gear Push settings
What’s maybe the most shocking announcement for the scientific community this whole millennium came earlier today from Geneva, when scientists at CERN dropped the bomb shell according to which they’ve managed to break the speed of light barrier. If their three years study of measurements with re-checks upon re-checks proves to be valid, than the […]
Licking 9 volt batteries or tasering yourself with a fork stuck in a power plugs is apparently evidence enough to consider a person both a cretin and a genius. A new study presented by scientists at University of Oxford have shown that electrically stimulating the brain can significantly speed up the process of learning. The […]
In January, 1997 Lottie Williams was strolling through a park in Tulsa, Oklahoma with her friends around 3:30 AM, when a dashing fireball appeared over the sky, much to the promenaders’ admiration. Moments later, Williams was hit in the shoulder by a small piece of fabric-like metal that weighed as much as an empty soda can. […]
Recent figures published in a report prepared by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency show that the world’s CO2 emissions have been steadily and significantly growing during the past two decades, reaching an all time peak this past year. Carbon dioxide emissions, the main cause of global warming, rose 45 […]
Scientists from the UK and Hungary have run various experiments to verify the claim of US researchers that a certain gene is responsible for the increase of lifespan, as shown in some test organisms. Their results show, in fact, that the so called “longevity gene” allegedly responsible for the generation of an anti-aging protein doesn’t […]
In 2008 a deadly earthquake hit the Sichuan province of China killing tens of thousands and living millions homeless – it was the most devastating natural disaster in China’s recent history. From the among the rubles of the quake, however, emerged a survivor-pig which made him an instant national hero at the time. Now, Chinese […]
Scientists from the University of Washington have been struggling for the past decade to decipher the complex structure of an enzyme that exhibits behavior similar to that of an enzyme key in the development of AIDS from an HIV infection, and which might hold a critical role in building a cure for the disease. Gamers […]
Common sense might tell you that only mammals are capable of lactating, it’s a little know fact, however, that some species of birds are also capable of making milk for their young. The common pigeon produces milk in its crop, located near the esophagus, to feed its young. Scientists have long been wondering how the […]
A bridge or tunnel of some sorts which physically connects Asia with North America through the Bering Strait has been considered for many years now, but apparently each proposed project for such a titanic engineering feat has up to now remained in the fantasy stage. Recently, the Russian government put its seal of approval for […]
All you clinically diagnosed anxious readers might want to boot your therapist and settle for a cheaper, more comfortable alternative in the form a computer software which offers therapy through a series of highly effective tests, apparently just as effective as “the couch”. Called Cognitive bias modification (CBM), the therapy developed by researchers at Brown […]
A remarkable discovery which turns once again turns fiction into reality, the Kepler spacecraft has found the first confirmed planet to orbit around two suns, much like the iconic Tatooine in the Star Wars Universe. It’s by no means habitable, however. Located 200 light years from Earth and the size of Jupiter, the planet dubbed […]
In the past decade global warming levels have remained stable, despite no significant improvements in green house emissions have been observed. A lot of explanations have been hypothesized by scientists as to why this is happening, offering various factors like aerosol deflection of radiation or soot absorption, however according to a recently released report by […]
A team of neuroscientists from Stanford University have managed to create a remarkably tiny device capable of monitoring brain activity in a rodent or other small animals. The device can be manufactured extremely cost-effective and might prove to be an invaluable tool for researchers of the new decade. Mice have always been the lab subjects […]
On July 29th the Cassini orbiter probe captured a stunning glimpse of five of Saturn’s satellites beautifully aligned. Cassini has been sending incredible photos of Saturn and its surroundings since 2004, as well as remarkable insights like the discovery of a salty ocean under one of its moon’s surface. Click the photo for a larger […]
A team or Scottish scientists are pushing material science on the extreme side by conducting research which, they hope, will enable them to create life out of inorganic molecules. All life on Earth is based on organic biology – carbon compounds. The researchers from Glasgow University, however, have shown in a recently published paper a […]
The HARPS team at the La Silla Observatory in Chile recently discovered a slew of 50 exoplanets, all in one go. Among these highly promising finds, lies a rocky planet, with a mass 3.6 times that of our Earth, which might offer conditions to support life. Dubbed HD 85512b, the super-Earth planet is located in […]
Biomechanics has come a long way during the past few decades, on trend with the exponential growth of CPUs and electronics, in general. Articulated limbs or artificial optic units are just a few of today’s options that individuals with various impairments and disabilities can use to make their lives closer to normal. Limitations exist of […]
Virgin Galactic, Virgin’s commercial space flight branch, just recently announced that the first phase in the construction of the world’s first spaceport available to civilian consumers has been completed, making the ambitious project 90% complete. ‘Spaceport America’, as it’s been dubbed, is being built on an 18,000-acre site in the desolate sand plains of New […]
The arctic ice volume recorded last fall was the lowest ever since the first satellite reports were introduced, according to data furnished by a new study which used complicated weather modeling, ocean observations, submarine data, and space-age monitoring. “Sea ice volume is an important climate indicator,” said the team of scientists from Polar Science Center […]
A team of researchers have shown in a recently released paper published in the journal Royal Society Biology Letters that dolphins actually communicate with each other through a process much in the way humans use. What has been mistaken for a long time as plain whisteling has now been proven to be a much more […]
Currently, only about 30% percent of the total scientific workforce is comprised of female scientists. Thousands of years of cultural discrepancies might be to blame for this, like stereotyping, however in societies where math gender gaps disappears, the gender gap remains in higher education. In Sweden or Norway, the math gender gap has been bridged, […]
Researchers from Princeton University recently published a study in which they show how they’ve been able to use functional magnetic resonance imaging and a computer program that condensed 3,500 Wikipedia articles to associate words to particular brain activity patterns. Basically, they were able to read thoughts. To reach this remarkable correlation, researchers first did some […]
IBM recently made public its intentions of developing what will be upon its completion the world’s largest data array, consisting of 200,000 conventional hard disk drives intertwined and working together, adding to 120 petabytes of available storage space. The contract for this massive data array, 10 times bigger than any other data center in the […]
As space agencies around the world, predominantly NASA, are considering building outposts outside Earth for the most likely far distant future, various difficulties need to be cared for. One of the most bugging and precarious one is the matter of energy generation. Without energy, you don’t have electricity to power labs, green houses, you can’t […]
Following the recent failed launch of an unmanned vehicle in a three stage Soyuz rocket this past Wednesday, the International Space Station might become temporarily devoid of its crew by November, if NASA, who is in charge of the outpost, doesn’t deem the Russian spacecraft fit anymore to transport astronauts. A Soyuz rocket crashed Wednesday […]
The mating between Neanderthals and modern homo sapiens has been a highly controversial matter between scientists in the anthropology scene for decades now. That was until last year, however, when anthropologists convened that the two related species did indeed mate, but the genes passed down from Neanderthals were inactive. Recently, there’s been another reason for […]
The oldest, up to now, fossil has been found recently by a team of Australian and UK geologists, who claim that they’ve managed to discover micro-organism remnants as old as 3.5 billion years. These tiny living cells were actually sulfur feeding bacteria, which didn’t need any kind of oxygen to survive. The fossils were found […]
A small, yet frightening earthquake, registered at 5.9 magnitude, sent shivers down people’s spines all the way from Ottawa, Canada to North Carolina as it hit the North American east coast. The earthquake first caused ground shacking at 1:51 p.m. ET, when it measured 5.9 in magnitude and lasted only 45 seconds, according to the […]
It’s generally known that people of above-average physical looks are at a greater social advantage than people of average or sub-average appearance. Beautiful people are known to be more successful, happier and more financially fulfilled. Regarding the last part, there’s always been a controversy regarding the economics behind this kind of superficial advantage. Renowned economist […]
The United States and Gabon are the only countries left in the world that are still using chimps for medical research. While research made on our closest relatives is considered invaluable by scientists studying deadly diseases such as HIV, animal rights activists are pressuring the authorities to ban the use of chimps in research labs, […]
Diamonds are for a nano-second – in the glitter of a candle light, that is. In a stroke of brilliance, Professor Wuzong Zhou, Professor of Chemistry at the University of St Andrews, has found millions of diamond nano-particles in the flickering light of a simple candle. Since its invention in China thousands of years ago, […]
Despite an evident contrast, geologists claim that the region of modern day El Paso, Texas was once attached to the now icy continent of Antarctica, in an effort to piece together the giant pieces of a puzzle that formed a pre-Pangaea supercontinent. “Most people are familiar with Pangaea,” said study co-author Staci Loewy, a geochemist […]
I was lucky enough this weekend to be away from the city and at an altitude of about 1800m, deep in the mountain side. The rare, clean atmosphere allowed for an uncanny view of the night sky, at least for an urbanite as myself, filled with the most distinguishable stellar bodies I’ve ever been granted […]
Well, I guess Han Solo should be more careful where he parks his spaceship from now, since Swedish treasure hunters just recently found an unidentified object beneath the Baltic seas which portrays an uncanny resemblance to Star Wars’ most iconic of spaceships. The whole find occured while the Ocean Explorer team, led by researcher Peter […]
Biologists from Edinburgh University might have stumbled across a significant discovery, after strapping a tarantula to a magnetic resonance imaging scanner, which showed how its heart contracted in a unique double beat. The find might apply to a species of spiders. If your curious to see the strange double heart beat for yourself, scientists have […]
A team of researchers from Yale University have shown at a cellular basis why we tend to be more forgetful as we age, and claim that the condition may be reversed. There’s no secret to the fact that an elderly person has a much weaker memory than the one he did at 20 years of […]
I’ve always amazed how some non-primate species manage to sometimes use the environment to their advantage, in a tool-like use manner. The African Crested Rat, however, takes this to a whole new other level. It’s the only known mammal in the world, besides humans, that uses poison for defensive purposes. He does this by chewing […]
UAE might harbor in its Dubai oasis the world’s current tallest building, its Burj tower, but neighboring Saudi Arabia isn’t keen on showing that it has a smaller ego and is planning on building the world’s tallest building in the world – the Kingdom Tower. They don’t intend on adding a few more feet to […]
More like props from a James Bond movie than something that might have come from a scientific lab, a new device developed by neuroscientists combines a pair of special glasses, a webcam and a smartphone might allow the blind to see again by converting visual signals into auditory ones, which get transmitted through a headset. […]
Archeologists unearthed from Mexico’s underground a spectacular Olmec-style stone carving depicting three sitting felines, dated from 700 B.C. Dubbed the “Triad of Felines” by the archeologists who first discovered the monolith, the carving was found just 60 miles from Mexico City in Chalcatzingo, a famous archeological site known for its numerous Olmec culture artifacts found […]
The latin phrase “mens sana in corpore sano” has been put to the test by researchers who wanted to study what kind of repercussions an unhealthy lifestyle has on the mind. What they found was a dramatic increase in brain damage and dementia cases among subjects who have experienced high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and obesity […]
In a recent groundbreaking research study, scientists from Seoul National University in South Korea have successfully created a dog that can glow in the dark, using genetic engineering techniques. This achievement holds the potential for finding cures for human diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The dog in question, a genetically modified female beagle named […]
The famous volcano in Sicily has been subjected to a number of eruption in this highly active past year. This weekend however, residents of nearby towns on Sicily were treated to a spectacular show of tectonic fireworks as Europe’s most active volcano, Mt Etna, erupted in glorious fashion. Get just a hint of the real […]
Crop circles have always been an important weapon in any conspiracy theorist’s arsenal, certain to be mentioned alongside UFOs, green aliens or reptilians. Since 1970, tens of thousands of crop circles have been reported around the world, most amateur hoaxes, while some are so intricately built that they even baffle scientists. In this month’s edition […]
There’s no secret to anyone, I believe, that the world is over-crowded right now. By the end of 2011, according to the U.N., the world population is set to reach a solid 7 billion, a billion more than in 1999. The United Nations, who’s been providing highly accurate population projections decades ahead, however warns that […]
It wasn’t just a devastating asteroid that killed off all the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Scientists from Boston University now claim that a massive eruption of lava fronts around the world, coinciding with the asteroid impact, sealed their fate forever. The controversial theory is betting on two unusually hot blobs of mantle 1,700 miles […]
Studying the immense 2007 Anaktuvuk River fire, which burned 401 square miles and becoming the largest tundra fire on record, scientists have found that more carbon was spewed into the air in a few months than the entire Arctic tundra ecosystem normally absorbs in an average year. For the past 10,000 years tundra fires have been […]
In a paper published in the journal Nature, Chinese paleontologists have detailed their impressions on the finding of a chicken-sized feathered dinosaur which might lead to a total reconsideration of the origin of birds on Earth. In 1861, just two years after Darwin published his infamous Origin of Species, scientists unearthed the fossils of Archaeopteryx, […]
Recently, China’s Yellow Sea has been clogged for a surface of nearly 7,700 square miles (20,000 square kilometers) by a massive algae front. Surprisingly enough, the algae spanning across great distances off the eastern provinces of Shandong and Jiangsu is a year to year visit, although authorities believe this year has been a bit more […]
A new Oxford University study shows how people living further away from the equator have bigger eyes and brains than those living closer to it. This is to cope with the harsh colder climate, scientists say. Anthropologists come to this conclusion after examining 55 skulls, dating from the 1800s, representing 12 different populations from around […]
