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A lot of complex organisms, be them long extinct like dinosaurs or still alive like mammals, present what can only be referred to as a face – a symmetrical arrangement on the head of the animal of eyes, nose and, most importantly, jaw and cheek-bones. Human are particularly adapted to recognizing faces. Thanks to our […]
Dragan Djuric and Boris Delibasic, two professors of FON (Faculty of Organizational Sciences), along with advisor Stevica Radisic deliberately published a nonsensical, fictional article in the Romanian magazine “Metalurgia International” in order to draw attention on the massive production of quasi-scientific works by Serbian professors which are published in dubious magazines. The work Their “scientific” […]
Orville and Wilbur Wright are credited as the first men who built an aircraft capable of manned controlled flight. The first manned flight by airplane (powered, controlled and heavier than air) occurred on December 17, 1903, when Orville flew at 120 feet (37 m) over the ground for 12 seconds, at a speed of only 6.8 miles per hour […]
Paleontologists have scratched the surface of what appears to be a very promising dinosaur site near the Arctic circle, in Alaska. When these dinosaurs roamed the Earth, they stepped in mud; their footprints quickly filled with sand, and were preserved in the form we see them today, like blubs with toes. In July, the scientists […]
An Oxford study that assessed the risks that the introduction of automation in work sectors currently managed by people might have on employment found that 47% of jobs in the U.S. could be replaced by computers/robots. Most of these jobs are low-wage and routine-based, however the study stresses that once with the advent of […]
Hey molybdenum, is it me or are you looking chubbier these days? The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has conducted more precise measurements, changing the official atomic weight of 19 elements. The changes are very small, but they are proof of technological improvements and are part of a regular effort to update […]
The Earthquake A major earthquake hit a remote part of Pakistan (near the border with Iran), claiming 45 lives and prompting a new island to rise from the sea just off the country’s southern coast. According to the USGS, the earthquake has a magnitude of 7.7 and tremors were felt all the way to New […]
The experiment: two identical glass beakers filed with deionized water are put into contact. A voltage is applied ( 10,000 to 15,000 volts DC ) to the water inside the beakers and these glasses are slowly moved apart. An amazing physical phenomenon is then observed – a water bridge between the two beakers is formed, as […]
We sleep for roughly a third of our lifetime. All complex organisms sleep, one way or the other, and clearly this is a highly important aspect of biological functioning, otherwise nature wouldn’t had allow it. Oddly enough, we still know very little about what happens during sleep and it’s key functions. For one, it’s been […]
Using low-frequency laser pulses, a team of researchers has carried out the first measurements on a mineral called herbertsmithite. This (pretty awesome looking) mineral features a unique kind of magnetism. Insite it, magnetic elements constantly fluctuate, leading to an exotic magnetic state, unlike conventional magnetism in which all magnetic forces allign in the same direction […]
A magnitude 8.3 earthquake that struck deep beneath the Sea of Okhotsk on May 24, 2013 still poses a lot of questions to geophysicists. At a depth of about 609 kilometers (378 miles), the kind of rupture which generates an earthquake of this magnitude should just not happen. The vast majority of significant earthquakes takes […]
The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Soitec, CEA-Leti and the Helmholtz Center Berlin jointly announced today having achieved a new world record for solar cell efficiency: 44.7% That means that 44.7% of all solar energy (from the Ultraviolet to the Infrared) is gathered and transformed into electricity. After going into research just three […]
Peter Turchin, a population dynamicist at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, and his colleagues finished a study which concluded that war drove the formation of complex social institutions such as religions and bureaucracies. The study showed that these institutions helped give much needed stability to large and ethnically diverse early societies. “Our model says […]
An intelligent trash that can sort recyclable from non-recyclable garbage won first prize at this weekend’s 36-hour maker blitz, MHacks — the world’s largest college hackathon. Organized by the University of Michigan, the contest gathered 1,214 shard minds from roughly 100 schools all across the US. The team that made “GreenCan” came from the University […]
Even in these modern times, steam condensation is one of the main drivers of electricity production and clean water: It is part of the power cycle that drives 85 percent of all electricity-generating plants and about half of all desalination plants globally, according to the United Nations and International Energy Agency. So improving the efficiency […]
Boredom, tiredness, stress – they can all lead to a big healthy yawn; but even when none of those are present, just witnessing someone yawn can be really contagious – and this is not just restricted to humans. Dogs yawn in response to human yawns, and chimpanzees and baboons yawn in response to each other. […]
For some 50 years, scientists have tried — but failed — to find a way to use microbes against termites. What makes these magnificent creatures (which are often destructive for humans, and even regarded as pests) so resistant in the face of very dangerous microbes – designed specifically to kill them? University of Florida researchers […]
Could the Yellowstone supervolcano be waking up? In his 53 years of monitoring seismic activity in and around the Yellowstone Caldera, Bob Smith has never witnessed two simultaneous earthquake swarms; now, the Utah University geophysicist has seen not two, but three such swarms. “It’s very remarkable,” Smith said. “How does one swarm relate to another? […]
Archaeologist and professor Martti Pärssinen from the University of Helsinki has made a sensational find: he found signs of a unknown ancient civilisation in the Amazonian area, unearthing several unique artefacts, including entirely new forms of ceramics. As bad as the clearing of Amazonian rainforests is, Pärssinen took advantage of it and studied some mysterious […]
Instead of digging through layers of rocks, a few paleontologists focused their efforts on ‘digging’ through museum collection instead – and their efforts were quite successful. Their unique approach led to the discovery of never-before seen structures, which they think are something called dino-fuzz. The fluffy structures trapped in the small bits of ancient amber […]
When the Sahara comes to mind, lush greenery and gorgeous, fast flowing waters might be the last scenery that crosses you. Not too long ago (geological frame), however, the region known today as the Sahara may have been crossed by three giant rivers the size of the Nile, according to a recent palaeohydrological model made […]
Biofuels are very ‘hot’ at the moment, as they’ve started to gain traction. Production as increased about 400% since 2000, and that’s a good thing. Right? After all, anything that can replace fossil fuels is a better option. Well, not necessarily. A while ago, I wrote a piece for ZME Science in which listed some […]
The 3-d printing industry is growing, and it’s growing darn fast. It’s no wonder why too. We’re on the brink of a small-manufacturing revolution, similar to how inkjet printers revolutionized home offices only at a totally different scale. So, your kid’s toy broke? No need to buy a new one, just print the broken part […]
What you’re seeing above is the Hofstadter’s butterfly – a mathematical object describing the theorised behaviour of electrons in a strong magnetic field. It took physicists 40 years, but they have finally found experimental evidence that the model, proposed in 1976 by Douglas Hofstadter is valid. Thing is, to catch this kind of fractal butterfly, […]
Counter the popular dictum “out of sight, out of mind”, Kerri Boutelle, professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at University of California, San Diego’s School of Medicine, wants to tackle junk food addition in a novel way. In her experiments, she instructs overweight kids to stare at foods like french fires or cheetos in order to overcome their […]
For the first time in history, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have been able to eliminate dangerous drug-associated memories in mice and rats without apparently affecting other memories. Erasing memories If you’ve ever seen The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (truly a remarkable movie, which I highly recommend) […]
Evidence of surprisingly diverse life forms have been found in the 100.000 year old sediments of a subglacial lake in Antarctica. British scientists working on the site have apparently gathered samples without contaminating them. The possibility of life existing in these cold, dark lakes, hidden beneath (sometimes) kilometers of ice has fascinated researchers. We’re talking […]
The United Nations General Assembly has just released its second annual World Happiness Report, measuring happiness and well-being in countries around the world in an attempt to help guide public policy; it has been consistently shown that happiness plays an important role in society – happy people live longer, have more productive lives, earn higher […]
You might think that the worst thing shampoo can do to you is sting your eyes or make your hair look bad, but as it turns out, a study has shown that some 100 well known shampoo brands include a carcinogen known as cocamide diethanolamine (cocamide DEA). “Most people believe that products sold in major […]
A common lament we often encounter in today’s society is just how boring some people’s jobs are. We all have friends, or you might be one of these folks yourself, who always seem to complain how unsatisfying their workplace is, even though they might have other options at their disposal. A recent study found that […]
The CubeSat is a revolutionizing miniaturized communications satellite only 10x10x10 cm. Because of its tiny size and weight, these satellites can be launched at a much lower cost. Some 50 to 60 CubeSats have been launched in the past 15 years since they were first developed at the California State Polytechnic University, most of which […]
Loliginidae, also known as pencil squids, are formidable animals that can change their colour matching their surroundings really fast and effortlessly. For centuries the only thing man has learned from them is how tasty they are. Now, researchers at University of California, Irvine, found there’s much more to them then a simple calamari dish. The scientists […]
A study has shown a trade-off between mating prowess and parenting involvement – in other words, men with smaller testicles appear to be better fathers. Not only are fathers with smaller testicles more involved when it comes to taking care of their offspring, but their brains are also more responsive when they see picutres of […]
As electronics become ever thinner, smaller and faster, scientists always need to think ahead and develop solutions to accommodate the computing needs of the future. For one, it becomes clearer with each passing day that silicon – the most used material in electronics – can’t be used anymore for tomorrow’s tech since we’re nearing its […]
Geophysicists trying to understand hotspot volcanoes have used a process known as seismic tomography and detected previously unknown finger-like structures of heat, some thousands of km long. The vast majority of volcanoes arises at contact zones between tectonic plates. However, another, entirely different type of volcano exists: hotspots are volcanic regions which can appear even […]
It may come as a shock to you to find out that the chemical make-up of human urine hasn’t been identified until now – but it shouldn’t. The study which led to this breakthrough took over seven years and involved 20 researchers; in the end, it revealed over 3.000 metabolites (small molecules resulted through […]
The more researchers study ecosystems, the more we learn that an ecosystem behaves, in many ways, just like a living organism: thousands of years after human hunters wiped out big land animals like giant ground sloths, the ecosystems they lived in are still suffering from the effects, much like a body suffers from past trauma. […]
Founder of Paypal, Tesla Motors and SpaceX, Elon Musk has gained the reputation of a brilliant entrepreneur and engineer. By many he’s viewed as a real life Tony Stark, a comic book and, most recently, Hollywood blockbuster character better known by his Iron Man persona. Musk in many respects, in my humble opinion at least, […]
Henry Ford’s Model T automobile changed not only the way the average American traveled (the first trully affordable vehicle for the middle class), but the way industry in all its forms viewed production. By switching from hand craft to the assembly line, Ford drastically cut cost and speed of production of his automobiles, a model […]
Excavations conducted by the English Heritage have shown that Stonehenge has nothing to do with Sun worsipping and that the circle we see today was once complete. According to them, they discovered an important piece of the jigsaw puzzle in understanding Stonehenge – Englands greatest prehistoric site, and one of the most significant in the […]
Since touch screen interfaces have been introduced on mass scale the way people interact with technology has been arguably revolutionized. Still, there is much more to be explored in how the sense of touch can be manipulated to enrich user interaction with tech. Recording and relaying back information pertaining to the sense of sound (audio […]
We all know that CO2 dumped in the atmosphere (consequences in the ocean, where the most carbon winds up actually are even dire – i.e. ocean acidification) causes global warming through what’s commonly referred to as the greenhouse gas effect. Governments and various environmental panels have through out the years issued various policies meant on […]
Since the study of modern chemistry was initiated, only 36 basic types of chemical reactions have been fully described. Recently, researchers at MIT, building on the work of another study published 30 years ago, have fully described the mechanisms of a 37th reaction – a low-temperature oxidation that results in the decomposition of complex organic molecules […]
The Hawthorne effect (commonly referred to as the observer effect) is a form of reactivity whereby subjects improve or modify an aspect of their behavior, which is being experimentally measured, in response to the fact that they know that they are being studied. Essentially, when most people know or feel their actions are monitored, they […]
The fat-tailed dwarf lemur, native to the marvelous isolated ecosystem of Madagascar, is the closest human relative known to hibernate. After studying the sleeping behavior of both captive and wild lemur specimens, scientists at Duke University have discovered a great deal about how hibernation works in lemurs. The key discovery is that they can go […]
In one of Stanley Kubrick’s weirdest movies (even by Kubrick standards), “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)“, one of the characters played by Peter Sellers is tormented by the irresistible and convulsive urge of lifting his right arm in a Nazi salute. He can’t control it, it’s […]
There’s a huge gender gap between men and women in science that can be tied to early segregation in childhood (boys with math, girls with humanities), continuing with bias against women pursuing science, either in the classroom, academia or industry later on in life. Efforts to close this gender gap are made, and progress, albeit […]
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), recently initiated a bold and creative project in which they enlisted six member organizations of the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance. HSUS asked the organizations if they would each submit a piece of art made by chimps belonging to their respective sanctuaries. In the end, some pretty creative […]
It’s clear that our political ideologies warp our ability to think clear – but we’re just starting to understand just how deep the problem really is. According to a new paper, our political beliefs can undermine even our most basic reasoning skills – including math. The study, which was led by Yale professor Dan Kahan […]
In 2010, 4,280 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in the United States, and another 70,000 pedestrians were injured. Various solutions have been applied in the past to reduce pedestrian traffic crashes, from smarter traffic lights, to improved pedestrian crossing design. The most extreme proposed solution so far, however, comes from Honda. The Japanese car […]
