Newsdesk Archive
It's common for 4-year-old boys to pretend they are soldiers.But one little boy in Virginia Beach, Virginia, claims he was actually once a Marine -- and his mother thinks he's telling the truth.Alt: Why a Young Boy is Claimed To Be Reincarnated MarineRelated: Memories Transplanted With Organs
Ebola, flu, and colds have given viruses a bad rap. But there may be a good side to these tiny packages of genetic material. Researchers studying mice have shown that a virus can help maintain and restore a healthy gut in much the same way that friendly bacteria do.Related: Body's bacteria may keep our brains healthy
A new controlled diet study has found that increasing the levels of saturated fat in the diet does not lead to increased levels of saturated fat in the blood. However, increasing the amount of carbohydrates in the diet was found to raise the levels of a fatty acid associated with diabetes and heart disease.Levels of palmitoleic acid were reduced with low carbohydrate intake and increased as the participants consumed progressively larger amounts of carbohydrates over the course of the study.
What can you do with human waste? Besides flushing it?That's a question that came to mind when we read about the United Kingdom's first-ever "Bio-bus." It's a tour bus that runs between the cities of Bristol and Bath. The tank is filled with biomethane gas generated from food waste and human excrement.And it turns out that the bus isn't the only example of poo power.
A centuries-old slimming remedy is all set to make a comeback after evidence of its use was discovered in old manuscripts during an archaeological dig. The heath pea is a long-forgotten fern-like wild Scottish plant with purple flowers that can apparently suppress hunger and thirst for weeks. Entrepreneurs are now interested in re-introducing the wonder-herb to the world as a dietary supplement that could produce drastic weight loss results.Related: Mysterious Condition Makes Boy Never Feel Hungry or Thirsty
Han purple is an ancient pigment that wasn't reconstructed by modern chemists until 1992. After the chemists got done with it, it was the physicists' turn. Han purple, they found, eliminates an entire dimension. It makes waves go two-dimensional!You'll see Han purple on the famous terracotta warriors surrounding the tomb of the first emperor of China, or on ancient pottery and other works of art. Where you won't see it is on anything made between 220 A.D. and 1992, because after the pigment disappeared it took 1700 years to re-discover it.
It's known as the roof of the world. At altitudes of over 2.5 kilometres, the north-eastern Tibetan plateau proved daunting but irresistible terrain to ancient human societies. But it wasn't until they got their hands on frost-resistant barley that they could permanently settle these heady heights.Archaeological evidence, including handprints and footprints found at 4.2 kilometres above sea level, suggests humans had an intermittent presence on the Tibetan Plateau as long as 20,000 years ago.Related: Geologists discover ancient buried canyon in South Tibet
Researchers have shed new light on the climate of the Little Ice Age, and rekindled debate over the role of the sun in climate change. The new study, which involved detailed scientific examination of a peat bog in southern South America, indicates that the most extreme climate episodes of the Little Ice Age were felt not just in Europe and North America, which is well known, but apparently globally.Related: Deep-earth carbon offers clues on origin of life on Earth
Who needs Glass when you've got contact lenses that can display video and even detect health problems? What's more, lenses with these capabilities could one day be created using a 3D printer.Most of today's 3D printers work with scraps of plastic or metal and turn them into simple objects. But Michael McAlpine at Princeton University and his colleagues have developed a 3D printer that can make a five-layered contact lens, one which emits light into the wearer's eyes.Related: A Debatable Fix for Young Eyes
The area of the brain that recognizes faces can use sound instead of sight. That recent discovery suggests facial recognition is so important to humans that it's part of our most basic wiring.A brain area that recognizes faces remains functional even in people who have been blind since birth, researchers say. The finding, presented at the Society for Neuroscience meeting this week, suggests that facial recognition is so important that evolution has hardwired it into the human brain.
Perception-skewing shoes can make you feel slimmer, happier and full of energy by retuning your body's soundtrack.Such footwear sounds fantastical, but these shoes are just one of a number of new experiments revealing how the noises we make have an immediate and profound effect on the way we experience our bodies, on our emotions and our behaviour. The trick here is not in the shoes themselves, but in the way they change the sound of my footsteps.
Sixty pounds is roughly the weight of four adult-sized bowling balls. Or six plastic grocery bags worth of food. Or an 8-year-old.It is also, according to a new calculation published in the journal Surgical Technology International, the amount of force exerted on the head of an adult human who is looking down at her phone.
A study of investment managers and traders at a major international bank suggests that the financial industry's culture encourages dishonest behaviour, but that the individuals themselves are not inherently dishonest.The reputation of the financial sector has taken a bashing in the wake of the 2008 global financial meltdown, and after scandals involving the manipulation of interest rates, fraudulent deals and rogue traders losing billions of dollars.Related: Liberals are more emotion-driven than conservatives
As real as that daydream may seem, its path through your brain runs opposite reality.Aiming to discern discrete neural circuits, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have tracked electrical activity in the brains of people who alternately imagined scenes or watched videos.During imagination, the researchers found an increase in the flow of information from the parietal lobe of the brain to the occipital lobe -- from a higher-order region that combines inputs from several of the senses out to a lower-order region.
If you want to see into the future, you have to understand the past. An international consortium of researchers under the auspices of the University of Bonn has drilled deposits on the bed of Lake Van (Eastern Turkey) which provide unique insights into the last 600,000 years.Related: Erdogan says Muslims discovered Americas - "Turkish leader says Muslims, not Christopher Columbus, discovered continent in 1178, offering to build a mosque in Cuba."
Working at the edge of a coal mine in India, a team of Johns Hopkins researchers and colleagues have filled in a major gap in science's understanding of the evolution of a group of animals that includes horses and rhinos. That group likely originated on the subcontinent when it was still an island headed swiftly for collision with Asia, the researchers report Nov. 20 in the online journal Nature Communications.
University of Southampton archaeologists are working to save important Palaeolithic remains at a rare Neanderthal site, before they are lost to the forces of nature.The Baker's Hole site, at Ebbsfleet in Kent, is Britain's foremost location for evidence dating back to the time when Britain was being colonised by early Neanderthals, some 250,000 years ago.
A group of intrepid archaeologists are excavating a 5,000 year old ancient site on the Turkish-Syrian border within sight of the black flag of ISIS.The Italian researchers are digging in the ancient city of Karkemish, which is close to the Syrian city of Jarablous - which is under the control of the feared terrorist organisation.Archaeology Professor Nicolo Marchetti, of the University of Bologna said his team has been working as US and coalition aircraft screamed overhead on their way to targeting the Islamic extremists.
Researchers have deciphered an ancient Egyptian handbook, revealing a series of invocations and spells.Among other things, the "Handbook of Ritual Power," as researchers call the book, tells readers how to cast love spells, exorcise evil spirits and treat "black jaundice," a bacterial infection that is still around today and can be fatal.
Las Medulas in Leon is considered to be the largest opencast goldmine of the Roman Empire, but the search for this metal extended many kilometres further south-east to the Erica river valley.Thanks to a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) laser system attached to an aircraft, the ancient mining works of the area and the complex hydraulics system used by the Romans in the 1st century BC to extract gold (including channels, reservoirs and a double river diversion) have been discovered.
Astrobiologists like to argue about the various parameters required for planetary habitability, but one thing they tend to agree on is that water must be present. A new theory upends this assumption by suggesting that alien life could thrive on "supercritical carbon dioxide" instead.When chemists talk about supercritical fluids (SCFs), they're describing fluids that have exceeded their temperature and pressure thresholds. Once you get past this "critical point," liquids and gases cannot co-exist.
The number of lightning strikes across the UK has been significantly affected by solar activity, according to new research.Scientists say the Sun's magnetic field is bending the Earth's own field, increasing our exposure to cosmic rays.Alt: Sun's rotating 'magnet' pulls lightning towards UK
The origins of a massive 1.8 billion-year-old crater in Canada has been revealedThe Sudbury Basin, which is the world's second-largest impact crater, was likely formed by an enormous comet that battered Earth more than 1.8 billion years ago, new research suggests.
Beards may have seen a resurgence over recent years, but they have been used as status symbols for millenia.The discovery of a 4,000-year-old blade in Russia, said to have been used for shaving and trimming, reveals the importance of looking well-presented during the Bronze Age.Archaeologists explained that the thin bronze plate had been sharpened on both sides and added that it may have even doubled up as a knife.
British Museum director Neil MacGregor has issued a firm rebuff to renewed efforts by the Greeks to claim the Elgin Marbles.Speaking today, he repeated the museum's long-held position that the acquisition of the famous sculptures by Lord Elgin at the start of the 19th century was legal and that there was "maximum public benefit" in them remaining in London where they were seen in the context of world culture.
French and Italian archaeologists digging out a pottery workshop in Pompeii have brought to light 10 raw clay vases, revealing a frozen-in-time picture of the exact moment panicked potters realized they were facing an impending catastrophe.The vases were found sealed under a layer of ash and pumice from Mount Vesuvius' devastating eruption of 79 A.D. and it appears they were just ready to be fired.
Ancient Egyptian workers in a village that's now called Deir el-Medina were beneficiaries of what Stanford Egyptologist Anne Austin calls "the earliest documented governmental health care plan."The craftsmen who built Egyptian pharaohs' royal tombs across the Nile from the modern city of Luxor worked under grueling conditions, but they could also take a paid sick day or visit a "clinic" for a free checkup.
Roughly 9,000 years ago, humans had mastered farming to the point where food was plentiful. Populations boomed, and people began moving into large settlements full of thousands of people. And then, abruptly, these proto-cities were abandoned for millennia. It's one of the greatest mysteries of early human civilization.The dawn of the age of agriculture falls during the "Neolithic," also known as the late stone age. At that time, about 12,000 years ago, people had already developed incredibly sophisticated stone tools, weapons, and clay vessels for cooking and storage.
In an extensive, multi-institution study led by SUNY Downstate Medical Center, researchers have identified new evidence supporting the growing belief that Neanderthals were a distinct species separate from modern humans (Homo sapiens), and not a subspecies of modern humans.The study looked at the entire nasal complex of Neanderthals and involved researchers with diverse academic backgrounds.
From Mexico to Alaska, starfish have been mysteriously melting for more than a year. When a starfish first gets sick, its arms pretzel up and white lesions form on its skin. Next, the starfish, normally plush with water absorbed to keep its shape, starts to deflate. Then suddenly, its limbs begin falling off. Once symptoms start, it can take only a few days for the starfish to disintegrate and die.
The black-footed ferret, North America's rarest mammal, is returning to the western prairie 35 years after being declared extinct.The comeback trail for Mustela nigripes began in 1981, when a ranch dog with a dead ferret in its mouth led to the rediscovery of a remnant population near Meeteetse in northwestern Wyoming.Related: Europe has 421 million fewer birds than it did 30 years ago
The mysterious substance that makes up most of the matter in the universe may be destroying neutron stars by turning them into black holes in the center of the Milky Way, new research suggests.If astronomers successfully detect a neutron star dying at the metaphorical hands of dark matter, such a finding could yield critical insights on the elusive properties of material, scientists added.
NASA's New Horizons probe is about to wake up from a long slumber and get ready for its highly anticipated Pluto flyby next summer.New Horizons is scheduled to emerge from a 99-day hibernation on Dec. 6, then gear up for a six-month Pluto encounter that peaks with the first-ever close flyby of the mysterious dwarf planet on July 14, 2015.
Scientists working on a primitive meteorite known as Semarkona have found evidence that the protoplanetary disk of the early Solar System was shaped by extremely strong magnetic fields that drove a massive amount of gas into the Sun within just a few million years.Related: Gravity may have saved the universe after the Big Bang, say researchers - "New research by a team of European physicists could explain why the universe did not collapse immediately after the Big Bang."
GPS has a new job. It does a great job of telling us our location, but the network of hyper-accurate clocks in space could get a fix on something far more elusive: dark matter.Dark matter makes up 80 per cent of the universe's matter but scarcely interacts with ordinary matter. A novel particle is the most popular candidate, but Andrei Derevianko at the University of Nevada, Reno, and Maxim Pospelov at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada propose that kinks or cracks in the quantum fields that permeate the universe could be the culprit.
It may not be a "Star Trek" replicator, but the first zero-gravity 3D printer is set up and ready for action on the International Space Station.Station commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore of NASA installed the space 3D printer inside the orbiting lab's Microgravity Science Glovebox on Monday morning (Nov. 17). The machine and its software are in good operating condition, and the first test items will likely be printed sometime Monday, NASA officials said.
When the robots of the future are set to extract minerals from other planets, they need to be both self-learning and self-repairing. Researchers at Oslo University have already succeeded in producing self-instructing robots on 3D printers.On the third floor of the Department of Informatics there is a robotics laboratory which looks like a playroom This is where researchers are testing how their robots can figure out how to move past barriers and other obstacles.
Researchers working on artificial intelligence at Queen Mary University of London have taught a computer to create magic tricks.The researchers gave a computer program the outline of how a magic jigsaw puzzle and a mind reading card trick work, as well the results of experiments into how humans understand magic tricks, and the system created completely new variants on those tricks which can be delivered by a magician.
The excruciating irritation of going through airport security could one day be as pleasant as walking through a garden. A genetically engineered garden, perhaps, but a garden nonetheless.Plants are being increasingly seen as having the potential to replace sensors and electronic devices, which sounds completely insane at first brush.Related: These Scientists Are Training Computers to Help Farmers Save Their Crops
Antarctic fur seal males have been seen forcing themselves on king penguins multiple times in shocking sexual acts that are radically changing the way animal experts attempt to explain such seemingly bizarre behavior.At first it was thought that sex between animals of different species was a colossal error -- a result, maybe, of mistaken identity. The occurrences of male seals raping penguins, documented in the latest issue of the journal Polar Biology, suggest otherwise. Instead it may be a learned behavior by hormone-fueled males, which could weaken the overall reproductive fitness of both animals if it gets out of hand.Alt: Seals Accused Of Sexually Attacking Penguins (GRAPHIC VIDEO)
A new study has shown for the first time that people can be trained to "see" letters of the alphabet as colors in a way that simulates how those with synesthesia experience their world.The University of Sussex research, published today (18 November 2014) in Scientific Reports, also found that the training might potentially boost IQ.
Adding just one gram of turmeric to breakfast could help improve the memory of people who are in the very early stages of diabetes and at risk of cognitive impairment. The finding has particular significance given that the world's ageing population means a rising incidence of conditions that predispose people to diabetes, which in turn is connected to dementia.
A genetic analysis of 409 pairs of gay twins has provided the strongest evidence yet that gay people are born gay. The study clearly links sexual orientation in men with two regions of the human genome that have been implicated before, one on the X chromosome and one on chromosome 8.The finding is an important contribution to mounting evidence that being gay is biologically determined rather than a lifestyle choice. In some countries, such as Uganda, being gay is still criminalised, and some religious groups believe that gay people can be "treated" to make them straight.
If your surname reveals that you descended from the "in" crowd in the England of 1066--the Norman Conquerors--then even now you are more likely than the average Brit to be upper class. To a surprising degree, the social status of your ancestors many generations in the past still exerts an influence on your life chances, say Gregory Clark of the University of California, Davis, in the US and Neil Cummins of the London School of Economics in the UK. They used the Oxbridge attendance of people with rare English surnames (last names) to track social mobility from 1170 to 2012.
A chemical ingredient of cosmetics, soaps, detergents, shampoos and toothpaste has been found to trigger liver cancer in laboratory mice, raising concerns about how safe it is for humans, scientists said.Related: Walnuts slow prostate cancer in mice
There have been tantalising reports for thousands of years that the waters of certain holy rivers (such as the Ganges and Yumuna rivers in India) could cure infectious diseases such as leprosy, cholera, the plague and dysentry. This knowledge is giving us a new way to kill bad bacteria.Antibiotics have been used for three quarters of a century to treat bacterial infections. Evolution is real. And so bacteria have evolved resistance to the antibiotics we use to kill them.
Picking a partner while on the Pill might have lasting ramifications on marital satisfaction, new research finds.The new findings show that women who start or stop hormonal contraception during a relationship tend to experience a drop in sexual satisfaction.Related: 'Sex will be just for fun by 2050 as we all switch to IVF,' Pill inventor claims
Keiko, the orca star of the film Free Willy, would approve. Last week, 120 countries signed up to consider banning the capture of wild dolphins and whales for display in zoos and aquaria.Related: Japan Cuts Whaling Target in Bid to Resume Hunt
Earthquakes and tsunamis can be giant disasters no one sees coming, but now an international team of scientists led by a University of South Florida professor have found that subtle shifts in the earth's offshore plates can be a harbinger of the size of the disaster.In a new paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USF geologist Tim Dixon and the team report that a geological phenomenon called "slow slip events" identified just 15 years ago is a useful tool in identifying the precursors to major earthquakes and the resulting tsunamis.
The brain has specialist neurons for each of the five taste categories - salty, bitter, sour, sweet and umami - US scientists have discovered.The study, published in the journal Nature, should settle years of debate on how the brain perceives taste.Related: Learning How Little We Know About the Brain
Seven years after the end of a trial in which young people at severe risk of developing psychotic disorders were given fish oil tablets, most remain mentally healthy, a new study has found.The study, presented today at the International Early Psychosis Conference in Japan, lends weight to the theory that concentrated fish oil, which contains omega-3 fatty acids, may help prevent the development of psychosis.Related: Mediterranean diet is best way to tackle obesity, say doctors
While feelings of disgust may lead people to behaviors like lying and cheating, cleanliness can help people return to ethical behavior, according to a recent study.Researchers at Rice University, Pennsylvania State University and Arizona State University highlight the powerful impact emotions have on individual decision-making in their latest report."As an emotion, disgust is designed as a protection".
Major depressive disorder (MDD) should be re-conceptualized as an infectious disease, according to a professor. A new article suggests that major depression may result from parasitic, bacterial, or viral infection. The article presents examples that illustrate possible pathways by which these microorganisms could contribute to the etiology of MDD.Related: Hip-hop could help with depression and mental illness, says Cambridge University
The Voynich Manuscript is one of the most obsessed-over historical enigmas. A medieval book dating from the late 15th or 16th century, its strange, flowing script has never been deciphered, its origins never determined. The 113 plant illustrations it contains seem to depict no flora found on Earth, and throughout its vellum pages are visuals of the cosmos, a small army of naked women cavorting through pools of water, and the arcane alphabet that has so frustrated linguists and cryptographers.Related: Elephant Water Clock Among 25,000 Pages of Medieval Arabic Scientific ManuscriptsRelated: A book 100 years older than the Magna Carta goes digital
In high school biology, we are taught that there are three types of life: eukaryotes (that's us, and most everything else we often think of as life), bacteria, and archaea (extremophiles and other very primitive life forms). But some scientists are pretty sure that there are entirely different, undiscovered lifeforms that could be prevalent on Earth, and they remain undescribed because we're not good at looking for them.
Scientists following two different lines of evidence have just published research that may help resolve "Darwin's dilemma," a mystery that plagued the father of evolution until his death more than a century ago.Biologists and geologists have been puzzled for decades over why life began so early on this planet, and then took so long to get interesting.
China will build a global quantum communication network by 2030, said a leading Chinese quantum physicist on Sunday.Related: Cheaper, more compact particle accelerators are a step closerRelated: Light technology breakthrough to pave way for super-fast computers
The giant black hole at the center of the Milky Way may be producing mysterious particles called neutrinos. If confirmed, this would be the first time that scientists have traced neutrinos back to a black hole.The evidence for this came from three NASA satellites that observe in X-ray light: the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Swift gamma-ray mission, and the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR).
From Endor in Star Wars to Pandora in Avatar, habitable moons are science fiction staples. Trouble is, they appear hard to make in the real world. But hit-and-run accidents involving planets could create moons able to hold on to an atmosphere.Previous studies suggested that a world must be at least 0.2 times Earth's mass to sustain an atmosphere. If moons form out of the dust disc surrounding a planet left over from the planet's formation, then it seems only planets 10 times the mass of Jupiter will end up with moons heavy enough to have air.
Global warming will significantly increase the frequency of lightning strikes, according to US research.The research, published in Science, was carried out with the help of data from a US network of lightning detectors.Related: Warmest oceans ever recorded
Archaeology and war don't usually mix, yet that's been the case for years at Karkemish, an ancient city along the Turkey-Syria border where an excavation team announced its newest finds Saturday just metres from ISIS-controlled territory.Karkemish, dating back more than 5,000 years, is close to the Syrian city of Jarablous, which now flies the black banner of the Islamic extremist group.
Through the ages, women have suffered greatly because of wars. Consequently, to protect themselves and their offspring, our female ancestors may have evolved survival strategies specific to problems posed by warfare, says Michelle Scalise Sugiyama of the University of Oregon in the US.
Archaeologists have found two Medieval chess pieces made from antler during the final stages of a dig in Northampton town centre. Archaeologist Jim Brown said the pieces were "clear evidence" of demand for a "leisure product" in middle to late 12th Century Northampton.Related: 350-Year-Old High Heels, Tea and Goblets Uncovered at Irish Castle
Archaeologists picking through latrines, sewers, cesspits and trash dumps at Pompeii and Herculaneum have found tantalizing clues to an apparently varied diet there before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius destroyed those Roman cities in 79 A.D.Much of what residents didn't digest or left on their plates went down into latrine holes, became remnants in cesspits built up over the centuries or was thrown away in local dumps.
Extinct reptile with 'toothy grin' found by fishermen as they rafted in remote area of the Yamal peninsula.Is it a mesosaur? Or some other kind of dinosaur? No-one is quite sure yet. Siberian zoologists are rushing to the site to extract the crocodile-like remains before they are covered by ice and washed away in the spring floods next year.Related: Farmer Claims Skull Found in Chained Box is From a Werewolf
Will woolly mammoths stride the Siberian plains once again? DNA samples from an exceptionally well preserved extinct Mammuthus, found in the snowy wastes of Siberia, have raised the prospect of cloning.But scientists are divided about raising the species from the dead, 10,000 years after becoming extinct.
BUENOS AIRES, November 12. /TASS/. A circular stepped pyramid built more than 2,000 years ago has been discovered in eastern Bolivia, local media reported.Danilo Drakit, the coordinator of the archaeology project in the government of Bolivia's department of Santa Cruz, was quoted as saying that the pyramid is made of three circular sections of different diameter.
When a pair of fishermen waded into the frigid waters of the southern Baltic Sea about 5,000 years ago, they probably didn't realize that the shifting seabed beneath their feet was recording their every move. But it was.The long-lost evidence of that prehistoric fishing trip two sets of human footprints and some Stone Age fishing gear was recently discovered in a dried up fjord, or inlet, on the island of Lolland in Denmark. There, archaeologists uncovered the prints alongside a so-called fishing fence, a tool that dates back to around 3,000 B.C.
China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, was a man haunted by death.In 246 B.C. the adolescent ruler commissioned a massive tomb furnished with everything he'd need for the next life, including an entire army of life-size terra-cotta warriors, from mighty generals to humble infantrymen. Arranged in battle formation in pits near the emperor's tomb, the clay army stood watch for more than 2,000 years. Then, in 1974, local farmers rediscovered the site while digging a well.
Pelham Jones bought his first rhinos for a private game park in South Africa some 25 years ago, completing his collection of the "Big Five" animals that visitors especially want to see. "And then the heartache began," he says.Now, as South Africa faces a seventh straight yearly increase in rhino poaching, Jones is on a panel of experts studying an unusual proposal for battling the problem: legalising the trade in rhino horn.He argues that this would pull the rug out from under crime syndicates by forcing down the price of rhino horn and removing the incentive to poach ?- all while providing cash to plough back into conservation efforts.
Widely proscribed around the world for its recreational uses, cannabis is being used in a number of different therapeutic ways to bring relief for severe medical conditions. Products using cannabinoids, the active components of the cannabis plant, have been licensed for medical use. Sativex, for example, which contains an equal mixture of the cannabinoids tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), is already licenced as a mouth spray for multiple sclerosis and in the US, dronabinol and nabilone are commercially available for treating cancer-related side effects.Alt: Cannabis extract can have dramatic effect on brain cancer, says new research
IT'S alive! Well, almost. The first "biological drone", an autonomous vehicle stitched together largely with materials from living things, made its inaugural flight earlier this month.Drones have proved invaluable for those who want to explore remote locations, from storm-chasers to the military. But a crash in such a location can not only blot a sensitive environmentMovie Camera, it also lets everyone know that you've been spying. A bio-drone could potentially avoid that by degrading away in a puddle of inconspicuous goo.
A rare mineral known from just three massive meteorite impacts has now turned up in a Wisconsin crater.Researchers discovered the mineral, called reidite, at the Rock Elm impact structure in western Wisconsin. Reidite is a dense form of zircon, one of the hardiest minerals on Earth.
Several Mars lander missions have detected chloromethane, a chemical sometimes produced by living organisms, but most scientists think the findings were contamination from Earth.Now, a team of researchers has replicated these experiments on a meteorite found on Earth, and found that it produced chloromethane from organic materials contained in the space rock. The findings suggest the chloromethane on Mars may have come from meteorite debris on the planet's surface or the Martian soil itself, rather than from Earths.
The Great Red Spot is the distinguishing feature that makes Jupiter one of the most easily recognizable planets in our solar system. Until recently, it was widely believed that this blemish was formed as a result of reddish-colored chemicals rising up from within the planet itself. However, using information obtained by analysis of data from the Cassini fly-by mission of Jupiter, researchers working at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have discerned that the planet's Great Red Spot may have more to do with the external action of the sun than some internal mechanism.
Dark matter may not be made of tiny particles as most scientists believe, but instead may consist of large chunks of strange matter anywhere from the size of an apple to an asteroid, researchers said.Currently one of the greatest mysteries in science, the invisible substance called dark matter is thought to make up five-sixths of all matter in the universe. Yet no one knows what pieces of dark matter look like.Alt: Dark Matter's New Wrinkle: It May Behave Like Wavy Fluid
A Texas Tech University chemical physicist has developed a new theory of quantum mechanics that presumes not only that parallel worlds exist, but also that their mutual interaction is what gives rise to all quantum effects observed in nature.The theory, first published by Professor Bill Poirier four years ago, has recently attracted attention from the foundational physics community, leading to an invited Commentary in the physics journal, Physical Review X.
Medical engineers have long used nano-sized fibers as sturdy scaffolds for growing tissues. Now, researchers are developing nanofiber meshes that might suck bugs out of wounds and accelerate healing, they report here this week at the 61st annual AVS meeting. Scientists have injected cell-carrying nanofibers into wounds to jump-start tissue repair, but to design a truly smart dressing, they need to know how the material interacts with bacteria.
Next time you pour a glass of wine, raise a toast to the 30-milion-year-old viruses that have contributed to the genetic make-up of modern grapes.A team of UQ-led plant scientists has discovered that the Pinot Noir grape variety owes a significant part of its genetic heritage to ancient plant viruses.
A 1,000-year-old tomb with a ceiling decorated with stars and constellations has been discovered in northern China.Found not far from a modern day railway station, the circular tomb has no human remains but instead has murals which show vivid scenes of life. "The tomb murals mainly depict the daily domestic life of the tomb occupant," and his travels with horses and camels, a team of researchers wrote in their report on the tomb recently published in the journal Chinese Cultural Relics.
Archaeologists in northern Greece have found a skeleton inside a tomb from the time of Alexander the Great, during a dig that has enthralled the public.The burial site at Amphipolis is the largest ever discovered in Greece.
The structure of a soccer player's face can predict his performance on the field -- including his likelihood of scoring goals, making assists and committing fouls -- according to a study led by a researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder.The scientists studied the facial-width-to-height ratio (FHWR) of about 1,000 players from 32 countries who competed in the 2010 World Cup. The results, published in the journal Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, showed that midfielders, who play both offense and defense, and forwards, who lead the offense, with higher FWHRs were more likely to commit fouls. Forwards with higher FWHRs also were more likely to score goals or make assists.
SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 13, 2014 - A University of Utah study of two African tribes found evidence that men evolved better navigation ability than women because men with better spatial skills - the ability to mentally manipulate objects - can roam farther and have children with more mates.By testing and interviewing dozens of members of the Twe and Tjimba tribes in northwest Namibia, the anthropologists showed that men who did better on a spatial task not only traveled farther than other men but also had children with more women, according to the study published this week in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.
No one knows how homing pigeons do it, but now a team of Swiss and South African scientists have discovered that the bird's navigation is affected by disturbances in gravity, suggesting that they navigate using a gravity map and that they may carry an internal gyroscope to guide them home.Human communication has long been associated with an unlikely companion, the homing pigeon; but how these pigeons find their way home is still largely a mystery.
Human culture is remarkably varied, characterized by differences in religion, dress and social customs. Chimpanzees, humanity's closest living relatives, differ from group to group, too. But chimp culture is not nearly as complex as human culture.Now, a new study hints at one reason why: Chimps just aren't as motivated to learn from one another as humans are.
Kicking the tobacco habit is difficult, as any smoker will tell you. Various methods of suasion administered while he's awake are pretty useless. But new research done in Israel indicates that conditioning during sleep, with the help of particularly revolting smells, may help do the trick.Alt: Behavioral changes seen after sleep learning: Volunteers smoked less after a night of olfactory conditioning
A high-tech version of the reputedly life-saving punch to a shark's nose is being tested in an effort to protect humans without harming the toothy predators or other sea creatures.In the blue waters of a small bay in Cape Town, a revolutionary experiment with an electronic barrier seeks to exploit the super-sensitivity of a sharks' snout to keep swimmers and surfers safe.
MOZART and Schrödinger flew through the air over Vienna recently. Their digital images were encoded in twisted green light, marking an important step towards long-distance communication in free space.Light offers the best way to communicate between Earth and orbiting satellites, but atmospheric turbulence can destroy the signal. Polarised light is resistant to the effects of turbulence, but polarised photons can carry only one bit of information apiece. So researchers have looked for other properties of light that could boost the bit rate.
The creation of a 'Frankenstein' chromosome that steals the DNA it needs to grow and survive has been detailed for the first time in research led by Australian scientists.The work, published today in the journal Cancer Cell , shows how an extra chromosome, known as a neochromosome, found in up to three per cent of all cancers, is created.
Why do some chemical farmers resist a profitable conversion to organic methods? A new study in the Journal of Marketing suggests it may be because making that change feels like switching belief systems."The ideological map of American agriculture reveals an unfolding drama between chemical and organic farming... Chemical farmers argue that to make money, one must follow chemical traditions; when organic farmers make more money, it seems "wrong."
Ice sheets on the coast of West Antarctica are rapidly melting and it's predicted that if they continue to collapse, sea levels will rise by at least 3 metres. Scientists have been keeping a close eye on the warm water near the coast, which they think is the main factor causing the ice to melt. But exactly how this is happening has remained a mystery, and now scientists from the California Institute of Technology in the US have obtained some important information on the melting Antarctic ice, with the help of three dolphin-like robots.
On a bright fall day last year off the coast of Southern California, an Air Force B-1 bomber launched an experimental missile that may herald the future of warfare.Initially, pilots aboard the plane directed the missile, but halfway to its destination, it severed communication with its operators. Alone, without human oversight, the missile decided which of three ships to attack, dropping to just above the sea surface and striking a 260-foot unmanned freighter.
Collisions of heavenly bodies generate almost unimaginable levels of energy. Researchers used NASA's ultra-high-speed cannon and computer models to simulate such a collision on Vesta, the second-largest object in the asteroid belt. Their analysis of the images -- taken at a million frames per second -- shows how Vesta may have gotten the deep grooves that encircle its midsection.Related: Tomorrow, a Spacecraft Will Try to Land on a Comet for the First Time Ever
A cosmic gas cloud seemingly destined for a deadly encounter with the gigantic black hole at the core of the Milky Way has surprisingly survived a close pass by the monster's maw.The reason, a team of astronomers now argues, is that it wasn't a gas cloud after all. Instead, they claim the mystery cloud dubbed "G2" was the puffy outer atmosphere of a star, one with gravity strong enough to withstand the tug of a nearby jumbo black hole.
An Egyptian court sentenced three Germans and six Egyptians to five years jail on Tuesday for stealing fragments of a pharaonic artifact from Cairo's Great Pyramid, a judicial source said.A court in Giza, south of the capital, sentenced in absentia three Germans -- who had claimed they were researchers -- for stealing pieces of an ancient scroll bearing the name of the Pharaoh Khufu, as well as rock samples, the source said.
A new book claims Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had two sons with her, based on 1,500-year-old manuscript found in the British Library."The Lost Gospel," by Israeli-Canadian writer Simcha Jacobovici and York University Professor Barrie Wilson, bases its claim on the document dating back to 570 AD and written in Aramaic.Alt: Jesus Christ, Wife Mary Magdalene Had 2 Kids, New Book Claims
Since the 1920s, scholars and politicians have blamed violence in movies and other media as a contributing factor to rising violence in society. Recently the responses to mass shootings in Aurora, CO and at Sandy Hook Elementary followed this theme as media consumption came into the equation. But can consumption of violent media really be a factor in real-world violence? A recent study published in the Journal of Communication by a researcher at Stetson University found that there were no associations between media violence consumption in society and societal violence.
When Arctic ground squirrels need to bulk up for winter, they get a boost from an enormous spike in the levels of steroids in their blood.So why doesn't it lead to 'roid rage?In humans, anabolic steroids are known to build muscle but also produce negative side effects such as aggressive behaviour and compromised immune systems. Yet Arctic ground squirrels have found a way to pump up with steroids without the risks, University of Toronto researchers say.
A big brain is a resource-hungry organ, demanding large amounts of energy-rich foods to keep it functioning. Understanding how species like humans and chimpanzees evolved large, energy-hungry brains is a difficult task: explanations must account for not only how the large brain provided an evolutionary advantage, but also how its energy demands could have been met.
When a thirsty pregnant horse drank from a freshwater lake 47 million years ago, she was unaware that poisonous volcanic gases might lead to her sudden demise. Now, the fossilized remains of the mare and her tiny, unborn foal are revealing new insights into reproduction in ancient horses, including surprising reproductive similarities with today's horses, according to a new study.