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Coffee beans undergo several processes before they become the delicious brew we all know. The coffee beans we’re used to seeing, the brown ones with a delightful flavor, are roasted. Raw coffee beans have a different color and smell very differently. So what makes roasted coffee look, smell, and taste so different from raw coffee? The […]
An exciting research found baby chicks also use the mental number lines employed by humans to count numbers, representing them upwards from left to right. The research and those to follow on other animals might help unravel how this basic mental construct, so essential to human intellect, evolved. Think twice before insulting someone by calling him a birdbrain - it doesn't do the birds justice.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says that after more than half a year, the number of new cases of Ebola in West Africa has fallen under 100 - which means that the focus is shifting from containing the epidemic to actually ending it.
The human brain is often described as the most beautiful organism in the Universe. We say this because of the beautiful things the mind, sustained by the brain, can create and imagine. Greg Dunn earned his PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania in 2011, but while his colleagues are fiddling with microscopes to unravel the inner workings of brain cells, he works with a paintbrush to magnify neurons on a canvas. His work shows a brain whose beauty transcends romanticism and awes in its raw form.
Researchers have identified a new class of antibodies that are capable of neutralizing a wide range of influenza A viruses, a discovery that could potentially lead to a universal flu vaccine. The vaccine would be applied only once an, instead of once every flu season today. Protection against all strains of flue, even mutated ones, would be assured for life according to scientists at McMaster and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York.
There's no secret that evolution directly contradicts religious views on creationism. What's surprising, however, is that many people who are scientifically literate - that is, they're knowledgeable about scientific topics and appreciate its practical usage on a day to day basis - reject mainstream scientific accounts of evolution and the big bang, Around one in five Americans fall in this scope, according to Timothy L. O'Brien, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Evansville and the lead author of the study. This suggests that scientific literacy does not necessarily imply accepting well established science when it contradicts deeply entrenched religious views.
At least in the US, there is a huge difference between what the general public thinks and what scientists think – and this is a big problem. Science is at the core of any nation – it influences the economy, the public life, the health… pretty much everything – everybody agrees on this; but despite this […]
A component found in green tea may be very effective at destroying oral cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells alone. The research from Penn State could become very useful in fighting oral cancer, as well sa other types of cancer.
We tend to think that sexual activity slows down and ultimately stops as we end, but a new study has shown that it's not as bad as we think. Over half of all men and almost a third of all women over 70 are still sexually active - with over a third of all people having sex at least twice a month.
Chemists have confirmed the existence of new bond - a vibrational chemical bond. First predicted to occur 30 years ago, the findings yet again show what a complex and constantly evolving field chemistry is.
The next Mars exploration rover will likely feature a helicopter drone, which is expected to act as scouting drone to improve navigation. According to officials at NASA JPL, the drone could help the rover cover three times the distance Curiosity drives on a daily basis. We have Curiosity to thank for loads of new insights […]
Most spiders weave sticky, wet webs to trap their prey, but the feather-legged lace weaver spider, Uloborus plumipes, employs a totally "high-tech" strategy. It spins an extremely thin nano-sized web, which becomes charge with electrostatic energy. Just like dust latches on to your sweater, insects are attracted and stuck to the the web. Biologists believe they've figured out how the spider does all of this in a newly reported paper which might help the industry design and develop ultra-strong nano filaments in the future.
Seattle, an US city with one of the highest recycling rates in the country, is now effectively mandating its citizens to separate food waste from trash cans. Those who do not comply risk a fine, but also a red tag on their garbage cans for all the other neighbors to see. Basically, it's a shaming act - will it work?
If you’re one of those people who believe green coffee pills can do wonders for your health, then I’ve got some bad news for you. Not only do they not work, but the marketer who supported them was given a huge fine for misleading and lying about his product. Remember the “magic” green coffee pills […]
It's believed that 0.5% of all people alive today or millions of people are descendants of Genghis Khan - the founder of the Mongol empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his demise. Research now shows that his prolific breeding wasn't alone in history after another ten huge genetic lineages were discovered. Their founders lived between 2100 BC and 300 BC.
Although generic drugs are often identical to their brand-name counterparts, the effect is often not the same. It's not because the more expensive drugs do something different or better - in fact, it's all in your head. A new study has found that expensive placebos can work better than cheap placebos.
A suborbital rocket carrying six research payloads was successfully launched into the Aurora Borealis. The probe will allow scientists to better understand the energy of the aurora and how this affects the Earth.
When the US Senate finally agreed that global warming is real, I thought we’re finally going to get some progress. The leaders of the US were finally starting to acknowledge the environmental damage we’re causing and maybe even start taking measures against it… it was too good to be true. While the senate agreed that […]
Australian scientists have cured nut allergy in 80% of the children taking part in a probiotic clinical trial. These children’s lives how now been transformed forever, with many more – child or adult – to follow soon. Nut allergy is lifelong and the most common cause of death from food anaphylaxis. Peanuts – back on the […]
An ancient skull found in Israel indicates that early Homo sapiens likely interbred with Neanderthals 50,000 years ago. The female skull is the first skeletal evidence to support the idea that Neandertals and moderns mated. The finding is published in the journal Nature. The Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) are closely related to modern humans, differing in DNA by only 0.12%. Genetic […]
The living standard of everybody in the world can be increased while also reducing CO2 emissions and limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius – that’s the conclusion of The Global Calculator, a new free, interactive tool developed by UK scientists in collaboration with organisations from India, US, China,and Europe. Calculating the future The Global Calculator can be […]
An underwater volcano that’s been spewing ash and lava for the past month just created a new island off the Tonga archipelago. The volcano, called Hunga Tonga, has since stopped erupting and the island might not be long lived. Mostly made of ash and formed around the crater of the volcano, the half-mile long island […]
The ever resourceful Kepler missions just reported its most interesting find to date: not one, but five planets smaller than Earth orbiting a star 117 light-years away that’s estimated to be 11 billion years old. This makes it far older than our own sun, meaning its planets could be 2.5 times as old as Earth. […]
A PhD student from Netherlands has demonstrated a technique which could massively cut down the production costs of graphene. With this technique, producing the “wonder material” could be 1,000 times cheaper. For his thesis, Shou-En Zhu from the Delft University of Technology described a way to create an “endless sheet” of graphene. The way he does it […]
According to a new study, water once flowed on the surface of Vesta, the second-largest asteroid in the solar system. This took astronomers by surprise, as no one was really expecting to find this.
A team of Mexican researchers found a way to save 20 trees and 56,000 liters of water for every ton of paper produced – just make them from old plastic bottles. Plastic is one of the main pollutants in the world – the ocean is basically a cemetery for used plastic, with at least 5 […]
The land of the rising sun can be extremely confusing to foreigners, but one thing’s for sure: you gotta hand it to the Japanese for being creative. In the face of its worse demographic crisis to date – 1 in 4 people are over 65 years old – the government is experiment with all sorts […]
For most people, brains are pretty similar – our connections follow the same pattern, and while there are certainly exceptions, you could say that our brains are connected in pretty much the same way. But for autistic people, things are very different. A new study has found that each autistic brain has unique, highly idiosyncratic […]
For the first time, astronomers have discovered a planetary ring system outside the solar system - and it's one of enormous proportions - 200 times bigger than Saturn's rings.
Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you less sadness - a new study has found that higher income doesn't really correlate to happiness, but it correlates negatively with sadness.
Some fires are big enough to see from outer space, others burn for a very long time, but from what I could find, this is the oldest continuous fire in the world. Beneath an Australian mountain, a fire has been burning continuously since 4000 BC.
Aboriginals around what is today Melbourne have been telling a story for thousands of generations – a tale of waters rising after the ice age. Without using written languages, they passed it down orally, generation to generation, with surprising accuracy. Now, a new study concluded that the story is actually really accurate, despite being passed […]
It’s painfully true by this point that we have a global obesity problem. Over the past 20 years, obesity rates have more than doubled, now including over a billion adults. The World Health Organization (WHO) has now released its global report card on obesity. See what countries are “in red” below: The first thing you […]
Global warming is all fun and games until somebody breaks a penis! For a long time, scientists have been aware that chemical pollution makes polar bears' testes and penis bone smaller. Concerns over polar bears' mating potential have now grown after Danish researchers found pollution also reduces penile bone density, increasing the risk of fracture during mating.
The harbor in Hong Kong sparkled with an eerie blue glow, creating a surprising and beautiful picture. But few people know that the cause of this lovely landscape is actually pollution - pig manure, fertiliser and sewage. This nutrient-rich pollution encouraged a bloom of Noctiluca scintillans, commonly known as "Sea Sparkle."
In the video above, you can see PhD student Mason Bretan from the Robot Musicianship Group at Georgia Tech in the US jam with some of the robots he helped create. The robots got rhythm, and they got the skills. Just look at that amazing marimba solo at the middle of the video – that was completely […]
Researchers in the UK have found that male children from poor homes growing up in better-off areas are more likely to engage in antisocial behavior. But disadvantaged boys living in areas where three-quarters of the population was poor had the lowest rates of such behaviour. The findings are grim, since they suggest mixed income communities could bear some unforeseen negative consequences, which might outweigh the benefits.
Researchers at the Université de Strasbourg made a polymer gel that is able to contract similar to how a muscle concentrates motor proteins to elicit motion. The contraction occurs under the influence of light, but besides contraction, the gel also stores some of the absorbed light.
After analyzing key hand bone fragments from fossil records, a team of anthropologists conclude that pre-homo human ancestral species, such as Australopithecus africanus, used a hand posture very similar to that of modern humans. Considering fossil tools used for scrubbing off meat as old as 3.3 million years have been found, it may just be that our early ancestors weren't all that different from good ol' superior homo sapiens sapiens. Well, as far as hands go at least.
American and Australian researchers have figured out how to unboil an egg, devising a method that unfolds tangled proteins. The process could prove to be extremely valuable in the biotech industry; costs could be dramatically cut for cancer treatments, food production and other research. So, is unboil a word now?
A few people in the world are able to "wake up" in their dreams, retaining their lucidity and even exploring the dream world. According to a new study, all these people may have one thing in common - a neurological ability.
Harbor seals and most likely all pinnipeds rely on their whiskers to track prey even in the murkiest waters. Now, a new research has revealed the secret to the seal's formidable sensitive whiskers: it's their wavy shape.
Piotr Naskrecki, a Harvard biologist, did what few people would have the courage to do – he let maggots grow inside his skin, then documented the entire process. The result is, while very gross, spectacularly interesting. Proceed at your own risk. I’ve got you under my skin The Human Bot Fly from Piotr Naskrecki on […]
Divers off the coast of Norfolk have discovered a submerged prehistoric forest, hidden underwater for 10,000 years. The forest was part of Doggerland – a land area which connected Germany and Great Britain up to 8000 years ago. This is a forgotten part of Europe, hidden under 200 meters of water. Divers discovered it after […]
The states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais are running out of water. According to a Brazilian Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira, the three states are experiencing the worst drought in recorded history, and the facts are painting a bleak picture for the future. Authorities have already implemented water saving measures, and rations may be implemented in the near future.
The big news in climate is that 2014 is the hottest year on record - but the bigger picture is even more disheartening: global warming trends have remained constant since 1998, and ocean warming is going off the charts.
A team of researchers has managed to make metallic glasses from pure, monoatomic metals. These metals are amorphous like glass, but they retain some of the properties of metals - like ultrafast cooling and solid state reaction.
California's large trees or those larger than two feet in diameter have declined in numbers to half that recorded in a 1930 census, according to a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The leading cause of the demise is thought to be rising surface temperatures which but high stress on large trees, along with water shortages.
Nothing can travel faster than light in vacuum, per Einstein, but in the real world light travels at variable speed as it passes through a medium, be it air, water or glass. Physicists at University of Glasgow now demonstrate that its not only the medium that can slow down light, but also shape after they performed an experiment where light traveled through a ''mask".
Using satellite imagery, scientists have discovered two new subglacial lakes under Greenland's ice sheet bringing the total number to four. The discovery is not well met, however. These lakes are already drained, signaling that climate change is making its way beneath the Greenland ice sheet. The discovery suggests subglacial lakes could increase the sensitivity of ice to climatic change, further accelerating ice melt which can lead to catastrophic floods.
