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Boredom seems to be a dominant “affliction” of the 21st century. That’s not to say it’s a sole modern life problem. People have been bored since the dawn of mankind, and actually some of the world’s greatest advancements surfaced from the need to battle boredom. Understanding, on an empirical level, what is boredom and what […]
It’s amazing how this cross-section view on the right showcasing a new type of transistor from Purdue and Harvard universities resembles a Christmass tree, just in the nick of the time for the holiday season. Its design, however, has little to do with a Christmas trees. Make no mistake, the transistor’s shape and design follows a pattern […]
Some scientists alter genes and breed glow in the dark puppies, others breed pineapples that also taste like coconut, like Australian horticulturalists at Queensland’s department of agriculture. The fruit of their 10 years labor of love was quickly dubbed the “piña colada pineapple” by the press, since it tastes like the two main ingredients of […]
For the first time ever, researchers at at Cambridge and Cardiff, have identified and compiled a list of damaging or disease associated DNA variants in the human genome. The researchers found that an average healthy individual carries 400 potentially damaging DNA variants. Most such variants should be found as genetic research provides more refined results. Scientists have known […]
A new study released by Danish researchers at Aarhus University has found a correlation that suggests that couples that are unable to conceive children have a higher mortality rate than those that are. The study studied more than 21,000 couples having in vitro fertilization treatment between 1994 and 2005. During this period, 15,210 children were born and 1,564 were […]
Generating useful energy out of otherwise mundane activities has been a goal for scientists for many years. Bicycle dynamos that generate electrical current to power a headlight from the kinetic energy generated by the cyclist have been used since the turn of the last century. Modern approaches have gone to greater lengths, turning ones footsteps on […]
While the first electric public transport vehicle become operational more than a century ago when the first trolleys rolled on the streets of Europe’s capitals and America’s major cities, development towards autonomous electric public transportation hasn’t really developed that much since then. Sure power and efficiency has evolved tremendously, but the working principle is more or less […]
Lighting has gone a long way since Thomas Edison ushered in the first mass-produced light bulbs, causing not only a lighting revolution but also sparking an electricity infrastructure boom. Still, lighting isn’t as efficient as one might expect in the 21st century, currently amounting in the US alone to 30% of the energy consumption. The […]
Scientists at MIT have created tiny, millimeter-scale robots inspired by proteins that join together and can fold into various shapes. Though the research is still in its incipient form, these tiny robots could pave the way for the first real-life Transformers. Appropriately called milli-moteins, the robots can’t shape into complex shapes like a car or spaceship. Actually, […]
Society today is trying to make-up for lost time during the western world’s patriarchal culture and bridge the gap between genders. For a safe transition between the sexes in society, however, maybe it’s important to understand where men and women are fundamentally different. A recent study, for instance, shows that men and women view the […]
Needless to say, the human brain is the most complex neural structure encountered so far. While a computer can outwork a human in many cognitive tasks, our brain can perform a variety of tasks that no computing machine can even scratch the surface. Just think a bit about imagination – how could a computer ever […]
Controversy surrounds biologist E.O. Wilson’s latest publication ‘The Social Conquest of Earth’. Most of it centres on his repudiation of kin selection and the question of whether or not its replacement, group selection, actually works. What most of the debate overlooks is Wilson’s contention that humans have evolved violent instincts from a past of warfare […]
Nanocrystals have always interested researchers since their electrical and thermodynamic properties show strong size dependence, which could potentially lead to some highly efficient new technologies. Scientists at University of Pennsylvania recently showed that nanocrystals of semiconductor cadmium selenide can be easily printed or layered on-top of flexible plastics to form electronic devices. This could potentially open up a […]
Eye contact plays a very important role in human interactions, however a recent research study made by psychologists at UC Santa Barbara found that looking below the eyes is the best place to get the feel of what a person is up to. Besides, apparently most of us are already hard-wired to fix our initial gaze to […]
As amazing as it sounds, communicating with a person in a vegetative state is no longer something we see in sci-fi movies, it is beginning to become a reality. A vegetative state occurs when some patients come out of a come and wake up, but not with their minds, just their bodies. While they are […]
You’ve heard about white color and white noise, but know there’s a new neutral signal that balances the senses, the sens of smell to be more exact – white smell! Scientists at the Weizmann Institute have shown that white odor indeed exists, although it can’t be found in nature, after they created a mixture of various […]
Fairy circles, or fairy rings as they have sometimes been called, are known to many cultures around the world and pose various mystical significance. Some consider them a spawning pool for elves, fairies or pixies, hence their name. In Europe and North America they are most of the times formed by mushrooms, as most people […]
A new study found a direct correlation between the frequency of cognitive activity at later life and brain health. As we age, the brain’s structural integrity begins to dwindle, however these effects can be hampered to a certain degree by engaging in intellectual activities like reading, writing or playing chess. Any kind of activity that puts strain on the […]
After the Large Hadron Collider‘s monumental find of the Higgs boson, the scientists in Geneva might have made new breakthrough finding. Scientists working with the Compact Muon Solenoid, one of the two major-magnet particle detectors in the LHC, have discovered a new form of matter known as color-glass condensate after studying proton-lead high speed collisions. The Large […]
As urban city environments continue to spread, more and more research is being done to measure the effects human pollution of all sorts is affecting the local wildlife. Researchers from the University of Bielefeld in Germany have recently released the results of a study focused on the mating tunes of grasshoppers. They found that the city-boy […]
which your pet seems to actually understand what you’re telling him – no matter how silly the actual act of speaking to a dog might seem to you. Whether its catching a ball or climbing up ramps or chairs to get to your bed, dogs learn to understand commands.. The fact that dogs can identify and […]
Of the hundreds of exoplanets discovered thus far, many of them are classed as super-Earths, planets with a mass up to ten times that of our planet. Due to their inherent different structure however, their cores would be far from being similar to that of the Earth, leading many scientist to claim that they might […]
Who doesn’t dream of a deserted tropical island..sandy beaches made of coral sand, with crystal clear water, blue like the sky – you know what I mean. And let’s say it would be somewhere off the coast of Australia, maybe near New Calledonia. That sounds perfect.. it’s a great place, a great place to imagine. Well, […]
Previous research has shown that babies still in their mothers’ wombs regularly stretch, swallow and even hiccup. Recent observations have found another item to add on the list – yawning. The doctors involved in the research that identified yawning in fetuses believe this could serve as a new indicator for assessing an unborn baby’s health […]
Paleodictyon is a mysterious fossil pattern found mainly in marine sediments thought to be specific of a certain paleo-depth range; it is a relatively widespread trace fossil – called this way because it is mainly accepted that it is created by a burrowing creature. Although it has been discovered since the dawn of geology and fossil […]
Today’s birds’ ancestors descended from non-avian dinosaurs according to a recent paper that thoroughly studied Anchiornis (155 million years ago) and Archaeopteryx (between 152 million and 168 million years ago) – the oldest known feathered dinosaurs. Archaeopteryx is so far the oldest bird-like dinosaur found thus far, and since it was first discovered almost 150 years ago, it was thought that […]
There’s a rather common image that might pop inside someone’s head when thinking of penguins – an entire flock of such animals, standing very close together, keeping themselves warm as they confront extreme sub-zero antarctic temperatures. Don’t be fooled, though. According to the results of a mathematical simulation that modeled penguin huddling, the penguins stick […]
In an age where the developing world is shadowed by paranoia in face of waves of terrorist attacks, no measure of precaution is spared. Preventing terrorist attacks has been a top priority for governments for a long time, especially since 9/11, and detecting explosives at critical check-ins like airport and customs makes for the first […]
While current solar energy conversion technology is preoccupied with generating electricity with as much efficiency as possible, researchers at Rice University have invented a new technological set-up consisting of nanoparticles smaller than the the wavelength of light that can transform solar energy into steam almost instantly. Their findings show a registered efficiency of 24%, while current […]
We’ve all been hearing about the miracles that carbon nanostructures will provide us in the near future for several years now. One of the first steps to making its application commercially viable is making it easy to use and manufacture. Researchers from the Harbin Institute of Technology at Weihai and Southeast University have made identifying the […]
While the owl is commonly associated with wisdom, make no mistake – it’s a vicious predator of the night. It’s main weapon is its stealth, as it silently dashes through pitch black catching pray off-guard. This remarkable ability of noiseless flight has intrigued scientists who are looking to develop aircraft inspired by the owl. The owl has […]
First initiated in 2008 by IBM, the Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE) program whose final goal is that of developing a new cognitive computer architecture based on the human brain. Recently, IBM announced it has reached an important milestone for its program after the company successfully simulated 10 billion neurons and 100 trillion […]
Popular scientific consensus says that DNA code is identical in every cell of our bodies. A new study from Yale University that could pose extreme far reaching consequences in the field tested a highly controversial hypothesis that claimed genetic variations are widespread through out the body. The researchers found that this claim is true. For […]
Scientists at University of Texas Dallas have made artificial muscles capable of supporting 100,000 times their own weight and generate 85 times more mechanical power than natural muscle of the same size. Applications for this kind of technology are quite numerous, ranging from extremely strong and intelligent textiles to high-temperature applications since the fabric has […]
As of 2010 wind power amounted to 2.5% of the world’s energy production with an estimated 25% increase in quota each year. Yes, eolian power is one of the cleanest forms of energy production, but like any other renewable sources, its no entirely all green. During a wind power turbine’s manufacturing hundreds of tons of […]
Like in a scene from a Sci-fi novel, about 100 light years away, somewhere in the constellation Doradus, a planet is travelling around the galaxy by itself, without orbiting a parent star. This “rogue planet“, has a temperature of about 400C and a mass between 4 to 7 times that of Jupiter – close to […]
Researchers at MIT have created a new metamaterial that they used to fashion a concave lens capable of focusing radio waves with extreme precision. The result lens is extremely lightweight compared to its counterparts developed from conventional materials, and could see promising applications in satellite telecommunications and space exploration of distant stars. In many ways […]
Paleontologists have come across the oldest fossils identified as a relative of the giant panda in Spain, dated from 12 million years ago. A highly peculiar find since this unique animals is native to central-western and south western China. The giant panda belongs to the order Carnivora, which is rather ironic since its highly specialized diet […]
Data storage has reached great heights in the past two decades. You can now fit in a typical PC hard-drive thousands of CDs and millions of floppy disks (who else remembers these?). However, magnetic hard drive developers have almost reached the physical limit to where they can cram up data. Researchers at University of Texas at […]
If you ever wondered why you have to pay for broadband on your smartphone or tablet know that it too, like physical commodities, is a limited resource. Voice, text and Internet services, such as streaming video and music are transmitted on a limited spectrum, and at the current rate of deployment, broadband demand will soon […]
The reason why we don’t trade with gold, diamonds or cheese is because these do no offer the exact interchangeable value. Money the other hands, does. If you loaned someone with $50, and the other person returned the money all in coins for instance, you’d still have the same exact value back in your hands. A new […]
Modern sight correction medical procedures often involve surgery where an artificial lens is implanted. The patient’s sight is significantly improved, however the quality of vision is far from that experienced with a healthy pair of eyes. That’s because current artificial lenses function more or less like those from a camera, a bit more advanced of […]
Bacteria biofilms, when formed, pose a significant health risk in industrial applications, like food processing, and medical settings. Researchers at MIT suggest a new weapon for fighting bacterial formations in the form of nature’s own line of defense – mucus. Mucus lines most of the wet surfaces of the body, including the respiratory and digestive tracts, […]
Scientists with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-II) have used a novel technique to peer through the nature of dark energy as far as ten billion years ago and measure the three-dimensional structure of the distant Universe. Tracing this 3-D map scientists were able to assess the influence of dark energy over time, which might help unravel […]
According to a new study conducted by Professor Gerald Crabtree, who heads a genetics laboratory at Stanford University in California, humans have peaked their intellectual capacities thousands of years ago, and now we are in a slow, but certain, state of decline. The provocative theory comes from one of the leading minds in genetics, and […]
Any mammal, including humans, suffering from an injury to the central nervous system will lead to a life-long loss of the particular affected brain function. Some invertebrates, like the zebrafish, in contrast can regenerate parts of their organs, even the central nervous system. The zebrafish’s remarkable ability to regrew parts of its damaged brain has […]
A recent research from Ohio State University found a link between gifted children’s special abilities and autism, a developmental disability characterized by problems with communicating and socializing and a strong resistance to change. Their findings suggest that child prodigies might have a genetic mutation that allows them to possess the extreme talents seen in autistic savants, […]
Considering their heavy scale armor, and ferocious apatite, “sensitive” might not be the first adjective that comes to mind when describing crocodiles or alligators. A new study has sought to answer a long lasting riddle for biologists after it finally found the purpose of peculiar black spots or domes on crocodile and alligator heads. Apparently, these […]
This has the potential to be the holy graal of solar energy – UCLA researchers have developed a new organic polymer that produces electricity, is nearly transparent and much more resistant than silicone. If you think about solar cells, usually, the blacker the better – the blacker they are, the less energy is lost. But […]
Take a moment to think about what your ears do. The human ear has a complex system for turning mere sound waves into electric messages for your brain, and it serves to keep you balanced. In order to turn sound waves (which are mechanical energy) into the electrochemical energy that sends messages to the brain, […]
