gear Push settings
Scientists analyzing data from the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory in Arizona spotted a huge lava lake on Io, one of Jupiter’s largest moons. We’ve known for a while that Io is quite an amazing (and hellish) place; it’s the most geologically active place in the solar system, with extreme geologic activity occurring as a result of tidal […]
A study conducted by researchers from the University of Sheffield found that people ignore drinking guidelines, especially as most of them rarely drink during the week but might party heavily during the weekend or on holiday.
William Shakespeare – universally praised as one of the best writers in history, eminent dramatist and England’s national poet, is still a controversial figure. There is speculation about the authorship of his works, with some scholars claiming they were written by someone else; there’s also speculation about his sexuality, his religion, and even his looks. Contrary […]
We’ve written extensively about 3D printing and the doors it opens in terms of applications – from teeth to supercars – but this is something else: PrintGREEN is turning 3D printers into on-demand gardeners after designing a “green” 3D printer. The project comes from the University of Maribor in Slovenia, and the “ink” is essentially a mixture […]
Your eyes are a window to your soul, or so the saying goes – but a new research suggests that the pupil shape and size have a lot to do with an animal’s nature. Hunters like cats tend to have vertical pupils, while horizontally elongated pupils are generally plant-eaters. Pupils are the eyes’ aperture – […]
An amateur radio enthusiast from the UK has managed to have a quick chat with the International Space Station using a device he built in his shed. Adrian Lane, of Gloucestershire, sent out a call signal to the ISS and was absolutely shocked when they actually replied to him. “They came back to me and […]
Archaeologists have uncovered an enigmatic monolith deep off the coast of Sicily, Italy. The 15 tonne Stonehenge-like monolith is at least 10,000 year old and may shed new light on ancient Mediterranean civilizations.
Wasps are a nasty bunch; you don't want to mess with them no matter who you are. Not only can they sting you really bad and ruin your day, they can actually control your mind, force you weave a web for their offspring and then kill you - well, if you're a spider at least.
The first venomous (yes, venomous – not poisonous) frog was discovered in Brazil by mistake. A frog head-butted Carlos Jared in the hand, and after a while he started feeling a strange pain; it took him a while to connect the dots and realize that the frog was responsible for the pain he was feeling and […]
It's a tough year for salmon all around the world - now, a new health advisory issued by the U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Reclamation and PacifiCorp raises concerns about the future of salmon in the Klamath river in Oregon and California.
This is an article by Kristin Drexler, faculty member, Human Ecology and Forestry, School of Science, technology, Engineering, and Math at American Public University. The active participation of local communities is a critical component to the conservation of protected areas like national parks and preserves. Ironically, while these areas are most often thought of in […]
Dan Pauly is a rare type of artist; he builds guest cottages, playhouses, garden sheds, and saunas – all of which look as taken from an enchanted forest. The odd shaped asymmetrical buildings usually feature an elongated crooked chimney, a slanted roof, and a charming porch and garden. To make things even better, everything is built […]
For all we know about other planets and even other galaxies, there's still much to learn about our very own planet - especially its oceans. The oceans are teeming with life of which we know nothing or very little about; now, Florida researchers have discovered a new species of angler fish that dwells 1 km below sea level (3200 ft).
Sea animals are dying off in huge numbers off the Pacific coast from Baja, Mexico - all the way to Alaska; there's a good chance we can't really do anything about it.
In June, we were telling you about the Dutch city of Utrecht, which will start a new social and economic experiment: basic income: a new concept that could revolutionize society as we know it. Basic income is a type of social security in which all residents receive an unconditional sum of money, regardless of whether or not they have another source of income. Now, more Dutch cities announced their interest in participating in the initial trials.
We sometimes think of scientists as calculated, precise people in white lab coats, buzzing around their controlled experiments and complicated models. But as anyone who’s actually worked in science will tell you, field work is often messy – incredibly messy for that matter. A new hashtag has taken Twitter by storm: #FieldWorkFail. Here are some […]
It seems almost too surreal to be true – a gelatinous, four meter across blob of squid eggs – but that’s exactly what divers found off the coast of Turkey, some 20 meters below sea level. Even up close, the spheroid blob looked almost invisible, but when touched, it felt “very soft” and seemed gelatinous. […]
Researchers have found that just like babies, bonobos exhibit a type of communication in which they use the same sound with different intonations to say different things. They use these high pitch "peeps" to express their emotions.
They're a gardener's best friend, and our fields wouldn't be the same without them. The humble earthworm plays a major role in organic matter recycling in soils worldwide, and now researchers have figured out how. The secret lies in their metabolic system and how they digest their food.
People from Finland would rather live next to an alcohol or drug rehab center than a Muslim prayer room or Mosque, a new survey has found. In fact, the unpopularity of the Mosque was surpassed only by a drug users’ needle exchange center.
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.
A misnomer is a word or term used to suggest a meaning that is not really true – misnomer doesn’t mean “misunderstanding” or “popular misconception”, as it is often implied on the internet. Most of the times, misnomers just cause some confusion and a wrong perception and sometimes those ideas get burned into the popular opinion, […]
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 […]
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.
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.
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.
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. […]
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 […]
Few people can claim to have built their own dream, but New Zealander Lance Abernethy can – he has taken his passion for small things to the next level and built the smallest functional drill. With the help of technology (in the form of 3D printing), his passion and patience created this new device based on […]
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.
The mind blowing map shows just how disproportionate human population is in regard to the area it occupies. It may seem hard to believe, but the blue area and the red area actually have just as much population: 5%, to be more exact. The map was created by self-proclaimed data-cruncher Max Galka, and from the data […]
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 […]
Firebreathing is a beautiful and dangerous form of art – it’s dazzled people since the middle ages, and continues to do so to this day. Here, Romanian photographer Alin Ivanov captured it in all its magic, on the sandy shore of the Black Sea. “I watched him [the firebreather] perform for three nights, and it […]
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 […]
A new study published in Nature describes the creation of a new sensor which will allow us to know when our liquid food has gone bad - and it may not be long until we can all 3D print bottle caps with these sensors at home.
Artificial light is something we take for granted and simply don’t think about – but for some communities, light can be a luxury. In the 7,000 scattered islands of the Philippines, light can be very scarce, and saltwater is abundant. With that in mind, SALt engineers have designed a lamp that runs on salt water. […]
A team of archaeologists working in Denmark have made a puzzling discovery: they found nearly 2,000 spectacular gold spirals dating from the Bronze age. The reason why they were made, especially in such a large number, is a mystery and the trove baffled scientists. The spirals are made from pure gold, hammered down to just 0.1 millimeters […]
Do you enjoy the quiet, elaborate jazz rhythms, or are you more a metal fan? Is classical music your thing, or are you more into hip hop? That may say more about your personality than you think, according to a new research.
You may have seen it in forests, and may have dismissed it as an eerie curiosity – a type of ice that looks like white silky hairs, a bit like candy floss. It only grows on rotten branches of trees under very specific conditions, during humid winter nights when the temperature drops just below 0 […]
Also called hydrolaccoliths, pingos are spectacular domes of earth and vegetation covered ice usually found in the Arctic and subarctic. They can reach up to 90 metres (300 feet) high and more than 800 metres (0.5 mile) across and are usually circular or oval-shaped. They may be green on the outside, but the core is solid, clear ice. […]
It took more than was expected, but the three astronauts set for the International Space Station docked with the International Space Station at 10:46 p.m. E.T. You can watch them here: The rocket had a successful launch at 5:02 p.m. EDT (2102 GMT) to experienced Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and rookie astronauts Kjell Lindgren with NASA and Japan’s Kimiya […]
A stray dog followed a Swedish racing team through 430 miles (688 km) of jungles and rivers just because one of the team members gave him a meatball during one of the early halts. A small good deed can have huge effects – this was proven by an extreme racing team and a stray dog. […]
When talking about global warming, we often tend to think about droughts, water shortage and desertification. But we must not forget that 72%, almost three quarters of our planet is covered in oceans – and believe it or not, that’s where global warming will strike the hardest. A thorough study Oceanic global warming is causing […]
Researchers have discovered a new dinosaur species covered with feathers. Its wings were very short and it likely wouldn't have been able to fly or glide, but the creature was on the cusp of evolving into a bird. It was also one of the ancestors of the velociraptors.
Are you a Hemingway, a Nutty Professor, or a Poppins?? No, that’s not the latest Facebook game (although it’d be really fun to see one implemented), but it’s a classification introduced by researchers at the University of Missouri. Basically, depending on how your personality changes when you start drinking, they’ve defined 4 types: the Hemingways, […]
“Global Environments through the Quaternary” By David Anderson, Andrew Goodie, Adrian Parker Oxford University Press, 406pp | Buy on Amazon The Quaternary, the last 2.6 million years, has been a time of major changes in our world, and we can still see most of those changes today. Numerous geology books discuss the changes and the environments […]
I’ve been recently flooded with emails, questions and Facebook posts with the algae street lamps that not only light up without any electricity, but also suck up a lot of carbon dioxide (200 times more than a tree). This is just such a big thing that I had to see if this actually works. So […]
