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That faint blue dot at the center of this beautiful composition is none other than our very own blue marble – planet Earth. The opaque giant surrounded by the countless colored rings in the foreground is, as most of you have already guessed, Saturn. Step back, take a moment to reflect over this picture and […]
You hear a lot of anecdotal advice about how we can all ‘get by’ on just a few hours of sleep a night. Historic world leaders are said to have masterminded entire war campaigns on just two hours shut-eye. But modern scientific evidence broadly suggests we need a whole lot more. The usual recommendation is […]
A new, unusual species of dinosaur has been discovered in the deserts of Utah. The 5m-long is a member of the triceratops family, and as fierce as they may look, this dinosaur was a herbivore. The huge ‘nose’ and exceptionally long horns are unlike any other dinosaurs previously described, which explains its name – Nasutoceratops […]
A new study has shown that European farmers used far more sophisticated practices than was previously thought. The Oxford research found that Neolithic farmers used manure as a fertilizer as early as 6000 BC. It has been previously assumed that manure wasn’t used in agriculture until Roman times. This technique is fairly complex, because dung […]
Water droplets, coffee granules, fragments of polystyrene and even a toothpick – all of these, and more, have been levitating and moving around in a Swiss laboratory lately; all of them lifted by sound waves, that is. This is the first time a device is capable of handling several objects simultaneously. This achievement was detailed […]
The king of all predators, the godfather of his time, la creme de la creme – Tyrannosaurus Rex (T. Rex) was the ultimate predator… or was he? When Jurassic Park came out, even though the cinema crowd went wild as T. Rex smashed and ate velociraptors (and the occasional human), at the time, there was […]
An extremely challenging study published by a team of researchers from the Stanford School of Medicine claims that through some unknown mechanism mammals can bias the sex of their offspring in order to win the genetic lottery and produce extra grandchildren. The holy graal of modern evolutionary biology After analyzing 90 years of breeding records […]
Understanding how supercooled water acts can be very important for understanding basic processes during cryoprotection – the preservation of tissues and/or organs by liquid nitrogen, with the purpose of thawing without damaging them. A team from the University of Arkansas have found that surprisingly, when cooled at extremely low temperatures, water turns into an entirely […]
Lots of volcanoes erupted in 2009 – but one of them really screamed out. Its unique howls provide a glimpse into the very heart of the volcano, and also in some unexplained processes that accompany an eruption. It’s not unusual for swarms of small earthquakes to precede a volcanic eruption – it’s quite common. As […]
A trio of papers recently published in Science link hydraulic fracking and geothermal energy production to numerous earthquakes in the United States. Most of these events have been relatively small, with a magnitude of under 5.0, but a few were quite significant – including the 5.6 event that hit Oklahoma on 6 November 2011, damaging […]
What’s possibly the most advanced humanoid robot ever built was recently unveiled by Boston Dynamics – one of the most impressive and renowned robotics company. Named ATLAS, this 6′ 2 tall, 330-pounds powerhouse has all the agility and strength of the Petman, only this time it also has a head. Mounted inside the head are a LIDAR sensor […]
Research on nematodes have always been convenient for scientists. For one, they grow and breed really fast, making them ideal for work pertaining to genetics. Some of them have amazing properties, like the planaria or “flatworm”, which some scientists believe it possesses the indefinite ability to regenerate its cells and thus practically never grow old. It […]
The reason why some drugs can only be taken by injecting them, instead of less intrusive solutions like oral ingestion, is because otherwise these drugs can not reach the bloodstream effectively. For people suffering from chronic diseases that require a lifetime treatment of drugs administered by injection, like those suffering from diabetes who need an […]
Our close cousins, the Neanderthals, were much more similar to us than we imagined even a decade ago, fascinating the scientific world more and more with each passing year; now, a new study suggests that they also had a type of speech and language, something which was once considered to draw the decisive lines between […]
Scuba divers have discovered a primeval underwater forest off the coast of Alabama – a cypress forest which was incredibly well preserved for over 50.000 years. The bald cypress forest was buried under ocean sediments (almost certainly sand), isolated from oxygen (which is the main enemy of preservation), thus preventing them from rotting; however, the underwater […]
Chersonesos was an ancient city on the Crimean peninsula, in today’s Ukraine; the name itself means ‘peninsula’, and Greeks founded it some 2500 years ago, to supply their homeland with grain and other strategic resources. The famed Greek city-states had much need of such resources in order to survive and thrive. Archaeologists from Aarhus (Denmark) […]
In the world of microelectronics, packing the most computing power you can squeeze in the smallest surface is the topmost priority. As powerful devices in term of computing become ever miniaturized, however, efficiently disposing of heat or keeping devices cool under a working temperature is one of the biggest challenges the industry is facing right […]
Scientists at the Laboratoire Charles Fabry (LCF) in Palaiseau and the University of Lille have for the very first time performed a direct measurement of a Van der Waals force – the weak intermolecular force that causes, in some cases when there isn’t a strong force present, to attract and “stick” to one another. The Van […]
What if the world’s greatest unsolved heists were made by aviary burglars? Bear with me for a second. A bird is small enough to fit through cages and window cracks, it can fly in and out fast and on the sly, and if it ever gets caught, it won’t turn its partners in crime since […]
A number of human-like unique limb features, like the thumb, can be witnessed from the earliest most stages of development. Intuition tells us that this means the genetic changes and material that underlie these traits are active in the embryo stage. Recently, researchers Yale School of Medicine found there are thousands of active sequences that control […]
It’s the world of science fiction come alive – Swiss researchers have developed contact lenses which, when paired with special spectacles, bestow telescopic vision on their wearers. Cool, and very useful The contact-lens-and-spectacles have the ability of zooming in 2.8 times. The device was not created for Bond-like purposes, but rather to help people suffering […]
According to Wilhelm Hofmann and his team of researchers at the University of Chicago, self control is one of humanity’s most valuable assets – not only because it allows us to be better people, but because it makes us happier. Self control and happiness Self control is defined as “the ability to override or change […]
Bono of U2 recently let it be known that he was a student of astrophysics (yes, truly!). Upon meeting the 2012 Nobel Prize winner for physics Brian Schmidt, Bono demonstrated a thorough understanding of Schmidt’s work on the evidence for an accelerating universe. More and more over the last 100 years, scientists have been theorising about the […]
Idaho State University researchers have created uranium crystals by crushing nuclear fuel pellets and heating them in a furnace. This was made with the purpose of studying a single uranium crystal, understanding how heat would flow through it, and ultimately develop safer fuels for nuclear reactors. Uranium crystal. Credit: INL Eric Burgett, a professor at […]
Scientists from Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford have analyzed the compositions of Martian meteorites found on Earth and data from NASA’s rovers, and they reached the conclusion that the Red Planet had an atmosphere pretty rich in oxygen 4 billion years ago. They compared Martian rocks with meteorites, and the fact […]
Rock permeability in the geologic fault that unleashed China’s 2008 quake shows that fractures mend quicker than was thought. A devastating earthquake The 2008 Sichuan earthquake struck at 02:28:01 PM China Standard Time, with a magnitude of 8. It came as quite a surprise, as the area is not particularly active from a seismic point […]
This weekend, one of the most curious and utopian conferences took place in New York City, where some of the brightest minds in the field of neuroscience, biotechnology and robotics gathered to discuss the prospect of transferring the human brain and mind out of the biological body and into an artificial vessel. As oddball and […]
It’s rather clear that social-economic factors have a huge part to play in the development of an individual, but when discussing this we typically refer to education, something that can be more or less manipulated at any time, albeit with various degrees of difficulty. How do social-economic aspects affect the brain, though? Martha Farah, the founding director […]
Is there something that graphene can’t do? It’s the world’s strongest material, even when it has flaws, a graphene aerogel is also the lightest material known, it’s great for sensors, for headphones, it repairs itself, and boasts a swarm of other features and capabilities. Now, researchers from Manchester University have shown that they can create […]
Located in the North Atlantic, right in between Greenland and Scotland, Faroe Islands is one of the smallest countries in the world. At the same time, however, it has also remained fairly isolated for many centuries, which in time has led to the formation of a distinct language and population. You can spot a native […]
The Japanese freshwater eel (Anguilla japonica) is a popular choice on any sushi menu, but recent findings reveal that there’s more to it than just a simple snack. Biologists have identified a special fluorescent protein – the very first case found in a vertebrate – that makes the eel naturally glow in a bright green when […]
Scientists at The University of Nottingham have come across what can be a monumental discovery, demonstrating for the first time a new layer of the human cornea. The layer, which was described in a paper in Ophthalmology, could help surgeons to dramatically improve outcomes for patients with severe cornea affections and those undergoing surgery. The […]
More and more discoveries seem to hint at a watery past for Mars. Now, NASA research shows that hunks of frozen carbon dioxide (dry ice) may glide down some Martian sand dunes on cushions of gas similar to miniature hovercraft, plowing away as they go down. This study could explain one of the mysteries of […]
Typically on Earth, days usually have a temperature maximum somewhere after lunch, and a minimum during the night. But for Mars, things are pretty different: “We see a temperature maximum in the middle of the day, but we also see a temperature maximum a little after midnight,” said Armin Kleinboehl of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory […]
For more and more people, ageing and clumsiness seem to go hand in hand – difficulties when handling a plate, fumbling with keys or even dialing a phone – new research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests that some of these day-to-day reaching-and-grasping difficulties may be be caused by changes in the mental frame […]
Mind-controlled devices, also known as brain-computer interfaces, have evolved a lot in the past few years alone, offering countless people who are paralyzed or missing limbs the chance of living a normal life. Non-afflicted individuals may profit from brain-computer interfaces as well, either for fun (why bother with gamepads or even Kinect when you can […]
You may have heard about the Tunguska event – a huge blast of energy which occurred in 1908 over Russia and flattened more than 2,000 square kilometres of forest. More than a century since, its remarkable that scientists have yet to confirm the source of what undoubtedly is the biggest Earth impact in recorded history. The leading […]
As reported earlier on ZME, as little as three thousand tigers are currently alive today in the wild from six subspecies, or thirty times fewer than 100 years ago. Loss of habitat and poaching are the main drivers that brought these majestic cats at the brink of extinction. Now, a new threat might put tigers […]
An extremely rare and small galaxy has just been reported by astronomers, which by all accounts can be considered the least massive galaxy discovered thus far. The very faint galaxy, consisting of roughly 1,000 stars, supports current theories relating to the formation of the Universe. Located in the constellation Aries, the dwarf galaxy dubbed Segue 2 […]
Most certainly, one of the top goals in physics today is proving the existence of dark matter – the elusive form of matter that makes up 85% of all matter in the Universe. Many theories have been proposed and tested, however to this day we only have glimpses and possible hints of dark matter. A […]
The first known case of a bone tumor has been discovered in a Neanderthal who lived about 120,000 years ago in what is now present-day Croatia. The bone samples come from the already famous cave/archaeological site Krapina, which now hosts a Neanderthal Museum. Bone tumors are exceptionally rare finds in fossils and archaeological records, with […]
A new visualization technique developed by researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute used a thin sheet of laser light that beams, stepwise, into different planes of a specimen to create intricate and detailed snapshots of cells. In these pictures featured above and below you can see how zebrafish and fruit fly embryos were imaged using this novel […]
Living fossils, fast adapters Sturgeons have been conserved as fossils ever since the early Cretaceous – some 130 million years ago; they are what we call ‘living fossils’. But a new study by University of Michigan researchers revealed that in some aspects, sturgeons are one of the fastest-evolving fish on the planet. “Sturgeon are thought […]
Our general appearance and dominating facial features have come a long way since the days of our early homo sapiens ancestors some hundreds of thousands of years ago. For instance the size of our brain, and of course skull that houses it, has grown in size three times since then. Moreover, medical records only a […]
It’s not a well known problem by most, but those who work in the field are very aware of it – medical isotopes are a very valuable commodity. But now, a Canadian team may have very well found a way to end the shortage, developing and upgrade that allows hospital cyclotrons to make a much-needed […]
If you’ve ever visited a cave, you probably know the golden rules: Watch you’re head, stay on the track, and keep your grase paws off the formations! Why the last one? Well, because the hands and dirt you have on your hands can impede their growth. But when you go inside a cave as a […]
Early galaxies were very different from those we see today – it was overgrown black holes, and not stars that lit them up, claims a new study; in it, it is suggested that these obese black holes were numerous and bright enough that we should be able to detect them now, billions of years […]
Psychologists closely studying chimpanzee, bonobo and human infants found striking similarities among the three species in terms of different types of gestures. Their findings seem to back-up the theory that claims language, as we know it, evolved from gesture-based communication first. Panpanzee, a female chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), and Panbanisha, a female bonobo (Pan paniscus) were […]
Invisibility cloaks have become the object of study for many research institutes out of a number of considerations. There’s the simple scientific thrill of breaching the SciFi barrier, something every researcher dreams of. Then of course, there’s always the corporate and military tail that always likes to meddle with concepts that shine with the possibility […]
The case of birds missing out on a proper penis has been a longstanding mystery in evolutionary biology. Roughly 97% of avian species sport little or nothing like a real phallus, yet they still reproduce via internal fertilization. A new study, conducted by Martin Cohn, a developmental biologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville […]
