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How culture migrated and expanded from city to city in the past 2,000 years

Using nothing but birth and death records, sociologists at North­eastern Uni­ver­sity  developed a working framework that details the migration patterns of some of humanity's most notable intellectuals in North America and Europe in the past 2,000 years. The data allowed the researchers to iden­tify the major cul­tural cen­ters on the two con­ti­nents over two millennia. Rome, Paris, London and New York are some of the world's prolific cultural centers in history.

GeoPictures of the Week: Stunning graphical representations of 2 Paleozoic creatures (Nautiloid and Helicoprion)

While looking for some Nautiloid representations, I came across a graphical rendering contest from earlier this year, organized by the CG Society. The task was simple – starting from a base model, colorize them and make them your own. The results are stunning (these are the winning illustrations, created by Dirk Wachsmuth):   “I would like […]

New Catalyst converts CO2 to methanol 90 times faster than current options

Scientists have found a much more efficient way of converting CO2 into methanol, using a catalyst with oxide nanoparticles. The resulting system makes the conversion almost 90 times faster than currently existing systems.

Transition to civilization led to drop in testosterone

A study suggests that humanity's transition to civilization coincided with a drop in testosterone. Less of the hormone is associated with less aggressive behavior and showing tolerance - both essential qualities to a thriving community.

Researchers find that that water penetrates upper crust layer, goes down to 6-8 km

Geologists working in New Zealand have shown, through isotopic analysis, that rainwater can infiltrate down to 6-8 km, in the lower ductile crust.

Scientists discover why some people need less sleep than others

Scientists have figured out why a small percentage of people require less than six hours of sleep, whereas the vast majority of humans need at least 8 hours a night to thrive.

Frack now, ask questions later: bio impact of fracking still largely unknown

Since 2007, shale gas has boomed by 700% in the US and is projected to rise for the next 30 years. While there are states where well fields span across hundreds of hectares, you'd think that the effects of exploitation of this caliber are well researched and documented. In reality, the bio impact of fracking remains largely unknown.

First naturally occuring ionic liquids found in ant venom mix

Ionic liquids (IL) are basically liquid salts with very low melting points, that are extensively used in industry. It's only recently that an ionic liquid has been found to occur in nature, after a team of researchers at University of South Alabama found that the substances forms when two ant species mix their venom.

General intelligence is rooted in social functions

Recent findings suggest that our general cognitive abilities are heavily influenced by key regions of the brain involved in social functions, further strengthening the hypothesis that social abilities are primary to general intelligence and not the other way around.

Organ on a chip might end animal testing and improve drug research

Here at ZME Science we often report on cutting edge developments and various medical breakthroughs that offer novel treatments and such. Most of these drugs or techniques are first studied on animal models, and while they hold great promise, it’s most often than not that the desired response isn’t replicated in humans. This translates in […]

Pulling all-nighters makes it likely to recall false memories

Our memories are plastic and as such are constantly updated and refreshed every time we recall a past event. In this process, misinformation can slip to the point that false memories can form. A new study found that sleep deprivation significantly increases the chance of a person to develop false memories.

E-cigarettes are less harmful than tobacco variety, yet debate still lingers

A new study that shifted through 81 e-cig related studies found that these are less harmful than conventional cigarettes. Policymakers, however, are inclined to introduce strict regulations for e-cigs, citing unsubstantial evidence that e-cigs do not pose health risks.

In two years, wind energy in Denmark will be 2 times cheaper than fossil fuels

Wind is already the cheapest form of energy in Denmark, and prices will plummet in the near future, the country’s government declared – 2 years from now, in 2016, wind energy will be 2 times cheaper than fossil fuels energy. Wind and solar energy are already nearing parity with energy from fossil fuels in many […]

Activists in Brazil are endangered

Some 40 activists are killed every year in Brazil alone. The government is weak and corrupt, rarely capable of providing protection and enforcing its environmental laws. The big companies and local militias are powerful and ruthless.

Colorado is averaging 2 oil and gas spills per day - but residents don't hear about it

Colorado is averaging 2 oil spills per day, but oil companies aren't obliged to inform residents - even if the surface or ground water is polluted.

How air conditioning is making your city hotter

Air conditioning may make your home cooler, but it's making your city hotter - cities can be even 3 degrees hotter than the surrounding environment, and ACs play a big role in that, a new study shows.

Irony at its finest: Oil refinery threatened by rising sea levels, asks government to fix problems

Big oil companies invest big chunks of their profits (which are bigger than many countries’) into climate change denial. As I wrote a while ago, 9 out of 10 top climate change deniers are linked with Exxon Mobil, the biggest private oil company. Still, there are some brilliant scientists working for oil companies, and they […]

The United Nations has released its Human Development Index for 2014. European countries dominate again, the US is 28th

The UN released the Human Development Index for 2014, and it's bad news for the United States - which come in at the 28th place, with huge social and wealth inequality.

How facial expressions drive first impressions

Curled lip, keen checkbone, take your pick! These all count and together shape a first impression of how we're perceived by strangers. A new research sheds light and tells which facial features are most important.

Why tattoos are permanent - it's not what you think

Here's a scientific explanation that will show you what happens when you get a tattoo and why the ink will forever show on you body. Hint: it's not because of how deep the ink is.

Gecko sex in space, and why this is good for science

Ruscosmos, the Russian space agency, recently launched geckos in space to see how zero gravity affects mating. The findings have much broader implications that extend humanity's ultimate goal of reaching for the stars.

Huge waves observed for the first time in the Arctic Ocean

Ice melting means waves have more room to develop and grow, and scientists aren't really sure what the consequences will be.

Sewing an invisible cloak with lasers

A newly developed technique by researchers at University of Cambridge might revolutionize metamaterial manufacturing and help make a complete invisibility cloak.

The beginning of the end for antibacterial soaps?

There is very little evidence that anti-bacterial ingredients used in common soaps actually do anything in the long run to fight bacteria – compared to regular soaps. There is however, lots of evidence that they are breeding a new generation of “superbugs” – pathogens which develop resistance to drugs. Basically, reckless use of antibacterial substances […]

Origins of mysterious World Trade Center ship discovered

When the huge reconstruction work began at the World Trade Center following 2001’s tragedy, constructors uncovered something no one was expecting to find there – a wooden ship, right under where the twin towers used to stand. Measuring 22 feet (6.7 meters), the skeleton of the ship went unexplained for years. Now, scientists analyzing the […]

Project drills deep in New Zealand to understand and predict earthquakes

For the first time, geophysicist in New Zealand will place seismic sensors deep into a geological fault to record the build-up and occurrence of massive earthquakes, potentially giving crucial  information about one of the biggest faults in the world. It’s hard to say anything after such an insightful and well explained video. The Alpine Fault […]

Finally, a malaria vaccine may have been discovered

Reporting in PLOS Medicine, researchers found that for every 1000 children who received the vaccine, 800 malaria cases can be prevented. While this is not yet sufficient to eradicate the disease, it is the closest scientists have gotten to a malaria vaccine. Malaria affects millions of people every year throughout the world, claiming just under […]

Mothers teach babies fear through smell

Babies can learn what to fear from the first days of life simply by smelling their distressed mothers, a new study has shown. This doesn’t only work after the pregnancy, but also during it and even before – if a mother experiences something specific which makes her fearful. It’s the first direct observation of this […]

Novel treatment changes mood immediately for the chronically depressed

Promising results are reported by physicians who incorporate magnetic stimulation in their treatments for depression. Typically, this kind of treatment takes a long time until changes in mood are seen or, in some cases, causes unwanted side effects.  McLean Hospital researchers report a new treatment that uses low field magnetic stimulation that immediately improves mood and […]

Popeye's secret: spinach provides key insight that might one day lead to artificial photosynthesis

While scientists have been studying and incrementally increasing solar cell efficiency, we’ve yet to reach nature’s magnitude of solar energy conversion through photosynthesis. Artificial photosynthesis is a goal in alternative energy research, yet the process is extremely difficult to mimic since, in nature, the process involves numerous stages and transformation of matter and energy. Purdue University […]

Potential 'universal' blood test for cancer discovered

British researchers from the University of Bradford have developed what can potentially become a universal blood test for cancer. The test will enable doctors to confirm or rule out cancer in patients who are presenting symptoms, and even those with no symptoms at all. The test proved successful, as the team tested it on 200 […]

Mad snake disease makes snakes tie themselves in knots they can't get out of

One of the oddest behavior biologists have witnessed is Inclusion Body Disease (IBD) – a fatal disease that affects captive pythons and boas causing them to tie themselves in knots they can’t untangle out of. The source of this extremely erratic and suicidal behavior was unknown until recently when researchers have found it is caused by […]

Why your battery is dying - the answer could vastly improve battery life

If you’ve owned a smartphone or laptop for more than two years and use the gadgets frequently, then you’ve most likely noticed, to your exasperation, how short the battery life is compared to when the product was first shipped. Rechargeable batteries have been around for more than 100 years, but it’s only recently that scientists […]

We are dealing with the worst Ebola outburst in history

The Ebola virus causes a highly infectious disease that can reach fatality rates of up to 90%. It causes a great deal of suffering, spreads really easily and if it’s not treated very early on can kill most people. It’s darn scary , but ever since it surfaced in 1976, when the first outbreaks in […]

Potential HIV-1 cure works by deleting the virus' DNA from the genome

HIV is maybe one of the most resilient and tenacious viral infections known to medical science. Unlike other infections, even if all traces of HIV are gone from the body – the virus itself – it can still resurface and infect the patient later on. That’s because HIV inserts itself permanently into the patient’s genome, […]

China plans to build world's first super collider

A group of Chinese physicists, working with international collaborators, have announced their plans of building a  52-kilometre underground particle accelerator that would smash together electrons and positrons to unravel the fundamental building blocks of life. The project would offer means of probing these sort of fundamental questions that are unavailable to the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, an oval-shaped […]

Members of a previously uncontacted Amazonian tribe become infected with influenza

A few months ago, I reported how Google is using its drones and Google Earth technology to monitor an uncontacted Amazonian tribe. Now, there’s convincing evidence that the same tribe has come in contact with non-indigenous locals, then with western researchers in the most unfortunate of circumstances. One, the contact was initiated by criminals operating illegal […]

A 14-year-old girl invented a cheap water purifying system that could help millions

Deepika Kurup, a 14 year-old girl who was awarded the  $25,000 prize in The Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge, is living proof of how nurturing talent can help young, bright people go very far. While still in the 8th grade, Kurup viable solution for the global water crisis and invented a water purification system that […]

When Rhode Island accidentally legalized prostitution rapes and STDs dramatically fell

In the 1980s, concerned that the state statute on prostitution was too broad and could potentially infringe on First Amendment freedoms, lawmakers in Rhode Island decided to make it more explicit by cutting some articles. They went a bit too far, though, and accidentally removed the section defining the act itself as a crime. It […]

Win or flop: Taiwanese invents cat face recognition

If you’ve ever been to London, you might have noticed the city is packed with CCTV cameras even in the least crowded street crossings. Besides 24/7 monitoring, these cameras feed images to a highly complex system that automagically runs face recognition, checks the mugs of pedestrians and runs a check if there’s anything on file […]

Regularly exercising reduces risk of dementia by 40%

We’ve all read and heard about how exercise can dramatically boost our quality of living, but how many people actually take action? Very few. Less than 20% of Americans over the age of 18 meet the official recommended guidelines. This is really alarming, because what most people don’t know is that mild exercising has fantastic returns, […]

Perovskite solar cells might help the solar market grow to new heights

A crystal known to science for more than a century has only in recent years become recognized for its use in harvesting solar power. Since the first successful usage of perovskite in solar cells in 2009, the advances in the field have grown exponentially over time, making it a potential candidate for revamping the solar […]

Why people love it when the bass drops

Rave parties go crazy when the bass drops, no doubt about it, but what makes people click so well with low frequencies? Canadian scientists at the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind investigated how our brains react to low-freq pitches and found our affinity has to do with how humans detect rhythm. Basically, the bass is […]

These architectural wonders were built by robots

University of Stuttgart’s Institute for Computational Design (ICD) is a state of the art research facility that seeks to solve complex structural problems by mimicking nature. Every year, the institute demonstrates how natural biological constructions can be used to solve design problems by building a new research wing. The results are nothing short of breath taking. […]

The family that walks on all-fours does not constitute reverse evolution

In 2006 , the BBC aired a fascinating documentary that featured that featured a family of five siblings from a remote corner of Turkey that remarkably solely moved about by walking on all fours. Many anthropologists of the time saw this behavior as evidence of reverse evolution and sought to extensively study the phenomenon in […]

Who talks more, men or women? It all depends on the context, study finds

“We women talk too much, nevertheless we only say half of what we know.”  Nancy Witcher Astor, Viscountess There’s a deeply entrenched stereotype that portrays women as extremely talkative or, at least, much much chatty than men. Ask most people, both men and women, they will agree, but is this merely a subjective facet or […]

World's first earthquake detector was invented 2000 years ago in China

They don't scientific instruments this classy anymore.

Energy drinks mixed with alcohol makes you want to drink more

Whether studying late or partying until dawn, more and more people now turn to energy drinks to keep them up and running. The detrimental effects to health resulting from prolonged energy drink use have been well documented, yet this hasn’t stopped sales one bit. Moreover, researchers in Australia claim that adding energy drinks in alcohol cocktails […]

Science is dominated by the 1%

I’m not referring to the world’s billionaire elite, but to an exclusive group of researchers that have become so prolific they are now dominating the scientific community. To be more precise, fewer than 1% of researchers publish one or more papers a year. Moreover, this elite is responsible for publishing 41% of all papers, according to recent findings published […]

Smallest Swiss cross made of only 20 atoms demonstrates atom manipulation at room temp

Some applications require such a degree of precision that everything needs to be in exact order at the atom-scale. In an awesome feat of atomic manipulation,  physicists from the University of Basel,  in cooperation with team from Japan and Finland, have placed 20 atoms atop an insulated surface in the shape of a Swiss cross. Such […]