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Over the years, many exciting discoveries have been made in Egypt – so many that most people have this idea that there is not much you can find in terms of Egyptian Archaeology. This recent find proves them as wrong as it gets: over a million mummies have been discovered in an ancient Egyptian cemetery, […]
They say that when two people fall in love, you can see sparks flying. Well, that may or may not be true, but researchers from the US have shown that when sperm meets and egg – sparks definitely fly. Fertilization Fireworks These are the first images captured at the exact moment when a mammal’s egg is […]
The European Space Agency (ESA) is the European equivalent of NASA. Recently, they’ve been uploading some amazing images on their website, so here is a selection of the best pictures they’ve published recently. The magnetic field of the galactic plane Ground Displacement in Bucharest, Romania South Kalimantan, Borneo Conducting skin experiments in outer space Vegetation […]
A nonprofit foundation called Mars One wants to build a human colony on Mars, and send people there on a one way mission. In order to facilitate the development of this colony, they have hosted a competition to find the best possible payload to fly to Mars. The winning design will be included in the scientific […]
Space-based telescopes have been used to spot planets (even Earth-like planets) for years now, but this is the first time ever that a ground-based telescope has detected an Earth like planet. A telescope based on the ground in La Palma (one of the Canary Islands) called Nordic has found 55 Cancri e, an exoplanet two times bigger than […]
Take millions of data points, each one a geolocated entry plucked from a digitised collection of 18th- and 19th-century ships’ logs, paint them black on a white canvas, and what do you get? This magnificent view of the ocean! There may be no features on this map, but you can clearly distinguish the continents and […]
OK, so this is going to be a long image, and after it you’ll find some analysis on it. This is a 2012 census on US data only, so you can expect some differences if you live in other parts of the globe. Here goes: The first thing which pops to the eye is that […]
A new study conducted by Spanish researchers and published in the prestigious journal Pediatrics has revealed that late clamping of the umbilical cord leads to increased anti-oxidant capacity of mature newborns, and the moderation of inflammatory effects in the case of those born from induced labor. In other words, it leads to a better development in their first […]
It’s like Christmas before Christmas – the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has started sending back images it took of the red planet, and there’s just so many fantastic stuff it feels like Christmas has come earlier this year. Now, the MRO sent back images peculiar features along the slopes of dunes: long, sharply defined grooves (pictured) that seem […]
If you have a geologist friend or family, then you probably know they’re an awesomely weird bunch. I’m a geologist myself, and even I find it hard to buy presents for another geologist sometimes – so this is why I put along this list – to give you an idea of some awesome stuff you […]
Have you ever wondered how an ink drop blasted by a laser looks like? Physicist Hanneke Gelderblom of the University of Twente in Enschede, Netherlands did! She and her team have won the American Physical Society’s 2014 Gallery of Fluid Motion competition for this technique which is not only super cool, but may one day lead to better […]
The floor is lava – no stepping on it! Well, that clearly wouldn’t stop this guy… The thing is that most people don’t realize that lava is really viscous – lava is not like water, where you just step on it and sink in (despite what some movies might show you). Also, the very outside […]
A patient who has been in a near-vegetative state for two years has been awaken after receiving a common anti-anxiety drug.The patient was in this state following a motorcycling accident he had, and after receiving the drug, he immediately became active, talking to his doctor, calling his aunt and congratulating his brother on graduating. Then, […]
It’s a glorious reminder, but a sad day as well. It’s been 42 years since humans have been on the moon… or anywhere else beyond low orbit for that matter. Apollo 17 was the final mission of the United States’ Apollo lunar landing program, and was the sixth and last landing of humans on the […]
This month, a silent drama unfolded in Peru’s capital, Lima: representatives of UN countries have debated for two weeks in an attempt to negotiate ways to stop climate change without harming the world economy, especially that of lesser developed countries. While all parties agreed that there needs to be a strong, quick and equitable framework […]
Species on Earth are disappearing at a never-before seen rate in human history. The stark threat hangs over all species – mammals, reptiles, birds, insects – and researchers are still trying to figure out the extent of this potential mass extinction. Now, a new analysis conducted by Nature found that 41% of all amphibians on the planet now […]
The wave of outrage against CIA’s interrogation techniques (which often involved torture) has been strong and sharp. But aside for being highly unethical (up to the point of inhumanity), a new study has shown that torture is also pretty ineffective. The report shows that confessions are four times more likely when interrogators adopt a respectful […]
This is a series of articles about Christmas we here at ZME Science will be doing all December. Our goal is to present interesting, little-known facts about the origins and history of Christmas. Curious to read more? Here’s something about the dreaded Yule Cat or the Catalonian tradition of the pooping nativity man. Christmas – […]
For the first time, scientists may have found signals of dark matter. After analyzing reams of X-ray data, scientists in EPFL’s Laboratory of Particle Physics and Cosmology (LPPC) and Leiden University believe they could have identified the signal of a particle of dark matter. The substance, which was never observed, exists only as a theoretical cause […]
We’ve all experienced it – waking up early in the morning can be really hard, and even if you do wake up, you’re just not productive; and then, in the night, you just can’t go to sleep – you stay up too late, it gets even harder to wake up the next day and the […]
The warm, humid Amazonian forests hold a stunning biodiversity; somewhere, deep in that magnificent area, a pretty normal looking gray bird makes its way to a nest made from dried leaves, to feed its offspring. It would seem that the nest has been devastated by a giant, toxic, bright orange caterpillar… but something magical happens – […]
Geamana is an abandoned village in Romania. It was a very nice and happy village up until 1978, when the Communist regime forced residents to leave their homes and make way for the toxic waste from a nearby mining pit. Everything started in 1977 when dictator Nicolae Ceausescu decided to exploit a huge underground copper […]
We’ve come a long way since the first mammal, a sheep named Dolly, was cloned. Now, a lab in South Korea will clone your dog for around $100,000; so far, they’ve cloned 400 pets since 2006. Cloning is still tabu in many parts of the world, but it’s a process which is no longer reserved for […]
We all know that our oceans are polluted, and one of the biggest problems is plastic pollution. But few people really realize just how much plastic is in the waters – a new study estimates that there are at least 5.25 trillion pieces which weigh an estimated 269,000 tonnes. The real number however may be even […]
A study wrote by Maggie Simpson, Edna Krabappel (two imaginary characters from The Simpsons) and Kim Jong Fun (which I can only imagine is yet another imaginary character) has been approved and published by two journals – a clever hoax which shows once again that some journals will publish anything – for a fee. Titled “Fuzzy […]
Two specially adapted pseudoscorpions have been reported in a cave on the northern side of the Grand Canyon. The creatures, which are not really scorpions, have adapted to their lightless environment by losing their eyes. Unlike true scorpions, pseudoscorpions don’t have a tail with a venomous stinger and are harmless to humans; as a matter […]
Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a material which is light like aluminum, but as strong as titanium alloys. This material has the highgest strength-to-weight ratio known to mankind. The research team combined lithium, magnesium, titanium, aluminum and scandium to make a nanocrystalline high-entropy alloy with a low density. At a first glance, […]
Mount Roraima is the highest of the Pakaraima mountain chain in South America and one of the most spectacular geological formations in the world. The mountain also serves as the triple border point of Venezuela (85%), Brazil (5%) and Guyana (10%). Ever since before Europeans explored the mountain and the plateau, Roraima played a very important spiritual […]
Princeton University researchers have uncovered a previously unknown and potentially substantial source of methane emissions: abandoned oil and gas wells. After analyzing wells from Pennsylvania, they found that a worrying amount of them leaked significant quantities of the greenhouse gas. A previous Stanford study estimated about 3 million abandoned wells in the United States alone, so if […]
When it comes to human prosthetics, there are usually many options available – from simple frames or tools, to advanced, electronic prosthetics. But life isn’t as easy for turtles; such was the case of Blade, a German tortoise with a growth disorder that left his legs so weak that he couldn’t hold himself up. Now, thanks […]
Peru announced that it will seek criminal charges against Greenpeace, after activists from the organization damaged the Nazca lines – some of the most spectacular pieces of historical heritage in the world. Greenpeace set up a banner right next to the Nazca lines, and when they took it out, they left significant damage behind. “It’s a […]
A rare 520-million-year-old fossil shaped like a ‘squashed bird’s nest’ has been discovered by a Chinese team of paleontologists. The team believes that the fossil, which is in excellent shape, will help us better understand how the Earth’s seas were like during the Cambrian.The fossil probably belongs to the ‘chancelloriid’, a group of bizarre, balloon-shaped creatures […]
Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers have taken what they describe as “the first step toward a pill that can replace the treadmill” for the control of obesity – they have developed a pill which can turn white (bad) fat into brown (good) fat. Personally, I’m not a believer in a magic cure for qetting […]
New experimental research found that Saturn’s largest Moon, Titan, has much stronger winds than previously believed. These rogue winds actually shape the hydrocarbon dunes observed on its surface. Titan is, along with Earth, one of the few places in the solar system known to have fields of wind-blown dunes on its surface. The only other ones […]
Vikings are often depicted as brutes – raiding, pillaging, killing the men and raping the women. But according to a new study, coloniozing may have actually been a family affair. Maternal DNA from ancient Norsemen suggests that more often than not, women also traveled alongside the men. Vikings were excellent seafarers – this was the key […]
Not all boreholes are the same – scientists using mobile equipment measured how many gaseous compounds are emitted by the extraction of oil and natural gas in the US. This is the first time an analysis like this has been conducted at a high temporal resolution using a vapor capture system, and the results show that some […]
A major Viking hall measuring over 50 metres in length has been identified near Vadstena in Sweden. Archaeologists from Stockholm University and Umeå University used non-invasive geophysical techniques to identify the hall, and they have a very good idea how it looked like, even without actually digging it. The Viking Age is the period from 793 AD to […]
The Phoenician alphabet is the oldest is the oldest verified consonantal alphabet; consonants are sounds articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Phoenicians were an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550 BC to 300 BC. The next step in the evolution of the alphabet is the Greek alphabet – […]
Three new mosaics have been uncovered in the ancient Greek city of Zeugma, which is actually located in today’s Turkey. The incredibly well preserved mosaics date back to the 2nd century BC, but they’re still as beautiful as the first day. There are actually two ancient cities called Zeugma – one in Dacia (probably today’s Romania), […]
The Helix Nebula used to be a star much like our Sun, but it is now in a different stage – ejecting most of its material. It’s estimated that our Sun will also become a nebula in about 5 billion years. It lies 650 light-years away, in the constellation of Aquarius. Also known by the catalog […]
This experimental timelapse from Nicolas Bauer shows how London’s sky would look like in the event of a total black-out. Nicholas is an experienced landscape/night sky photographer and timelapse cinematographer. It’s called “experimental timelapse” because it’s not the traditional shooting technique. “I started shooting this project back in August 2013 and have been slowly gathering footage […]
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has set sail to Ceres – one of the most intriguing objects in our solar system. Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, containing a third of all the mass in the asteroid belt. The unmanned Dawn spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at Ceres in early 2015, […]
Australian solar researchers have converted over 40 percent of solar light’s energy into electricity, the highest efficiency ever reported by any team for this kind of system. The key for the design is a custom filter which captures sunlight that is normally wasted by commercial solar cells on tower. “This is the highest efficiency ever reported […]
Malaria is one of the most common and dangerous diseases in the world, with the World Health Organization estimating over 200 million cases every year. There are several ways to try to treat malaria, but the results are debatable and often times not as effective as desired. Now, a team has demonstrated a new compound […]
It’s one of England’s better kept secrets – Old Sarum is a hidden gem among gems, one of the most spectacular ancient sites in Europe and in the world. Old Sarum is the site of the earliest settlement of Salisbury in England. The site contains evidence of human habitation as early as 3000 BC, but only […]
Just one week of camping in the wild (or in any area without man-made light) can reset your body clock and return your natural sleep patterns, a new study has found. If you’re a night owl, if you’re having problems sleeping and just can’t set up a good sleep pattern – science has your problems […]
We already wrote about driverless cars hitting the streets several times (California, University of Michigan) but until now, the talk was all America. Now, cars without drivers will also hit the street in the UK, in 4 selected cities: Greenwich (south-east London), Bristol, Coventry and Milton Keynes. There will be a total of three projects, […]
The Electric Eel, a scaleless fish from the Amazon possesses an electroshock system very similar to a Taser. Not only can it stun its prey with the shock, but it can also make it twitch involuntarily, revealing its position. The electric eel is able to generate powerful electric shocks of up to 650 volts, which it uses […]
Every language has its own, special idioms. There are thousands of idioms and they occur frequently in all languages. There are estimated to be at least twenty-five thousand idiomatic expressions in the English language alone… but few are as interesting as these ones. Enjoy! Unfortunately, I don’t know who the original artist is – I […]
High speed photography is no longer a new thing… but then again, it depends what you mean by high speed photography; you likely don’t mean one hundred billion frames per second (100,000,000,000 fps) – but that’s exactly what Liang Gao, Assistant Professor at Stony Brook University means. He and his team have developed the world’s fastest […]
