Newsdesk Archive
The first three-parent baby could be on its way next year, when the UK parliament votes on whether to legalise a novel form of IVF. The procedure would allow thousands of women with mitochondrial mutations to have a child without the fear of passing on disease.
For the first time scientists have tracked how one of the deadliest volcanic hazards moves over time.Pyroclastic density currents are searing hot clouds of ash and gas released by volcanoes; they travel up to 450 miles per hour.
Out of all the clean energy options in development, it is algae-based biofuel that most closely resembles the composition of the crude oil that gets pumped out from beneath the sea bed. Much of what we know as petroleum was, after all, formed from these very microorganisms, through a natural heat-facilitated conversion that played out over the course of millions of years.
Temperature rises resulting from unchecked climate change will be at the severe end of those projected, according to a new scientific study.The scientist leading the research said that unless emissions of greenhouse gases were cut, the planet would heat up by a minimum of 4C by 2100, twice the level the world's governments deem dangerous.
As many of us start to think about our New Year's resolutions (or breaking them), we may not realise that the tradition of making promises on the first day of the year is a custom started by our Roman ancestors.Related: This is Why You Won't Keep Your New Year's Resolution
Although a population of bacteria may be genetically identical, individual bacteria within that population can act in radically different ways.As these bacterial cells divide, chemotaxis machinery (bright blue and red) localize in one daughter cell.
Using ultrasound, a team of Japanese scientists has levitated small particles, and moved them around mid-air. It's incredible to see.This isn't the first time we've seen ultrasonic levitation, but it's a small step toward being able to move objects around once they're off the ground.
An unexplained crop circle in Salinas, Calif., has captured the curiosity of alien enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists across the nation.The patterns were noticed by aerial photographer Julie Belanger, who told ABC News she was shocked to discover them during a flyover on Monday.
Panpsychism, the ancient doctrine that consciousness is universal, offers some lessons in how to think about subjective experience todayI grew up in a devout and practicing Roman Catholic family with Purzel, a fearless and high-energy dachshund. He, as with all the other, much larger dogs that subsequently accompanied me through life, showed plenty of affection, curiosity, playfulness, aggression, anger, shame and fear.
X-rays and advanced photography have uncovered the true complexity of the mysterious Antikythera mechanism, a device so astonishing that its discovery is like finding a functional Buick in medieval Europe.
An Israeli researcher says she has identified a nearly 2,000-year old textile that may contain a mysterious blue dye described in the Bible, one of the few remnants of the ancient color ever found.
Ford will display its first solar-powered vehicle at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next week, the company announced on Thursday.The Ford CMAX Solar Energi Concept car will have 1.5 square meters of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells on its roof to generate power to charge the car's battery. By themselves, the PV solar panels generate only 300W of power...
New Year's Eve didn't stop observer Richard Kowalski from scanning the sky for near-Earth objects (NEOs). Using the 60-inch telescope on Arizona's Mount Lemmon, he noticed a 19th-magnitude blip skimming through northern Orion in a seven-image series begun at 5:16 p.m. (1:16 Universal Time on January 1st). After confirming that it was a new find, Kowalski dutifully submitted positions and times to the IAU's Minor Planet Center.
University of Cincinnati archaeologists are making discoveries in Pompeii that are changing traditional perceptions of how the inhabitants dined; the rich enjoying delicacies such as flamingos and the poor scrounging for soup or gruel.UC teams of archaeologists have spent more than a decade at two city blocks within a non-elite district in the Roman city of Pompeii, which was buried under a volcano in 79 AD.
Future space missions could utilize a new technology that draws inspiration from the stickiness found on gecko feet. Researchers, using this natural wonder, have developed a wall-climbing robot that may one day aid astronauts in outer space.The ESA, along with Simon Fraser University researchers in Canada, tested a dry adhesive in a temperate space environment, finding that the adhesive maintained its stickiness throughout the test.
DNA barcoding, or the use of short DNA sequences to help distinguish between species, is becoming a more popular way to effectively and inexpensively differentiate between plant and animal species.The genus Phoenix, which includes the date palm, has long given scientists trouble when it comes to differentiating between species based solely on appearances. Making matters worse is the plants' high infertility...
A mission to build the first human settlement on Mars, which drew 200,000 applicants, said it has already shortlisted about a thousand candidates who will now be tested to come up with a final list of 24 people who will go live in the red planet by 2025.Mars One, a Dutch non-profit agency said the finalists would undergo eight years of extensive training before launch.
A study begun in Mexico with the collaboration of university students analysed the effect of weekend alcohol consumption on the lipids comprising cell membrane and its genetic material, i.e. DNA. Until now, the damage to the packaging of nuclear material in the early stages of alcohol abuse has never been documented, perhaps because most of the studies are done at later stages with people who have been consuming alcohol in an addictive way for many years.
Before you break out your favorite EDM song, just consider this: these glow-in-the-dark pigs were created in the name of science.In an effort to further study human genetic disorders, scientists in Southern China injected pig embryos with fluorescent jellyfish DNA; when these 10 piglets are put under a black light, they emanate an eerie green glow.
Talk about being chilled out: a species of sea anemone has been found on the underside of Antarctica's ice sheets. They are the only marine animals known to live embedded in the ice, and no one is sure how they survive.
A number of ancient Egyptian faience amulets have been stolen from a storage gallery in Aswan.According to a press release from the Ministry of State of Antiquities (MSA), the loss of the amulets was discovered earlier this week."I reported the case to the Tourism and Antiquities Police in order to take all legal procedures to catch the criminals and to return the amulet back," Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim told Ahram Online.
A few fragmentary bones thought to be the remains of Neanderthals actually belonged to medieval Italians, new research finds.The study is a reanalysis of a tooth, which was found in in a cave in northeastern Italy along with a finger bone and another tooth. Originally, researchers identified these scraps as belonging to Neanderthals, the early cousins of humans who went extinct about 30,000 years ago. Instead, the new study reveals the bones to belong to modern Homo sapiens.
Launched in 1997, NASA's Cassini spacecraft spent seven years traveling to Saturn before spending the past nine-and-a-half years orbiting the massive planet, making scientific observations and returning thousands of gorgeous otherworldly images. Saturn has more than 150 known moons and the most spectacular ring system of any of our neighboring planets.
Remains of a 900 year old estate with a fountain in its garden were exposed during excavations that were carried out at the entrance to Ramla in Central Israel. This is the first time that a fountain has been discovered outside the known wealthier districts of Old Ramla.Two residential rooms were exposed of the estate which archaeologists have dated to the Fatimid period (late tenth century and first half of the eleventh century CE).
According to a new study, those who are tone-deaf might be able to take a pill to improve their pitch.The National Center of Biotechnology Information is reporting that researchers from Canada, France, and the United Kingdom gave a mood-stabilizer to participants before asking them to match and recall pitches.
When people come across Moche sex pots, they tend to find them amusing, or gross, or weird, or titillating. Or something that should be squirreled away in an adults-only section of a museum, lest our children's innocent eyes be tainted by their frank depictions of anal sex, oral sex, masturbation, huge erect penises, and occasional huge vulvas.
So you've gone through all the trouble of mummifying a loved one. You've hired embalmers to remove her organs, treat her body with a precise mixture of oils and balms, and carefully wrap her in bandages. You've spared no expense on a lavish tomb, beautifully decorated and stuffed with riches. You've even mummified her pets, all to make sure she will fully enjoy her afterlife. There's just one last question: What is your beloved mummy going to eat for the rest of eternity.
Miles beneath the Earth's surface, where no light or air reaches, tiny organisms are eking out a meager existence.Yet despite making up an estimated 6 percent of all life on Earth, researchers know almost nothing about these deep-dwellers. And scientists have failed to culture, or grow, the bacteria in the lab, making it difficult to understand how they survive the harsh, energy-starved environment below the planet's surface.
A new 3D printer for the kitchen aims to take the pain out of cooking at home."Foodini's main purpose is to take on the difficult and/or time-consuming parts of food preparation that often discourage people from creating homemade food, whether it's in a home kitchen or a restaurant," Foodini co-founder Lynette Kucsma said.
What's the price of loss of trust? We will find out in 2014 as the after-effects of the revelations about the spying campaigns on the world's internet and cellphone networks become apparent.The financial costs are already mounting. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington DC think tank, reckons US firms could lose $35 billion in sales in the next two years because of fears over snooping by the US National Security Agency (NSA).
The notion that hallucinogenic drugs played a significant part in the development of religion has been extensively discussed, particularly since the middle of the twentieth century. Various ideas of this type have been collected into what has become known as the entheogen theory.
The US state of Colorado is making history by becoming the first to allow stores to sell cannabis.As many as 30 stores around the state are expected to start selling the drug for recreational purposes from 1 January, dubbed Green Wednesday.
The Great Wall of China, built more than 2,000 years ago, stands as one of the monumental feats of ancient engineering. Stretching thousands of miles, it protected the newly unified country from foreign invaders.But before the Great Wall, warring Chinese dynasties built many other walls for protection. An American archaeologist recently began surveying one of the biggest.Gary Feinman, who is with the Field Museum of Chicago, didn't set out to excavate what he now calls "the first Great Wall."
Meet the tobacco hornworm, a caterpillar that regularly eats tobacco leaves loaded with nicotine. Research now shows this little bugger has a strange and unique defense against hungry spiders: It "puffs out" nicotine, creating a kind of toxic bad breath.
Her T-shirted charges trailing behind her, the young guide swept into Huang Puxin's home and flicked her tour flag towards the centenarian, who was waiting on the sofa beneath a giant bas-relief inscribed with the word "longevity". "The old man is 113," she mumbled into her headset, turning away.
Close your eyes and imagine the last time you fell in love. Maybe you were walking next to your sweetheart in a park or staring into each other's eyes over a latte.Where did you feel the love? Perhaps you got "butterflies in your stomach" or you're heart raced with excitement.
An extensive study into the financial networks that support groups denying the science behind climate change and opposing political action has found a vast, secretive web of think tanks and industry associations, bankrolled by conservative billionaires.
A new analysis of wind-driven Atlantic currents may help scientists solve a mysterious decline in eel numbers.These secretive creatures are born in the Sargasso sea but migrate to Europe where they spend most of their lives.
Colorado will begin allowing recreational marijuana sales on January 1 to anyone age 21 or over.Residents will be able to buy marijuana like alcohol -- except the cannabis purchase is limited to an ounce, which is substantial enough to cost about $200 or more.
Veterans who smoke marijuana to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder may be onto something. There's growing evidence that pot can affect brain circuits involved in PTSD.Experiments in animals show that tetrahydrocannabinol, the chemical that gives marijuana its feel-good qualities, acts on a system in the brain that is "critical for fear and anxiety modulation".
A growing number of cosmologists agree with Greene that we are but one of many universes and at least one of these other worlds lies close to ours, maybe only a millimeter away. We can't see this world, because it exists in a type of space different from the four dimensions of our everyday reality.
Researchers at the Universities of York and Glasgow have managed to successfully extract identifiable images of bystanders from reflections in subject's eyes.The technology, which is limited to high-resolution photos, showed promise in a series of tests where participants were asked to identify people from these images.
The sun has "flipped upside down", with its north and south poles reversed to reach the midpoint of Solar Cycle 24, Nasa has said.Now, the magnetic fields will once again started moving in opposite directions to begin the completion of the 22 year long process which will culminate in the poles switching once again.
Following nearly three years of paperwork, Egypt has succeeded to prove its rightful ownership of a collection of Ancient Egyptian artefacts stolen and illegally smuggled out of the country.The artefacts, currently in custody at the United States Department of Homeland Security, are due to return to Egypt next week.
There's more than 1,000 years separating these two conquerors. The difference a millennium makes is:Steel
We're still a far ways off from the kind of memory erasure portrayed in the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but a recent experiment has just taken us one step closer. By using electroconvulsive therapy on depressed patients, scientists were able to disrupt their ability to recall emotionally jarring events.
Sharks in Western Australia swimming close to popular beaches are using Twitter to send warning messages to surfers and swimmers.The unique project means beach goers can make an informed decision about whether to go in the water knowing a shark is nearby.
For weary air travelers, the beauty of arriving in the late evening is getting to catch a glimpse of city lights as the aircraft descends quietly into the lively hub of illumination below.But for Chintan Shah, this unceasing glow, a hallmark of modern-day human settlements, registers much more profoundly.
Deforestation in the Amazon rain forest is only weakly prevented by law and law enforcement. The rest is covered by outside organizations, empowered local tribes, and a dose of vigilante justice, National Geographic reported.The decline of the Amazon began in the 1980s and hit its peak in 2004 largely because of the logging industry and the infrastructure behind it.
The case for exploiting animals for food, clothing and entertainment often relies on our superior intelligence, language and self-awareness: the rights of the superior being trump those of the inferior. A poignant counterargument is Mark Devries's Speciesism: The Movie, which I saw at the premiere in September 2013. The animal advocates who filled the Los Angeles theater cheered wildly for Princeton University ethicist Peter Singer.
Being pulled into the world of a gripping novel can trigger actual, measurable changes in the brain that linger for at least five days after reading, scientists have said.The new research, carried out at Emory University in the US, found that reading a good book may cause heightened connectivity in the brain and neurological changes that persist in a similar way to muscle memory.
About three-quarters of Americans believe in the Virgin Birth, according to a recent Pew survey.That's not surprising, experts say.Belief in Jesus' immaculate conception isn't such a leap once you accept the possibility of miracles and the supernatural. And from a cognitive perspective, the human brain is primed for a belief in God and the supernatural.
The Met Office is to begin offering daily forecasts about the weather in space.The 24 hour service will aim to help businesses and government departments by providing early warnings of solar storms that can disrupt satellites, radio communications and power grids.The first forecast is expected to be available next spring.
Famous for teasing out the effects of nature and nurture, studies comparing twins are a hallmark of research in many fields, including psychology, biology and medicine. Now NASA is preparing to run the first twin study in space, comparing how identical twin astronauts fare while one spends a year in orbit and the other remains on the ground.
The Ministry of State for Antiquities (MSA) announced a state of emergency at all archaeological sites and museums in Egypt starting Thursday, in order to deal with the possibility of terrorist attacks and sabotage by Muslim Brotherhood members, after the group was designated a terrorist organisation by the government.Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim asked Major General Mumtaz Fathi, director of the general administration of the Tourism and Antiquities Police, to take all required measures to tighten security at Egyptian heritage sites.
Move over cultured pearls: Scientists have successfully grown liquid crystal flowers with grains of sand. These structures resemble insect eyes and could be used as complex lenses.The researchers working on new nanotech dream of a day when all the complex, tiny parts can just manufacture themselves. Getting that to actually happen is called directed assembly, and a team from the University of Pennsylvania recently made a sweet step forward.
The megalithic city of Nan Madol lies on the eastern shore of the island of Pohnpei in Micronesia acting as a ritual and ceremonial centre for the ruling chiefs of the Saudeleur Dynasty. However, this architectural marvel is not yet well known, even although the 1000 year old ruins are a testament to ancient engineering achievements.Excavations at the site show that there may have been occupation on the coral reef as early as 200 BCE.
Nineteen kilometers from San Juan de los Lagos, where the second most frequented sanctuary in Mexico is located, archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), unravel a piece of pre-Hispanic past which is today known as Los Altos de Jalisco, by the excavation of an ancient ceremonial center known as Teocaltitan.At least 23 architectonic structures that were built 1500 years ago, between 450 and 900 AD, are distributed in the 20 acres that make up the highest part of the Teocaltitan hill.
Archaeologists in Cusco announced a new discovery this week: an Inca canal where servants used to get water for the head of the empire during the Inti Raymi celebration. Pictures of the canal were published by newspaper El Comercio.The canal was uncovered in the Sacsayhuaman archaeological complex, above the city of Cusco. Two months ago, archaeologists began to excavate an area near the Calispuquio sector of Sacsayhuaman when they noticed water filtering through the ground. What they uncovered was a 16-meter long canal...
A July NASA report on the Super Ball Bot said that lightweight and low-cost missions will become increasingly important to NASA's exploration goals. Current robot designs call for a combination of devices such as parachutes, retrorockets and impact balloons to minimize impact forces and to place a robot in a proper orientation. Is there a different model one can consider for future explorations to accommodate NASA goals? A detailed report in IEEE Spectrum looks at a team at NASA Ames Research Center...
All living organisms are tips of an evolutionary tree that emerged over 3.5 billion years from a single common ancestor. Research in the Department of Bionanoscience at Delft University of Technology has provided the first experimental demonstration that the rate at which this tree branches depends on the ecological versatility of the ancestors. The study was published in the scientific journal PNAS.One important mechanism by which the evolutionary tree of life branches into new species is adaptive radiation: rapid evolution of different species from a single common ancestor.
One of the biggest questions in science is how life arose from the chemical soup that existed on early Earth. One theory is that RNA, a close relative of DNA, was the first genetic molecule to arise around 4 billion years ago, but in a primitive form that later evolved into the RNA and DNA molecules that we have in life today. New research shows one way this chain of events might have started.Today, genetic information is stored in DNA. RNA is created from DNA to put that information into action.
Asteroids (or comets) whose orbits bring them close to the earth's orbit are called near Earth objects. Some of them are old, dating from the origins of the solar system about four and one-half billion years ago, and expected to be rich in primitive materials. They are of great interest to scientists studying the young solar system. Others, of lower scientific priority, are thought to contain minerals of potential economic value.NASA has announced its interest in sending a manned mission to a near Earth object.
Traces of ancient vineyards that date back 1,000 years were discovered in the terraced fields of a medieval village in Spain, according to a new archaeological study.Researchers from the University of the Basque Country found evidence that fields within the medieval settlement of Zaballa were once intensely used to grow grape vines."Archaeo-botanical studies of seed remains found in the excavations and pollen studies have provided material evidence of the existence of vine cultivation in a relatively early period like the 10th century,"...
The existence of a mysterious ancient human lineage and the possibility that the earliest humans were actually all one species were among the human-evolution-related discoveries of 2013. Other breakthroughs include the sequencing of the oldest human DNA yet.Here's a look at what scientists learned about humanity and human origins this year:
A team of Israeli scientists have reported the discovery of a hominin (early human) occupation site near Nesher Ramla, Israel. The site, according to archaeologist Yossi Zaidner of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa and colleagues, presents evidence for human occupation or use during Middle Paleolithic times (about 300,000 to 40 - 50,000 years ago).
A group of scientists from South China Agricultural University have developed piglets that glow green under black fluorescent lights. The technique was developed by scientists at the University of Hawaii Manoa School of Medicine and has already been used to make glow-in-the-dark bunnies, the Huffington Post reports.To make the pigs glow, the scientists injected jellyfish DNA into them when they were mere embryos.
When European explorers were planting their flags all over North and South America, they referred to the territory as the "New World." That was a misnomer. For while the Americas might have been "new" to the Europeans, they weren't new on the world timeline.Things were happening in the Western Hemisphere a long, long time ago, as the sites on this list (a very small sampling) demonstrate.
This holiday season, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured some spectacular images of Saturn and two of its most fascinating moons, Titan and Enceladus. Assembled by Cassini's imaging team, these pictures show a bit more about the three bodies.Two views of Enceladus are included in the series of images. These views highlight the many fissures, fractures and ridges that decorate the moon's icy surface. Enceladus itself looks like a white, glittering snowball in the depths of space...
One of the biggest questions in science is how life arose from the chemical soup that existed on early Earth. One theory is that RNA, a close relative of DNA, was the first genetic molecule to arise around 4 billion years ago, but in a primitive form that later evolved into the RNA and DNA molecules that we have in life today.
Researchers at the University of Maryland Greene Cancer Center and the John Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center found that the sensation of skin pricks used to simulate genuine acupuncture needle sticks, sham treatments, might be enough to generate natural chemicals that improve symptoms linked to aromatase inhibitors (AI), drugs used to treat breast cancer.
One of the greatest promises of 3-D printing is that we'll one day be able to print organs on-demand. Need a new liver? There it is, at the push of a button.Anticipating that future, scientists from the University of Wollongong in Australia have created the BioPen, a tool that lets physicians more or less draw new bones on people through 3-D printing.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is on a mission to improve human sanitation, particularly in areas of the world that don't have a reliable water supply. Much of that effort is about reinventing the toilet but the foundation has also challenged scientists to find ways to turn human waste into something useful.
Reaching for Froot Loops and grabbing Lego pieces to build a tower are different challenges for toddlers. Depending on what they're trying to do, tots tend to develop handedness for different tasks at different ages, according to new research.
Getting excited, as opposed to remaining calm, can improve people's performance during anxiety-inducing activities such as public speaking and math tests, the Times of India reported.Researchers at Harvard University found that simple statements about excitement could improve performance during activities that triggered anxiety.
A new way of assembling things, called metamaterials, may in the not too distant future help to protect a building from earthquakes by bending seismic waves around it. Similarly, tsunami waves could be bent around towns, and soundwaves bent around a room to make it soundproof.
Elf advocates in Iceland have joined forces with environmentalists to urge authorities to abandon a highway project that they claim will disturb elf habitat, including an elf church.The project has been halted until the supreme court of Iceland rules on a case brought by a group known as Friends of Lava, who cite both the environmental impact and the detrimental effect on elf culture of the road project.
During the third millennium BCE, the Indus Civilisation flourished in what is now northwest India and Pakistan. Between 2200-1900 BCE the culture was characterised by long-distance exchange networks, carefully planned urban settlements such as Harappa and Mohenjo Daro that had sophisticated sanitation facilities, standardised weights and measures, and a sphere of influence that extended over a million square kilometres of territory.
A gene variant that seems to increase the risk of diabetes in Latin Americans appears to have been inherited from Neanderthals, a study suggests.We now know that modern humans interbred with a population of Neanderthals shortly after leaving Africa 60,000-70,000 years ago.
Christmas, in the religious sense at least, centers on one basic tenet of Christian belief: that Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born to a virgin mother.A recent Pew poll found that about three-quarters of Americans believe in the Virgin Birth. But stories of miraculous conception aren't unique to Christianity.
More than most years, 2013 might be remembered for some ominous predictions of doom for the earth and its inhabitants.The threat of solar storms received much attention from prognosticators, as did abrupt climate change -- the earth's atmosphere passed the 400 parts per million in carbon dioxide mark in 2013. Also, life extension became part of the tech discussion in 2013 and promises to become more of one in the years ahead.
An astronaut who was aboard the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon is marking the mission's 45th anniversary in front of a piece of the actual spacecraft.Retired Captain James Lovell Jr. re-enacted the Apollo 8's live Christmas Eve broadcast from 1968. During that broadcast, astronauts read verses of Genesis from the Bible.On Monday, Lovell and several high school students took turns reading in front of an Apollo 8 module that's housed at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.
About 2,000 years ago in the eastern Mediterranean, certain magi were said to have observed the rising of a star to which they attached portentous significance. Those wise men must have been paying close attention to the night sky to have noticed a new star among the 3,000 or so visible each night.About the same time in the Ohio Valley, the indigenous American Indians must have had their own magi carefully observing the heavens because they aligned their most magnificent earthen monuments to the rising and setting of the sun and moon.
A team of scientists has determined that the pattern displayed by human hunter-gatherers to forage for food is the very same for as for disparate organisms, like sharks and honeybees. The researchers studied the Hadza people of Tanzania, a culture that still hunts big game, tracking the hunter-gatherers' movements with GPS-fitted wristwatches. The primary discernable hunting behavior of the Hazda is called a Lévy walk, a fundamental movement pattern across species characterized by a series of short treks in a particular area followed by larger sojourn...
Would you believe that a broad range of human struggles can be understood by using a mathematical formula? From child-parent struggles to cyber-attacks and civil unrest, they can all be explained with a simple mathematical expression called a "power-law."In a sort of unified theory of human conflict, scientists have found a way to mathematically describe the severity and timing of human confrontations that affect us personally and as a society.
For those that love heretical Egyptology, mixed with the fascinating subject of archaeoastronomy (wait, that might be all of you!), a new book from an old friend is definitely worth a read: Ancient Egyptian Sky Lore: Rethinking the Conventional Wisdom, by Joanne Conman, is about an entrenched misunderstanding in the orthodox view of ancient Egyptian astronomy and art.
A cave discovered near the source of the deadly earthquake-triggered tsunami that hit Indonesia on Dec. 26, 2004, contains the footprints of past ancient tsunamis dating back 7,500 years. This rare natural record will help scientists better understand the nature and frequency of these massively destructive waves.
Mathematician Alan Turing, who helped Britain win World War Two by cracking Nazi Germany's "unbreakable" Enigma code, was granted a rare royal pardon on Tuesday for a criminal conviction for homosexuality that led to his suicide.
The idea of a "primordial soup," in which life theoretically began in lakes and oceans, may be way off.New studies suggest the beginnings of life on this planet could have occurred deep underground, the Independent reports.
If Jules Verne were alive, he'd raise a toast. In a twist on his notion to journey to the centre of the Earth, a proposed spacecraft may get to visit the core of a proto-planet that was long ago stripped of its rocky outsides and cast adrift in the solar system.Asteroid 16 Psyche was discovered in 1852, but it was not until the 1980s that it was recognised as an oddball. Radar observations made from Earth revealed that Psyche is about 200 kilometres across and is made of 90 per cent iron and nickel, with 10 per cent silicate rock.
A new study suggests the existence of a state of mind called dysanaesthesia, which is neither consciousness nor unconsciousness.With anesthetics properly given, very few patients wake up during surgery. However, new findings point to the possibility of a state of mind in which a patient is neither fully conscious nor unconscious, experts say.
An analysis of a Neanderthal's fossilised hyoid bone - a horseshoe-shaped structure in the neck - suggests the species had the ability to speak.This has been suspected since the 1989 discovery of a Neanderthal hyoid that looks just like a modern human's.
The most complete sequence to date of the Neanderthal genome, using DNA extracted from a woman's toe bone that dates back 50,000 years, reveals a long history of interbreeding among at least four different types of early humans living in Europe and Asia at that time, according to University of California, Berkeley, scientists.
They bestrode the earth millions of years ago before dying out, but dinosaurs could theoretically be brought back to life, according to an Oxford biochemist.Dr Alison Woollard said it would be theoretically possible to recreate ancient animals, through the DNA of birds.
Using the microphones and speakers that come standard in many of today's laptop computers and mobile devices, hackers can secretly transmit and receive data using high-frequency audio signals that are mostly inaudible to human ears, a new study shows.
The public's fascination with outer space travel has just beamed up a notch in what some might call a morbid manner.A new startup company called Elysium Space is taking orders to send your cremated remains (or those of any dearly departed) into Earth orbit for just under $2,000.
The bone-dry desert of present-day Mars may seem like the last place you would look for water, but the Red Planet actually contains a wealth of water locked up in ice.Evidence that Mars once supported liquid water has been mounting for years, and exploratory missions have found that water ice still exists on the planet's poles and just beneath its dusty surface.
Bonobos have a reputation among the great apes as "hippie chimps," and new research hints that high levels of a key thyroid hormone may play a role in keeping the animals' aggression in check.Found in the lowland forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, bonobos (Pan troglodytes) are closely related to chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) but the two diverge in behavior.
The newly sequenced genome of the Amborella plant addresses Darwin's "abominable mystery" -- the question of why flowers suddenly proliferated on Earth millions of years ago. The genome sequence sheds new light on a major event in the history of life on Earth: the origin of flowering plants, including all major food crop species.
William Walker and his wife, Mi Chong, wanted to join what's seen as a solar revolution in Hawaii. Shortly after buying their Oahu home earlier this year, they plunked down $35,000 for a rooftop photovoltaic system.The couple looked forward to joining neighbors who had added panels, to cutting their $250 monthly power bills and to knowing they were helping the environment.