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Your first impression after seeing one or more of the photos featured in this piece might be that these are ‘shopped, painted or feature an astronomical event of some kind. Your assumptions couldn’t be farther from the truth, and believe it or not these beautiful dancing lights over the helicopters’ rotor blades were captured in […]
Somewhere in the far reaches of space (or perhaps in some realm that we have yet to discover), a bunch of really bored cosmic dudes are probably watching us right now. Heck, they’ve probably had their eyes on us for thousands (or even millions) of years already; and they possibly have enough data to compile […]
To most people, 3D printers are still sci-fi, and as a result, envisioning a 3D printer in every home is a huge stretch. But a study conducted by Michigan Technological University scientists concluded that personal manufacturing, like personal computers in their time, will become a common thing – soon. “For the average American consumer, 3D […]
The first use of the umbrella, albeit in a more primitive form, can be traced back to ancient times. In Persia the parasol is repeatedly found in the carved work of Persepolis, while others works such as sculptures frequently depict figures likes a king in his chariot, with an attendant holding a parasol over his […]
How many times did you apply for a job or to enter a graduate program in some school somewhere only to find that the position was filled by someone less capable than you? Now, we’re strictly referring to people genuinely less capable than you, otherwise we’d be hitting the same bias exhibited by the manager […]
Most people don't know this but helium -- the familiar inert gas we all use to inflate party balloons -- is running out at an astonishing rate.
Scientists at the University of Darmstadt, Germany have set a new record after they devised an experimental set-up that allowed them to stop light in its tracks for a full minute. During this time, the light could have traveled 18 million kilometers or roughly the equivalent of 20 there and back trips to the moon. Beyond […]
We all appreciate and love the sun’s gaze in the morning, but truth be told were it not for our planet’s protective magnetic fields the sun’s warm embrace would have suddenly turn into a death ray. So instead of scorching Earth, solar wind bounces off the magnetic field, which leads radioactive particles to circulate the […]
The United States is a country renowned for its history of technological innovation and stewardship. Some of the world’s greatest inventors, though not all of them may have not been born there, first displayed their work in the US. Samuel Colt (colt revolver), A.G. Bell (telephone), Thomas Edison (light bulb, among many), George Washington Carver […]
Most smokers fall prey to the poisonous grasp of cigarettes because they became seduced by the simple act itself, not because of the taste or other pleasures relieved from smoking. There are many aspects that make smoking extremely appealing, especially to attention-seeking young. Despite several policies have been introduced in the past decades to put […]
The prisoner’s dilemma is one of the most famous paradigms and at the same time one of the most discussed case studies in both economics and psychology introductory classes. Basically, two prisoners are each isolated from one another and are presented with two choices: either they turn the other in (sabotage) or remain silent (cooperate). […]
That faint blue dot at the center of this beautiful composition is none other than our very own blue marble – planet Earth. The opaque giant surrounded by the countless colored rings in the foreground is, as most of you have already guessed, Saturn. Step back, take a moment to reflect over this picture and […]
You hear a lot of anecdotal advice about how we can all ‘get by’ on just a few hours of sleep a night. Historic world leaders are said to have masterminded entire war campaigns on just two hours shut-eye. But modern scientific evidence broadly suggests we need a whole lot more. The usual recommendation is […]
A new, unusual species of dinosaur has been discovered in the deserts of Utah. The 5m-long is a member of the triceratops family, and as fierce as they may look, this dinosaur was a herbivore. The huge ‘nose’ and exceptionally long horns are unlike any other dinosaurs previously described, which explains its name – Nasutoceratops […]
A new study has shown that European farmers used far more sophisticated practices than was previously thought. The Oxford research found that Neolithic farmers used manure as a fertilizer as early as 6000 BC. It has been previously assumed that manure wasn’t used in agriculture until Roman times. This technique is fairly complex, because dung […]
Water droplets, coffee granules, fragments of polystyrene and even a toothpick – all of these, and more, have been levitating and moving around in a Swiss laboratory lately; all of them lifted by sound waves, that is. This is the first time a device is capable of handling several objects simultaneously. This achievement was detailed […]
The king of all predators, the godfather of his time, la creme de la creme – Tyrannosaurus Rex (T. Rex) was the ultimate predator… or was he? When Jurassic Park came out, even though the cinema crowd went wild as T. Rex smashed and ate velociraptors (and the occasional human), at the time, there was […]
An extremely challenging study published by a team of researchers from the Stanford School of Medicine claims that through some unknown mechanism mammals can bias the sex of their offspring in order to win the genetic lottery and produce extra grandchildren. The holy graal of modern evolutionary biology After analyzing 90 years of breeding records […]
Understanding how supercooled water acts can be very important for understanding basic processes during cryoprotection – the preservation of tissues and/or organs by liquid nitrogen, with the purpose of thawing without damaging them. A team from the University of Arkansas have found that surprisingly, when cooled at extremely low temperatures, water turns into an entirely […]
Lots of volcanoes erupted in 2009 – but one of them really screamed out. Its unique howls provide a glimpse into the very heart of the volcano, and also in some unexplained processes that accompany an eruption. It’s not unusual for swarms of small earthquakes to precede a volcanic eruption – it’s quite common. As […]
A trio of papers recently published in Science link hydraulic fracking and geothermal energy production to numerous earthquakes in the United States. Most of these events have been relatively small, with a magnitude of under 5.0, but a few were quite significant – including the 5.6 event that hit Oklahoma on 6 November 2011, damaging […]
What’s possibly the most advanced humanoid robot ever built was recently unveiled by Boston Dynamics – one of the most impressive and renowned robotics company. Named ATLAS, this 6′ 2 tall, 330-pounds powerhouse has all the agility and strength of the Petman, only this time it also has a head. Mounted inside the head are a LIDAR sensor […]
Research on nematodes have always been convenient for scientists. For one, they grow and breed really fast, making them ideal for work pertaining to genetics. Some of them have amazing properties, like the planaria or “flatworm”, which some scientists believe it possesses the indefinite ability to regenerate its cells and thus practically never grow old. It […]
The reason why some drugs can only be taken by injecting them, instead of less intrusive solutions like oral ingestion, is because otherwise these drugs can not reach the bloodstream effectively. For people suffering from chronic diseases that require a lifetime treatment of drugs administered by injection, like those suffering from diabetes who need an […]
Our close cousins, the Neanderthals, were much more similar to us than we imagined even a decade ago, fascinating the scientific world more and more with each passing year; now, a new study suggests that they also had a type of speech and language, something which was once considered to draw the decisive lines between […]
Scuba divers have discovered a primeval underwater forest off the coast of Alabama – a cypress forest which was incredibly well preserved for over 50.000 years. The bald cypress forest was buried under ocean sediments (almost certainly sand), isolated from oxygen (which is the main enemy of preservation), thus preventing them from rotting; however, the underwater […]
Chersonesos was an ancient city on the Crimean peninsula, in today’s Ukraine; the name itself means ‘peninsula’, and Greeks founded it some 2500 years ago, to supply their homeland with grain and other strategic resources. The famed Greek city-states had much need of such resources in order to survive and thrive. Archaeologists from Aarhus (Denmark) […]
In the world of microelectronics, packing the most computing power you can squeeze in the smallest surface is the topmost priority. As powerful devices in term of computing become ever miniaturized, however, efficiently disposing of heat or keeping devices cool under a working temperature is one of the biggest challenges the industry is facing right […]
Scientists at the Laboratoire Charles Fabry (LCF) in Palaiseau and the University of Lille have for the very first time performed a direct measurement of a Van der Waals force – the weak intermolecular force that causes, in some cases when there isn’t a strong force present, to attract and “stick” to one another. The Van […]
What if the world’s greatest unsolved heists were made by aviary burglars? Bear with me for a second. A bird is small enough to fit through cages and window cracks, it can fly in and out fast and on the sly, and if it ever gets caught, it won’t turn its partners in crime since […]
A number of human-like unique limb features, like the thumb, can be witnessed from the earliest most stages of development. Intuition tells us that this means the genetic changes and material that underlie these traits are active in the embryo stage. Recently, researchers Yale School of Medicine found there are thousands of active sequences that control […]
It’s the world of science fiction come alive – Swiss researchers have developed contact lenses which, when paired with special spectacles, bestow telescopic vision on their wearers. Cool, and very useful The contact-lens-and-spectacles have the ability of zooming in 2.8 times. The device was not created for Bond-like purposes, but rather to help people suffering […]
According to Wilhelm Hofmann and his team of researchers at the University of Chicago, self control is one of humanity’s most valuable assets – not only because it allows us to be better people, but because it makes us happier. Self control and happiness Self control is defined as “the ability to override or change […]
Bono of U2 recently let it be known that he was a student of astrophysics (yes, truly!). Upon meeting the 2012 Nobel Prize winner for physics Brian Schmidt, Bono demonstrated a thorough understanding of Schmidt’s work on the evidence for an accelerating universe. More and more over the last 100 years, scientists have been theorising about the […]
Idaho State University researchers have created uranium crystals by crushing nuclear fuel pellets and heating them in a furnace. This was made with the purpose of studying a single uranium crystal, understanding how heat would flow through it, and ultimately develop safer fuels for nuclear reactors. Uranium crystal. Credit: INL Eric Burgett, a professor at […]
Scientists from Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford have analyzed the compositions of Martian meteorites found on Earth and data from NASA’s rovers, and they reached the conclusion that the Red Planet had an atmosphere pretty rich in oxygen 4 billion years ago. They compared Martian rocks with meteorites, and the fact […]
Rock permeability in the geologic fault that unleashed China’s 2008 quake shows that fractures mend quicker than was thought. A devastating earthquake The 2008 Sichuan earthquake struck at 02:28:01 PM China Standard Time, with a magnitude of 8. It came as quite a surprise, as the area is not particularly active from a seismic point […]
This weekend, one of the most curious and utopian conferences took place in New York City, where some of the brightest minds in the field of neuroscience, biotechnology and robotics gathered to discuss the prospect of transferring the human brain and mind out of the biological body and into an artificial vessel. As oddball and […]
It’s rather clear that social-economic factors have a huge part to play in the development of an individual, but when discussing this we typically refer to education, something that can be more or less manipulated at any time, albeit with various degrees of difficulty. How do social-economic aspects affect the brain, though? Martha Farah, the founding director […]
Is there something that graphene can’t do? It’s the world’s strongest material, even when it has flaws, a graphene aerogel is also the lightest material known, it’s great for sensors, for headphones, it repairs itself, and boasts a swarm of other features and capabilities. Now, researchers from Manchester University have shown that they can create […]
Located in the North Atlantic, right in between Greenland and Scotland, Faroe Islands is one of the smallest countries in the world. At the same time, however, it has also remained fairly isolated for many centuries, which in time has led to the formation of a distinct language and population. You can spot a native […]
The Japanese freshwater eel (Anguilla japonica) is a popular choice on any sushi menu, but recent findings reveal that there’s more to it than just a simple snack. Biologists have identified a special fluorescent protein – the very first case found in a vertebrate – that makes the eel naturally glow in a bright green when […]
Scientists at The University of Nottingham have come across what can be a monumental discovery, demonstrating for the first time a new layer of the human cornea. The layer, which was described in a paper in Ophthalmology, could help surgeons to dramatically improve outcomes for patients with severe cornea affections and those undergoing surgery. The […]
More and more discoveries seem to hint at a watery past for Mars. Now, NASA research shows that hunks of frozen carbon dioxide (dry ice) may glide down some Martian sand dunes on cushions of gas similar to miniature hovercraft, plowing away as they go down. This study could explain one of the mysteries of […]
Typically on Earth, days usually have a temperature maximum somewhere after lunch, and a minimum during the night. But for Mars, things are pretty different: “We see a temperature maximum in the middle of the day, but we also see a temperature maximum a little after midnight,” said Armin Kleinboehl of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory […]
For more and more people, ageing and clumsiness seem to go hand in hand – difficulties when handling a plate, fumbling with keys or even dialing a phone – new research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests that some of these day-to-day reaching-and-grasping difficulties may be be caused by changes in the mental frame […]
Mind-controlled devices, also known as brain-computer interfaces, have evolved a lot in the past few years alone, offering countless people who are paralyzed or missing limbs the chance of living a normal life. Non-afflicted individuals may profit from brain-computer interfaces as well, either for fun (why bother with gamepads or even Kinect when you can […]
You may have heard about the Tunguska event – a huge blast of energy which occurred in 1908 over Russia and flattened more than 2,000 square kilometres of forest. More than a century since, its remarkable that scientists have yet to confirm the source of what undoubtedly is the biggest Earth impact in recorded history. The leading […]
As reported earlier on ZME, as little as three thousand tigers are currently alive today in the wild from six subspecies, or thirty times fewer than 100 years ago. Loss of habitat and poaching are the main drivers that brought these majestic cats at the brink of extinction. Now, a new threat might put tigers […]
An extremely rare and small galaxy has just been reported by astronomers, which by all accounts can be considered the least massive galaxy discovered thus far. The very faint galaxy, consisting of roughly 1,000 stars, supports current theories relating to the formation of the Universe. Located in the constellation Aries, the dwarf galaxy dubbed Segue 2 […]
