Andrei Mihai ZME Science

California approves self-driving cars by 2015

The world has been toying with the idea of driverless cars for years now, but California is really taking it to the next level – they will probably make self-driving cars legel by 2015. If you’ve seen the movies with Google’s ‘chandelier’ topped autonomous cars driving down the street, you may have assumed the technology is […]

Global warming favors light-colored insects

Butterflies and dragonflies with lighter colors are bettering their darker counterparts in the face of global warming. Science shows once again just how big of a fingerprint global warming has on all life on Earth – as temperatures get higher and higher, communities of butterflies and dragonflies consist of more lighter coloured species. Darker colored insects […]

Europe landscape still scarred by World War I

The impact of the first World War is felt everywhere – on a social level, an economic level, and even on the landscape (and don’t even get me started on WWII). The Smithsonian recently published a collection of some pictures depicting this damage, which we will be sharing here. You can see the full exhibition in […]

Twitter to release all tweets for scientists: massive scientific tool, but also an ethical dilemma

Five hundred million tweets are tweeted each day – with so many details about the location, interests and behaviors of users, the tweets are a trove of useful information for scientists who might be, for example, looking to find patterns in human behaviors, checking out risk factors for health conditions and track the spread of infectious […]

European utility says wind now cheapest form of generation

The falling cost of renewable energy shouldn’t surprise anyone by now – all we’re waiting for is the tipping point where some type of renewable energy becomes more cost effective than conventional energy – but what if we’ve already reached that point? Portugal is one of Europe’s (and the world’s) leading countries in terms of […]

Carbon dioxide hits 400 ppm for the first time in human history

Carbon dioxide levels throughout the northern hemisphere hit 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time in human history in April – the ominous threshold has been reached, and it continues to go up. Time is running out I’m sad that I was right when I wrote: The Inevitable 2014 Headline: ‘Global CO2 Level Reaches […]

How many people did Genghis Khan kill? So many that it was good for the environment

The genocide had major consequences for the entire planet.

New study shows plants talk to each other through fungus in the ground

Plants can communicate with each other, signaling a potential incoming attack through an underground network of fungi, researchers found. Instances of plants communicating with each other have already been picked up through the air – with chemicals emitted by one plant being picked up by another plant. But below ground? They rely on fungi called mycorrhizae. A […]

Science shows HIV can cut and paste parts in the human genome

For the first time, researchers have modified HIV virus particles so that they can simultaneously, as it were, ‘cut and paste’ in our genome via biological processes. Developed by biologists from the Aarhus University, the technology makes it possible to repair genomes in a new way. It also offers new perspectives for treating several viral infections: “Now […]

Kawasaki disease origin finally traced (probably)

The Kawasaki disease, a strange and highly dangerous disease first identified in Japan has been traced to the croplands in China. Also called lymph node syndrome, the Kawasaki disease is an autoimmune disease largely seen in children under five years of age in which the medium-sized blood vessels throughout the body become inflamed. To oversimplify it, […]

NASA activates veggie growing system on the ISS

Growing vegetables in outer space – something which science fiction readers are very familiar with, but in the real world, this is a first – NASA’s veggie growing chambers have activated. We were telling you a while ago about NASA’s plans to start growing vegetables onboard the ISS – and now, the system is online. […]

Correlation vs causation: a brilliant example of why one is not like the other

Things are not always as they seem.

China Unveils Plans to build an 8,000-Mile High-Speed Underwater Railway Line to America

I’ve seen a lot of strange Chinese ideas, but this one is definitely something else – the Chinese government is bent on building an 8,000+ mile railroad (sounds plausible) connecting China, Russia, Canada, and the U.S. that includes a 125 mile undersea tunnel spanning the Bering Strait. A report in China’s state-run Beijing Times claims the nation […]

Shorter men live longer, study shows

While being taller has been correlated with success in life, being short also has its perks: a team of researchers has shown that shorter men tend to live longer. “We split people into two groups — those that were 5-foot-2 and shorter, and 5-4 and taller,” said Dr. Bradley Willcox, one of the investigators for […]

Study shows emergency exits can work better when they're obstructed

Having a small obstruction barring an emergency exit can actually increase its efficiency and limit stampede damage caused by chaos and panic. In the midst of chaos and panic, most animals clump together and act irrationally, actually reducing their chances of survival in a pointless stampede. As sad as it may be, humans act pretty […]

The creative and (often times) dirty things Romans wrote on walls

Writing on walls is one of the oldest things humans did – people drew on walls in the stone age, and they still do so now (well, some do, anyway). But I’d dare say that no one has taken the art of writing on walls to the same level as romans – sometimes poetic, sometimes […]

Invisibility cloak could help protect cities from earthquakes

French researchers say they are close to developing seismic ‘invisibility cloaks’ which would cancel out potentially hazardous earthquake shockwaves, protecting key buildings or even entire cities. Nuclear power plants especially, and potentially entire cities could be cloaked using this technology – if the researchers’ theories are true (which seems highly likely). They believe that by drilling boreholes […]

New species of metal-eating plant discovered in the Philippines

Scientists from the Philippines have discovered a new plant with an unusual lifestyle – it eats nickel for a living. The new species is called Rinorea niccolifera, and it’s a part of the same genus as violets and pansies – but it has few things in common with those plants. Rinorea niccolifera‘s preferred food is nickel, accumulating up to […]

Ground-breaking ‘Ultra-bright Atom Laser’ Developed in Crete - 7 times stronger than any developed to date

Researchers working in the Greek island of Crete have developed the world’s most powerful atom laser – fully seven times stronger than any developed to date. What’s an atom laser? Optical lasers not really top notch technology anymore, but atom lasers are relatively new – the first one was demonstrated in 1996 at MIT. But like […]

Insecticide is killing honeybees, causing colony collapse disorder

A Harvard study shows insecticides with neonicotionoids are devastating honeybee colonies, triggering colony collapse disorder. Recently, we’ve written a lot about bees – because it’s a big deal. The National Agriculture Statistics Service reported that there were 2.44 million honey-producing hives in the United States as of February 2008, down from 4.5 million in 1980 – and it’s […]

A recipe for disaster: antimicrobial resistance may lead to dystopian scenarios

A world where even minor infections can kill you, where almost no antibiotics are viable, with superbugs and drug-resistant strains – it’s not a horror movie scenario, but something which may very well happen in the upcoming decades, according to a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO). We’ve written about the threats of […]

Scientists engineer first living organism with unnatural DNA

The entire living world is “written” with just four DNA bases: A = adenine C = cytosine G = guanine T = thymine However, for the first time, researchers have now created a living cell with an added pair of DNA “letters,” or bases, not found in nature – the DNA alphabet just got some new letters! “Life on Earth […]

The Oh-My-God-Particle

The Oh-My-God particle was an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray (most likely a proton) detected on the evening of 15 October 1991 over Dugway Proving Ground, in Utah. The particle was 20 million times more energetic than the highest energy measured in radiation emitted by an extragalactic object – in other words, this subatomic particle had the energy of […]

Meet 'Pinocchio rex' - the 9 meter long, ferocious cousin of Tyrannosaurus Rex

A new type of Tyrannosaur with a very long “nose” has been nicknamed “Pinocchio rex” – but this dinosaur was nothing to laugh about. It measured some 9 meters in length, was a ferocious carnivore, and had a long, distinctive snout – which possibly made it even more dangerous. Interestingly enough, the skeleton was found at […]

Dogs follow human voice direction to find hidden food

Dogs and puppies are really good at interpreting human vocal and visual cues, with previous studies already showing they can pick up even subtle hints, finding hidden food with just a slight look from a human. Researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have now studied for the first time whether dogs […]

Rising CO2 poses significant threat to human nutrition

If current trends continue, by 2050, the elevated levels of CO2 in the atmosphere will cause many crops around the world to produce a reduced amount of nutrients, especially zinc and iron. Considering that about almost 1 in 3 people in the world (2 billion people) suffer from iron or zinc deficiencies resulting in a loss of […]

Psilocybin, the active substance in magic mushrooms, inhibits the processing of negative emotions in the brain

Negative emotions like fear, sadness and anger evolved serving a purpose – enabling people to adapt to the changing conditions in the environment, reacting flexibly and efficiently to stress and strain. However, in modern society, in certain situations, we’d really like to avoid experiencing those feelings, as well as many others, like depression or anxiety. Researchers […]

Interview with researcher Simone Kuhn about video games and the brain

A while ago, we published an article about a study which showed that playing video games improves spatial orientation, memory formation and strategic planning. You can read our article here and the full study on Nature, but here’s the gist of it: researchers made subjects play Super Mario 64 for 30 mintues a day over a period of 2 […]

Not just honeybees - wildbees, butterflies and moths are also in trouble

By now, you really should be aware of the honeybee problems that are plaguing populations throughout the world – their numbers are dwindling, and this poses a huge threat not just for the bees themselves, but for humans as well. Now, a new study has shown that it’s not just bees who are in trouble, […]

Bone marrow-on-a-chip could remove bone marrow animal testing

A new “organ on a chip” has been developed by Harvard researchers, reproducing the structure, functions, and cellular make-up of bone marrow, a complex tissue that until now, could only be studied on living animals. Bone marrow is one of the more complex and fragile parts of the human body – many drugs and toxic elements […]

Mysterious lines in Peru that predate the Nazca lines are directions to major fairs

Rock lines discovered in Peru predate the famous Nazca lines by over 300 years, a new study concludes. However, the purpose of these lines was very different – to direct people to big trading sites and fairs. The lines were developed by the Paracas culture, which inhabited the Andes area around 800 B.C. – 100 B.C. […]

New 3D printer allows you to print your own make-up at home

3D printing is the hot jazz nowadays, with applications varying from cranium and skin replacements to houses to nanoscale objects. Now, Grace Choi, a self proclaimed inventor has developed a way to 3D print makeup at home, in every color you want, as eye shadow, blush, lip gloss or whatever you need – reducing both waste […]

Climate Change is a Current Reality, lengthy US report concludes

Climate change is no longer a distant threat – it’s happening now, and it poses real, clear dangers in the US. Another report conducted by White House researchers confirms previous reports by IPCC and other scientific panels. A present problem The report is the latest update from the U.S. Global Change Research Program, and it shows […]

China Officially Outlaws Eating Endangered Animals

China has finally clarified the legislation regarding the consumption of endangered species. It remains to be seen if the law will be enforced, but at least, it’s clear for everybody that it is illegal to eat endangered animals or take their body parts for trophies. Poaching, cruelty and endangered animals The phrasing of the legislation […]

Discovering Technological Attributes in The Not-So- Ordinary Computer

With all the different types of computers in modern times, special-purpose computers are becoming more and more advanced; nowadays, you can almost define the civilized world as people with computers. Most people are familiar with desktop, laptop and mobile computers – more commonly known as smartphones and tablets. Tech industry professionals, military personnel and employees […]

Superheavy element 117 confirmed

It’s a good day to be a chemist – a new, super-heavy element has been added to the periodic table after it was discovered by a team Germany’s GSI laboratory. The periodic table was (and still is) the foundation for modern chemistry – it is a tabular arrangement of all the chemical elements, organized on […]

Crazy ideas: The Phantom Time hypothesis

The phantom time hypothesis is a conspiracy theory developed in the 1980s and 1990s which claims that periods of history, specifically that of Europe during the Early Middle Ages (AD 614–911), are either wrongly dated, or did not occur at all – and there was a general conspiracy to cover that up. When Dr. Hans-Ulrich Niemitz introduces his […]

Cicada 3301: A puzzle for the brightest minds, posted by an unknown, mysterious organization

It’s perhaps the most enigmatic and intriguing thing on the internet, which promises an “epiphany” when you solve it. No one knows who sets it or what the prize is at the end, but Cicada 3301 has posted mysterious, extremely difficult puzzles for three years in a row, in an attempt to recruit and enlighten the […]

The 2014 Smithsonian Photo Contest Finalists

Smithsonian has just announced the 60 finalists for their 11th Annual Photo Contest. They selected the 60 photographs out of over 50.000 entries, sent by photographers all over the world. They selected 10 finalists for each of their 6 categories The Natural World, Travel, People, Americana, Altered Images and Mobile – which is a newly added category. Everyone and anyone can vote! You can cast […]

Photographing the oldest living things in the world

Rachel Sussman is a contemporary artist who focuses on photographing the oldest living things in the world. As part of her project “The Oldest Living Things in the World” (creative, I know), she researches and works with biologists, traveling all over the world to take pictures of things older than 2000 years old. Stewart Brand calls her […]

Old tires become material for new and improved roads

Scrap tires, which are very problematic to dispose of and can cause many problems, can now be used to lower road noise and reduce need for road maintenance. Almost 300 million scrap tires are generated every year in the US alone, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). You may wonder what’s exactly happening with these wheels, […]

Bark beetles killing trees, affecting Rocky Mountains stream quality

A Bark Beetle infestation are killing millions of trees in the Rocky Mountains, up to the point where the quality of the streaming water is affected. Some species of the beetles, such as the mountain pine beetle, attack and kill live trees. Others feed and thrive on the behalf of diseased trees. In Colorado alone, […]

Thinking ‘obesity is a disease’ makes you more likely to eat high-calorie foods

A study has concluded that if obesity is thought of as a disease instead as a problem related to diet/lack of exercise, people will continue to eat high calorie foods. On June 18, 2013, the American Medical Association officially recognized obesity as a disease. This was met with mixed opinions, but the largest US medical […]

The science (or art?) of growing tree root bridges

In the depths of northeastern India, in one of the wettest places on earth, bridges aren’t built—they’re grown. India has over 1 billion people, and many of them live in poverty – 21% of all people in India fall below the international poverty line of US$ 1.25 per day. In many parts of the country, especially in the north-east, it always seems […]

Frozen in time: Three-million-year-old landscape still exists beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet

A geological study has revealed that the massive ice sheet has fixed the landscape in place, rather than destroying it. Ice is usually really good at scouring stuff away – it doesn’t take a scientist to tell you that. But according to this new study, some of the sub-glacial landscape may have remained unchanged for almost 3 million […]

Distant Black Hole Spins at Half the Speed of Light

About half of the Universe’s lifetime ago, it was feasting time for supermassive black holes – they were eating galaxies left and right, a new study might suggest. Taking advantage of a galaxy which acts like a natural zoom lens in space, astronomers have analyzed a black hole powering a quasar about 6 billion light years […]

Excitons observed in action for the first time

A technique developed by MIT researchers reveals the motion of energy-carrying quasiparticles (excitons) in solid material. Let’s work that out in common English. Quasiparticles aren’t technically particles, but they act like they are. It’s hard to give a definition without going into more complicated physics here, but a quasiparticle is a disturbance, in a medium, that behaves […]

MIT and Harvard researchers develop 100% internal cochlear implant

A cochlear implant that can be wirelessly recharged using the natural microphone of the middle ear rather than a skull-mounted sensor was developed by a joint team from MIT and Harvard. The cochlea is the auditory part of the inner ear – t’s where the hearing takes place. Cochlear implants are not really a new thing […]

Europe will blast the top of a Chilean mountain to install the first telescope which directly studies signs of life on other planets

You just gotta love European engineers! They’re about to blast away the top of a Chilean mountain to create a site for the European Extremely Large Telescope. This telescope will, for the first time, allow astronomers to directly observe planets outside the solar system. The telescope will be called the European Extremely Large Telescope… which is really […]

Internet reduces retirees' depression

According to a new study, spending time online can make drastically reduce depression rates in retirees, especially the ones who live alone. In the article, authors describe that Internet use reduced the probability of a depressed state by 33 percent for retirees. Late life depression is a major problem, affecting some 10 million people in the US […]

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