikelet and ergot sample trapped in a 100-million-year-old piece of amber from Myanmar.
Even after only sleeping for two hours a night, a half an hour nap can restore your protein and hormone levels to normal, a new study has found.
If you're a smoker, I've got some (more) bad news for you - long term smoking thins the cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the brain, responsible among others for memory, perception and language. The good news is that if you've quit smoking, then the effect is reversible.
After reviewing existing literature and statistics, researchers from the University of Warwick have found evidence which suggests a significant relationship between cannabis consumption and the onset (or exacerbation) of mania symptoms. We’ve presented quite a few studies on cannabis here on ZME Science. Our general impression is that due to legal constraints (which are somewhat […]
Mitigating climate change is on the agenda of every world government, but somehow little is done to curb global warming. Echoing a quick-fix approach to life so predominantly engraved in modern culture, some are considering sweeping climate change under the proverbial rug. These so called geo-engineering methods aim to fix climate change by altering the environment, but those ideas that are actually practical today only mask the effects and do nothing to treat the symptoms, a new report signed by 16 top scientists reads. The authors used this opportunity to make an appeal for reducing global emissions, else we might be forced to actually engineer the planet with unforeseeable consequences.
"How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie pop? The world may never know," a timeless commercial might have us believe. What the world of advertising seems to neglect, however, is scientists' astute resilience to rhetoric. As it happens, it takes an estimated 1,000 licks to reach the center of a lollipop, according to a paper published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics, by researchers from New York University and Florida State University.
Just like a deep fried scoop of ice cream, comets, such as the much heralded Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko which saw a spaceship land on it last year, are thought to be frozen on the inside, wheres the surface is hard and crystallized. The team of scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) believe the findings further expand our knowledge on comets. Some suggest that life on Earth first emerged thanks to key organic molecules and compounds brought forth by comets colliding with our planet. The more we know, the better we can assess these sort of ideas and, if found viable, how often such events might happen in the Universe.
Climate change is a threat to all life and vegetation here on Earth, but some places are worse off than others. Take Mongolia for instance. Over the past 30 years, a quarter of the country's surface has turned into a desert, while 850 lakes and 2,000 rivers have dried out. This rapid desertification has severely disrupted habitats, making it very difficult for both man and beast to adapt. Even to this day, 25% of Mongolians living in the country are thought to be nomadic, still holding on to ancient traditions from the times when the great Khans swept the world and made it tremble, from Beijing to Rome. In the face of such diversity, the Mongolian people risk losing their heritage and way of life, as they've come to know it for thousands of years.
Billions of years ago, our ancient planet collided with a Mars-sized object called Theia. The impact released tremendous amounts of energy which is thought to have produced a whole mantle magma ocean, which should have erased pre-existing chemical heterogeneities within the Earth. Following the onslaught, a new Earth formed, along with the moon. New geochemical findings hint that the impact didn't completely melt the whole planet, leaving clumps and patches intact. This ancient past is thought to still ripple in Earth's mantle.
Researchers have theoretized for some time that our languages are skewed towards happy words - with some more skewed than others. A new study conducted on 10 different languages confirmed this idea, and also found that Spanish is the happiest language, while Chinese is the most balanced.
Using only energy from the sun, a pioneering artificial leaf system splits water to generate hydrogen - a highly energy dense fuel. When Daniel Nocera, then a professor at MIT, announced his device for the first time four years ago, people were really hyped about it but it soon became clear that making hydrogen was only part of the solution. "The problem with the artificial leaf," Nocera says, is that "it makes hydrogen. You guys don't have an infrastructure to use hydrogen."
We tend to think of pollution as a modern thing; after all, industrial pollution should be, well… industrial, right? Well, not quite: a group of researchers found 400 year old traces of pollution in the Peruvian Andes. The pollution was caused when the conquistadors forced the Inca to mine silver from “mountaintop mines”. Ancient Pollution […]
Lawrence Livermore scientists have devised tiny capsules made up of a highly permeable polymer shell and a sodium carbonate solution that actively reacts with and absorbs carbon dioxide (CO2). Sodium carbonate is typically known as the main ingredient in washing soda, a common household item. The capsules are a lot cheaper and more environmentally friendly […]
The most extensive DNA survey of the NYC subway has revealed that New Yorkers really like pizza and mozzarella, but also that drug-resistant microbes are widespread. They also found traces of the plague, anthrax, and learned that a tasmanian devil never took the subway in the city. In a way, the human body is very similar […]
It’s hard to think that the crust’s thickness (which varies between several and several tens of km) can be affected by what happens on the surface – but that’s exactly the conclusion of a recent study conducted by British researchers. They found that during an ice age, when sea levels are low, the magma that spreads […]
The most efficient solar cells are those that convert incoming concentrated solar power via lenses, the sort you see on the International Space Station or in the sun-soaked Middle East where Shams 1, a 100 MW CSP plant – the largest in the world – operates, powering 20,000 United Arab Emirates homes. Because of their complex nature, […]
If two tape worms infect the same host, they can either cooperate to thrive, or battle it out for complete control. A new study has found that the parasites actively sabotage each other in a competition to seize control of the host. Tape worms are nasty creatures. They live in the digestive tracts of vertebrates […]
Because the moon is tidally-locked to Earth, we’re used to seeing our cosmic neighbor like a stationary lonesome figure. Now, NASA released an animated simulation of the moon’s phase from its so-called dark side, offering an insightful glimpse from the other side of the coin. Far side of the moon – not so dark after […]
We tend to think of termites as pests, but the tiny insects actually play a crucial environmental role, at least in some areas. New research suggests that termite mounds are crucial to stopping the spread of deserts and preserving the vegetation and climate. The results indicate that termite mounds can not only to stop desertification, but […]
In just 7 years, a disease called white-nose syndrome has killed more than 5 million North American bats, almost wiping out entire colonies. The disease has been reported in caves and mines of 25 states throughout the Northeastern U.S. and no treatment or practical way of halting the disease has been proposed. The disease is caused by […]
So, we’ve already discussed about the largest and heaviest organisms in the world, now it’s time to see what the world’s oldest animal is – spoiler alert, this one is also a surprise. If you’re thinking it’s a turtle or an elephant… you’re way off. If you think it’s a whale, you’re a bit closer, […]
NASA is requesting 30 million dollars to begin working on a mission to Jupiter’s moon, Europa, hoping to unlock some of the secrets of alien life. Despite having a frozen surface, the satellite is one of the likeliest candidates for extraterrestrial life in the solar system. Europa is a weird place. At a first […]
A whopping 66 out of the country’s 74 major cities don’t meet the basic air quality requirements, China’s Ministry of Environment said in a report they released. Beijing, the country’s capital, is actually the 8th most polluted city of the country. China has a long standing history with pollution, and despite some laudable measures being […]
Coffee beans undergo several processes before they become the delicious brew we all know. The coffee beans we’re used to seeing, the brown ones with a delightful flavor, are roasted. Raw coffee beans have a different color and smell very differently. So what makes roasted coffee look, smell, and taste so different from raw coffee? The […]
An exciting research found baby chicks also use the mental number lines employed by humans to count numbers, representing them upwards from left to right. The research and those to follow on other animals might help unravel how this basic mental construct, so essential to human intellect, evolved. Think twice before insulting someone by calling him a birdbrain - it doesn't do the birds justice.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that after more than half a year, the number of new cases of Ebola in West Africa has fallen under 100 - which means that the focus is shifting from containing the epidemic to actually ending it.
The human brain is often described as the most beautiful organism in the Universe. We say this because of the beautiful things the mind, sustained by the brain, can create and imagine. Greg Dunn earned his PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania in 2011, but while his colleagues are fiddling with microscopes to unravel the inner workings of brain cells, he works with a paintbrush to magnify neurons on a canvas. His work shows a brain whose beauty transcends romanticism and awes in its raw form.
Researchers have identified a new class of antibodies that are capable of neutralizing a wide range of influenza A viruses, a discovery that could potentially lead to a universal flu vaccine. The vaccine would be applied only once an, instead of once every flu season today. Protection against all strains of flue, even mutated ones, would be assured for life according to scientists at McMaster and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York.
There's no secret that evolution directly contradicts religious views on creationism. What's surprising, however, is that many people who are scientifically literate - that is, they're knowledgeable about scientific topics and appreciate its practical usage on a day to day basis - reject mainstream scientific accounts of evolution and the big bang, Around one in five Americans fall in this scope, according to Timothy L. O'Brien, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Evansville and the lead author of the study. This suggests that scientific literacy does not necessarily imply accepting well established science when it contradicts deeply entrenched religious views.
At least in the US, there is a huge difference between what the general public thinks and what scientists think – and this is a big problem. Science is at the core of any nation – it influences the economy, the public life, the health… pretty much everything – everybody agrees on this; but despite this […]
A component found in green tea may be very effective at destroying oral cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells alone. The research from Penn State could become very useful in fighting oral cancer, as well sa other types of cancer.
