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In case you’re not aware, the European Space Agency is just now trying to send Rosetta’s lander, Philae, towards the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. The probe is already orbiting the comet and has revealed the most accurate topography of a comet. Watch the live stream here: Further updates: The separation went great, and the lander is on its way […]
As I am writing this, the Rosetta mission’s lander, Philae, is mid way through its landing on a comet. If everything works out, this will be the first time humans have landed anything on a comet and will provide valuable information about not only the comet in particular, but also our solar system in general. […]
Rich countries are effectively giving oil, gas and coal companies $88 bn a year to explore new reserves, despite clear evidence that those industries are causing global warming. From a climate change perspective, it would be best to leave those reserves in the ground and focus on renewable energy, but despite a huge growth, renewable […]
Over ninety percent of all the world’s ice is in Antarctica, where it can run 4000-5000 meters deep. Yet, as a result of global warming, the ice sheet is melting at a rapid rate making it the most significant contributing factor to world sea level rise. It’s simple to throw in a label like global warming […]
Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, is looking to launch a massive fleet of micro-satellites into Earths’ low orbit to provide the world with internet and mobile data, according to a recent rumor reported by the WSJ. These satellites will be at least two times lighter than its current counterpart and when […]
Scientists have found a way to prevent cancerous tumors in the prostate from spreading, effectively switching off the disease. Researchers from Bristol and Nottingham universities found that a single molecule plays a crucial role in the forming of new blood vessels, and the spread of tumors could be halted with a mere injection. A neoplasm (commonly […]
The enduring Cassini spacecraft returns with new insight into the hydrocarbon seas from Saturn’s moon Titan. The latest findings were reported after the spacecraft’s most recent flyby above Titan’s northern hemisphere on August 21, where it performed observations of the largest liquid methane/ethane sea, the 400,000 square kilometre Kraken Mare. The Cassini astronomers were looking to probe […]
You just have to applaud the researcher that study mushrooms growing on horse dung to see what medicinal properties they have. Microbiologists molecular biologists at ETH Zurich and the University of Bonn have discovered a new agent in fungi that kills bacteria. The substance they found in the mushroom is called copsin. Copsin has a similar […]
One of the most fundamental question evolutionary biologists are trying to answer is how did multicellular life evolve from single celled organisms. Researchers from New Zealand, Germany and the USA believe they have found a counter-intuitive hint after studying organisms evolve in real time: cheating, non-cooperative cells may have pressured evolution to work on a program that […]
In all likelihood, we won’t be seeing a manned mission for Mars before 2030, but until this happens forefront research is pushing the limits so we can finally get there. This includes synthetic biology, which promises to play a key role in reducing payload – a major concern in every space application, manned or not […]
Geologists analyzing 47 million year old remains of a mare believe they have figured out not only what brought the mare’s demise, but also how early horses looked like and behaved – they were strikingly similar to today’s horses, but much smaller. A paleontologist’s gold mine The pregnant mare suffered a sad faith – while […]
Something as small as seeing pictures of others being loved and cared for silences our brain’s response to threat, a new study has found. The amygdalae, listed in the Gray’s Anatomy textbook as the nucleus amygdalæ, are a group of nuclei in the brain involved in the processing of memory, decision-making, and emotional reactions. The amygdala […]
At a rather strange location for a medical announcement, the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, Dr. Florence Comite faced some of the best researchers in the field of aging. They gathered there for the 17th annual Age Management Medicine Group conference, and Dr. Comite had an exciting announcement to make: researchers have found a crucial gene responsible for […]
An international team of more than 100 scientists has undertaken a most complex and challenging task: they’ve determined the timings and patterns of evolution for most of the insect family tree, until they arrived at at the original insect foremother which lived some 500 million years ago. Thus, the researchers were able to pinpoint when the […]
It may be gloomy, windy and rainy, but the Scottish weather may have its upsides too. in October, Scotland generated enough power from wind to power up every single home in Scotland and a bit more. “Wind turbines alone generated an estimated 982,842MWh of electricity, enough to power 3,045,000 homes in the UK – equivalent […]
Diabetes is one of the most prevalent diseases in the developed world, with more than 29 million infected Americans; 1 in 4 doesn’t know. Currently more than 29 million people in the United States have diabetes, up from the previous estimate of 26 million in 2010, according to a report released by the Centers for […]
An initial study has shown that a vaccine against Hep C currently in clinical trials is effective and also safe in humans. Hepatitis C is an infectious disease affecting primarily the liver, caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). There are some 200 million people in the world infected with the disease, and around 75-85% of […]
For the first time in its mission to study Mars and the potential for life on it, the Curiosity Rover has identified a mineral. The rover took samples by drilling in a Martian mountain and was then able to make the identification. The mineral in case is called hematite. Hematite is an iron oxide (Fe2O3) […]
Researchers at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have devised a particle accelerator that can increase the kinetic energy of particles passing through it hundreds of times faster than the LHC. While the latter is comprised of a 27km ring, the device made by the US scientists is only 30cm in size. This massive leap in miniaturization […]
Some 450 light-years away in the constellation Taurus, a new planet is being born and astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile were there to capture the moment. It’s the most detailed picture documenting a planetary-forming system. The cutest planetary baby picture “This is truly one of the most remarkable images ever seen at these […]
One of the most long-lived and fiercest marine predator in history was the ichthyosaur, and a recent fossil find from China bridges an important gap in the creature’s evolutionary history. Truly, a fish and a lizard The ichthyosaur (Greek for “fish lizard”), which lived from about 248 million years ago to about 95 million years ago, […]
Over the past few years there has been much talk about the importance of scientific development in Africa. With the international development agenda, including the new Sustainable Development Goals, increasingly recognising the critical importance of science, technology and innovation in human, social, and economic development, the battle for advanced science is beginning to be won. […]
Scientists have long known that climate change has a major negative impact on global agriculture, potentially even threatening global food security. But a new research shows that air pollution is actually much more threatening. Anthropogenic climate change caused 3.5% decrease in potential wheat yield on a country level in India; air pollution caused more than 32% […]
Despite the rapid adoption of genetically modified (GM) crops, there is still much controversy about this technology. Uncertainty about GM crop impacts is one reason for widespread public suspicion; a new study conducted a meta-analysis of the impacts (both economical and agricultural) caused by GM crops. The first genetically modified plant was produced in 1982, using […]
A breakthrough study authored by Harvard University developmental biologists has finally resolved the mystery of how sexual organs appeared for the first time in vertebrates. According to their findings, shortly after our sea-dwelling ancestors migrated on land, creatures were pressured to quickly evolve genitalia – which they didn’t require up until then. These sexual organs, at least […]
Researchers at University of Utah have demonstrated for the first time a working biological fuel cell that uses enzymes to convert jet fuel into electricity; all at room temperature. Fuel cells are much cleaner and efficient at producing energy than internal combustion engines – theoretically, fuel cells can be up to four times more efficient since […]
Vaccination has been highly successful in reducing the prevalence of poliomyelitis. Routine vaccination has helped reduce the number of cases by more than 99% in 30 years. However, epidemics are still occurring, and we’re still miles away from eradicating the virus. Researchers have now identified the exact strain responsible for recent outbreaks and showed that the mutations […]
Ever more municipalities and universities have joined the call to divest fossil fuel, thus reinforcing the message that these institutions are unwilling to back financially an industry that is a potential threat to our very own existence. Örebro in Sweden, Boxtel in the Netherlands and Seattle in the USA are all part of a growing push […]
A mysterious cosmic object thought to be an immense cloud of gas and dust left scientists scratching their heads after it wasn’t consumed by the supermassive black hole that lies at the center of our galaxy. After it passed a critical point in its orbit around the black hole – where a gas cloud would […]
French scientists described the mechanism through which two HIV-infected individuals have become “spontaneously cured” of the virus, explaining that this can lead to new, novel treatments in the fight against AIDS. The “apparent spontaneous cure” has opened up previously closed doors for drug engineers, they note. “The work opens up therapeutic avenues for a cure, using […]
Green MP Steffan Browning was slammed by the public opinion and has subsequently been stripped of one of his portfolios after he suggested fighting Ebola with homeopathy. I have to admit, I couldn’t help a chuckle on finding this out. I mean, the fact that a Member of the Parliament of a developed country suggests […]
In 2003, Dr. Lihong V. Wang at Washington University introduced one of the most exciting technologies we’ve had the chance to see in a long while. By combining ultrasound and light absorption, Wang and colleagues developed a new method that makes multicontrast images of biological tissues several inches below the skin. Among others, this allows specialists to see […]
Everybody has sexual fantasies, but some may go a bit overboard. Don’t worry, I’m not here to judge. Instead, I’d like to show you a most interesting report. After asking 1,500 Canadian adults with a mean age of 30 about their sexual fantasies, University of Montreal researchers ranked a list of the most common and atypical […]
Some of us like to think that the energy needs of the future will be supplied by clean and renewable energy sources, but a recent report released by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research leads us through the mist and shows a cruel reality: coal, the dominant energy source in the world today, will continue […]
Austrian researchers at the Vienna Univ. of Technology (TU Wien) made just two photons interact with each other, a major feat that might have profound implications for quantum technology applications – computing, information teleportation and security. Two photons, one interaction In a free medium, light waves – and consequently photons – do not interact between each other. […]
Long term shift work has a permanent negative effect on the brain damaging cognitive ability and memory, a new study has revealed. The study found clear links between shift work and impairments in memory and thinking (cognition). People who worked in shifts for 10 years or more have, on average, an extra 6.5 years fall in memory […]
Saturn’s Moon Titan is a remarkable place; it’s the only place aside for the Earth which has liquids on its surface – albeit, the liquid isn’t water, but rather hydrocarbons: methane and ethane. Titan is too cold to have liquid water on its surface, but that doesn’t make it any less spectacular. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft […]
Fossil hunting can be exciting and highly rewarding, but sometimes, fossils are also found through a fluke. Jeff Dornbusch, a volunteer with the Truth or Consequences museum in southern New Mexico (a museum of local history and tradition), was taking a hike on his day off when he stumbled on what he initially thought was a pile […]
Intricate polygons on Mars could be a clear indication of a wet past for the Red Planet. Most crater floor polygons have diameters ranging from 15 to 350 m, and it’s still not clear how and why they appeared – though one theory seems to be gaining ground: the idea of former lake beds. Polygons […]
We keep hearing more about developments made in the photovoltaic field, but we have to keep in mind that this is not the only way in which solar energy can be harvested and used. A multidisciplinary engineering team at the University of California, San Diego developed a new nanoparticle-based material for concentrating solar power plants, absorbing […]
Take a look at this magnificent fanged deer – this is not some Hollywood production or imaginary creature, this is a genuine Kashmir Muskdeer (Moschus cupreus), previously thought to be extinct, and now observed for the first time in 60 years in the forests of Afghanistan. There are actually several species of fanged deer, the most […]
Denmark’s climate minister says that the country should ban coal use by 2025 to make the Nordic nation a leader in fighting global warming; other measures he encourages are using bicycles and improving the wind energy infrastructure. Denmark is already one of the world’s leaders when it comes to green energy. They have considerable oil and natural gas […]
The Model Rules for Professional Conduct for attorneys urge all lawyers to give at least 50 hours of free legal advice to underserved communities or non-for-profit organizations and many states require pro bono work to remain in good standing with the bar. I believe scientists should give back to the community too. Sharing Creates Understanding […]
Seems like your mom was right all along: scratching does, in fact, makes the itching worse. This was the conclusion reached by a group of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis after the scientists studied the molecular and neural pathways that cause and relieve itching. The findings suggest that scratching releases serotonin – […]
If you’re reading this, then obviously you can read in English (at least partially); but a big part of English speaking societies are pooping wrong, and this could cause massive health problems. In other words, we, westerners, should change how we poop. As it turns out, the main culprit is the toilet. The throne. The […]
Europe has an estimated 421 million fewer birds than it did 30 years ago, a startling study has found. The current trends show an unsustainable development, and if things continue with ‘business as usual’, we can expect even more decrease and even extinctions. Some of the birds that have suffered the most alarming declines are […]
Three experimental studies have shown that hunger improves strategic decision making; scientists argue that hungry people are significantly better at making decisions involving uncertain outcomes. We take decisions involving unknown outcomes every day. In real life, rationality often times means giving up a smaller, immediate reward, for a more consistent reward in the long run. However, […]
A newly published study has revealed that dark matter is being swallowed up by dark energy, offering valuable data not only about the nature and structure of these mysterious entities, but also about the future of the Universe. Dark Matter and Dark Energy In case you’re wondering, dark matter and dark energy are not Star Trek […]
On Tuesday, Google’s head of life sciences inside the company’s Google X research lab reported a new exciting project that involves using nanoparticles that magnetically attach to key molecules and cells in the bloodstream to detect diseases, including cancer. The particles – ingested under the form of a pill – would later be gathered, scanned and […]
A group from the Laboratory of Astrophysics of Bordeaux, France, and the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) has made a most exciting discovery. The astronomers found that an odd binary system – a solar system comprised of two stars – actually behaves like a double star, with two disks of matter encircling the system in a […]
