Newsdesk Archive
Many once thought that mushrooms spread by passively dropping their spores, after which the reproductive packets would hopefully get picked up by a gust of wind, and carried thither and yon.But new research shows mushrooms take a more active role in spreading their seed: They "make wind" to carry their spores about, said UCLA researcher Marcus Roper.Mushrooms create air flow by allowing their moisture to evaporate. "A mushroom is essentially doing less than nothing to protect its water from evaporating off,"
Researchers have found a way to repair gaps in nanowires that are too small for even the tiniest tools. These nanotubes are made from carbon, and are only about one atom thick, a University of Illinois news release reported.Researchers are looking to use to miniscule devices as transistors as a replacement for silicon because they are easier to transport onto substrates like plastic sheets to create more economical electronics.Carbon nanotubes are naturally "high-quality conductors"...
A $500 "nano-camera" that can operate at the speed of light has been developed by researchers in the MIT Media Lab.The three-dimensional camera, which was presented last week at Siggraph Asia in Hong Kong, could be used in medical imaging and collision-avoidance detectors for cars, and to improve the accuracy of motion tracking and gesture-recognition devices used in interactive gaming.The camera is based on "Time of Flight" technology like that used in Microsoft's recently launched second-generation Kinect device...
Egypt's ministry of antiquities has decided to impose penalties on two German amateur archaeologists who stole samples of King Khufu's cartouche from a small compartment above his burial chamber in the great pyramid.During a meeting Sunday, the Permanent Committee of the Ministry of the State of Antiquities (MSA) condemned such action and described it as a great violation of Egypt's ancient heritage, and the great pyramid in particular - the only surviving monument of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
Protesters in Shropshire say housing for 'affluent commuters and rich retirees' will ruin a site of national importance and set back archaeological researchOld Oswestry is one of Europe's best preserved iron age hill forts, a site that has existed for more than 3,000 years and can be seen for miles around.
Scientists have discovered the remains of a group of Neanderthals in northern Spain who were butchered and eaten by a group of local cannibals, according to research presented at the Royal Society in London.A cache of bones which had clearly been cracked open using tools has been analysed in a painstaking study over the past 13 years.
Ancient Canaanites knew how to have a good time. They were fond of wine bursting with the flavors of mint, honey and psychotropic resins, new archaeological evidence reveals. They stored up to 2,000 liters of that good stuff at a time in a massive wine cellar recently unearthed in northern Israel, researchers reported today at the annual meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research.
One of the smallest parts of the brain is getting a second look after new research suggests it plays a crucial role in decision making.A University of British Columbia study published today in Nature Neuroscience says the lateral habenula, a region of the brain linked to depression and avoidance behaviours, has been largely misunderstood and may be integral in cost-benefit decisions.
Many owl species have developed specialized plumage to effectively eliminate the aerodynamic noise from their wings -- allowing them to hunt and capture their prey in silence.A research group working to solve the mystery of exactly how owls achieve this acoustic stealth... may one day help bring "silent owl technology" to the design of aircraft, wind turbines, and submarines.
Even if carbon dioxide emissions came to a sudden halt, the carbon dioxide already in Earth's atmosphere could continue to warm our planet for hundreds of years, according to Princeton University-led research published in the journal Nature Climate Change. The study suggests that it might take a lot less carbon than previously thought to reach the global temperature scientists deem unsafe.
Much like the Grand Canyon, Nanedi Valles snakes across the Martian surface suggesting that liquid water once crossed the landscape, according to a team of researchers who believe that molecular hydrogen made it warm enough for water to flow.
Barn owl nestlings recognise their siblings' calls, according to researchers.Instead of competing aggressively for food, young barn owls are known to negotiate by calling out.
Lying just two metres above sea level at its highest points, the island nation of Kiribati is the poster child for climate change, with predictions that many of the 32 islands in the group could be lost to the sea in the next 50 years.But what is it really like? Julian Siddle from BBC Science reports from South Tarawa, Kiribati's main island.
Eating the coagulated lactations of other animals is one of humanity's stranger habits, but rest assured that cheese derived from cow's, goat's, and sheep's milk has nothing on this. Selfmade is a synthetic biology exhibition that hosts a number of cheeses crafted from cells collected from human bodies
Former Egyptian Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass has revealed new secrets about the young Pharaoh Tutankhamun (1354-1345 BC), including that he suffered from a disability in his foot, because his parents were brother and sister.
Rocket scientists who have plotted a course for a human mission to the largest known asteroid, Ceres, say that such a voyage may not be much more challenging than sending people to Mars, according to a new study.Research investigating human missions to asteroids blasted off in 2010, when President Obama proposed a human mission to an asteroid by 2025. NASA's Asteroid Initiative plans to use a robotic spacecraft to tow an asteroid to a stable orbit just beyond the moon, which would enable astronauts to visit the space rock as soon as 2021.
The flies, created by the same company that has tested genetically modified mosquitos, are designed to crash local populations of the pest.A company involved in creating genetically modified mosquitos has another project nearing outdoor testing. The U.K.-based Oxitec has applied to release genetically modified olive fruit flies under netted olive trees in Spain, the BBC reports. The flies are a major pest to olive crops.
Around 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period, there was a mass extinction so severe that it remains the most traumatic known species die-off in Earth's history. Some researchers have suggested that this extinction was triggered by contemporaneous volcanic eruptions in Siberia. New results from a team including Director of Carnegie's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism Linda Elkins-Tanton show that the atmospheric effects of these eruptions could have been devastating. Their work is published in Geology.
Scientists in Spain have received funding to test whether an extinct mountain goat can be cloned from preserved cells.The bucardo became extinct in 2000, but cells from the last animal were frozen in liquid nitrogen.
When did people get to the Americas? The answer remains a subject of fiery debate.Most scientists agree that humans began arriving in the Americas between 13,000 and 15,000 years ago, and the Clovis people of North and Central America are generally considered the "first Americans.".
Spanish excavations in Can Sadurní cave (Begues, Barcelona) have discovered four human skeletons dated to about 6,400 years ago. The skeletal remains of the individuals are particularly important as they are in a very good state of preservation.An archaeological campaign carried out previously identified other individuals which were not so well preserved but belong to the same stratigraphic layer.
It may look like a banana, but this curved device is actually thought to be the world's oldest pocket calendar.Archaeologists found the calendar in Serbia and believe the moon-shaped device is around 8,000 years old.It is made from the tusk of a wild boar and is marked with engravings thought to denote a lunar cycle of 28 days, as well as the four phases of the moon.
Ever get that feeling you're being watched? Well, if you're a dog-owner, you may have a point. Dogs are able to watch people's interactions with one another to determine who holds yummier treats, according to a new study.This study joins others that show dogs are keen observers of human behaviors and emotions. It offers evidence dogs use information not only from people's direct interactions with them, but also their interactions with one another, a notion that's more controversial.
For decades, scientists have been searching for ghostly neutrino particles from outer space, and now they have finally found them.Using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica, researchers found the first evidence of neutrinos from outside the solar system since 1987. The findings open the door for a new era of astronomy that could reveal secrets of the strangest phenomena in the universe, scientists say.
What's a virus to do when it finds itself in an inhospitable environment such as hot water? Coating itself in glass seems to not only provide protection, but may also make it easier to jump to a more favorable location to spread.Researchers led by a group from the Center for Life in Extreme Environments at Portland State University recently coated four different virus types in silica, a glassy substance found in certain types of hot springs.
It looks like our ancestors from the Bronze Age were way bigger lushes than we had ever realized.Archaeologists have discovered a personal wine cellar in a palace that dates back to 1700 B.C. It's the oldest cellar known, and the personal stash was massive.
An ongoing excavation in Israel has uncovered new evidence of an ancient city buried beneath the King Solomon-era metropolis of Gezer.An international group of archaeologists has been working together for several years on the dig, located between modern-day Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, according to a statement released by the Israel antiquities Authority (IAA).
Homo neanderthalensis is a hominin that most of you would be familiar with. Palaeoanthropologists are busy, repairing the tarnished reputation of this once dominant creature.It was arguably the best equipped species of human to tackle the harsh environmental conditions of most of west Eurasia for nearly 400,000 years. It used the Mousterian stone tool industry to cope with the tundra conditions.
Billionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson announced on CNBC's "Squawk Box" Friday that his commercial space flight venture will accept bitcoin as payment. He called it "a new exciting currency."Virgin Galactic accepted its first purchase with bitcoin from a flight attendant in Hawaii.
Two hundred years ago, no-one knew aluminium existed. Today it is everywhere - in cans, window frames, packaging, even car bodies. New uses for it are constantly being discovered - but it's possible that one day we'll be able to stop mining the ore, and rely completely on recycling.
If we're lucky, then in just a few days time we could witness one of the most spectacular sights in the night sky for a generation or more.Astronomers hope that on 3 December a comet will appear on the eastern horizon - Comet Ison.Related: Chunks of Ice May Have Broken Off Comet ISON
A massive comsic blast, the rare birth of a black hole in the constellation Leo, labeled GRB 130427A by astrophysicists, is testing some long-held assumptions about the nature of the universe. Scientists recorded energy levels for gamma rays that are higher than what some researchers thought theoretically possible. This revelation may require physicists to modify existing theories about radiation.
As if out of a science fiction movie, the European Space Agency (ESA) will launch satellites to diagnose why the Earth's magnetic field is apparently growing weak because, without it, human life would not be possible, Reuters reported.The satellite launch was part of the ESA's Swarm project and they have already taken off from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Swarm will collect data on the mysterious magnetic field that shields the Earth from what would be deadly solar rays.
A trio of researchers from The Open University and the University of Central Lancashire in the U.K., has confirmed that a ring of dust surrounds the sun in the orbit of Venus. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team describes how they used data from NASA's twin STEREO probes to confirm the existence of the dust ring.
Lachlan Connors was playing lacrosse in the sixth grade when he hit his head on the ground and sustained a concussion. Although he began to display "concerning behaviors," he was allowed to return to sports. Soon after, another concussion sent him to the hospital for weeks and Connors began suffering from epileptic seizures and mini-hallucinations.
Unlike humans and most other mammals, birds can see ultraviolet light. But not all avian eyes are created equal, according to new research. Apparently, birds with smaller eyes are better able to perceive the UV spectrum.Many animals can see ultraviolet light, including some amphibians, reptiles and fish. Even a few select mammals can see UV light, such as rats, bats and, surprisingly, reindeer. In general, this ability helps animals attract mates, find food and detect predators.
A new study from Western University's Advanced Facility for Avian Research (AFAR) proves through experimentation that birds can predict changes in the weather by reading the rise and fall of barometric pressure.AFAR houses the world's first hypobaric climatic wind tunnel for bird flight, which allows research into the physiology and aerodynamics of bird flight in high altitude conditions.
Great tits use different alarm calls for different predators, according to a scientist in Japan.The researcher analysed the birds' calls and found they made "jar" sounds for snakes and "chicka" sounds for crows and martens.This, he says, is the first demonstration birds can communicate vocally about the type of predator threatening them.
The size of the average American home has more than doubled since the 1950s, but just how big does a home need to be?A Boulder, Colo., couple decided to put that question to the test when they started building their very tiny home -- 124 sq. ft. to be exact -- back in 2011. With no building experience, but with open hearts and minds, Christopher Smith and Merete Mueller started to build their dream home. They documented their surprising journey in a new film called "TINY: A Story About Living Small," which premieres on Al Jazeera America this Sunday.
The water was around 1.1 miles deep and preserved by a 56-mile wide crater formed 35 million years ago when an asteroid landed in the bay. On its way to the bottom, the space rock spurred tsunamis that may have spread to the Blue Ridge Mountains, 100 miles of sea away.
As U.N. climate talks continue in Warsaw, soon a flying, insect-like robot developed by scientists at Wake Forest University will give an unprecedented look at Peru's tropical cloud forest, one of the world's most biodiverse ecosystems and a key indicator of global climate change.
People with autism experience a more extreme version of the world than the rest of us. For more than 90%, sounds are louder, colors are brighter, and touch can be a disturbing intrusion. The reason, according to a new study, may be that many autistic people also have synesthesia, a condition of intertwined perception in which one sense stimulates another.
Pain relievers found in many medicine cabinets may help prevent some of the learning and memory problems often experienced by people who regularly use medical marijuana, a new study suggests.
Graphene, the thinnest, strongest material known, was first isolated at the University of Manchester in 2004.Safer condoms will be one of the first products developed at the new National Graphene Institute in Manchester.
A single layer of tin atoms could be the world's first material to conduct electricity with 100 percent efficiency at the temperatures that computer chips operate, according to a team of theoretical physicists led by researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University.
Astrophysicists using a telescope embedded in Antarctic ice have succeeded in a quest to detect and record the mysterious phenomena known as cosmic neutrinos -- nearly massless particles that stream to Earth at the speed of light from outside our solar system, striking the surface in a burst of energy that can be as powerful as a baseball pitcher's fastball.
A spacecraft designed to dive deep into the upper atmosphere of Mars and find out what happened to the planet's water took off from Cape Canaveral on Monday, in Nasa's most ambitious attempt yet to understand the causes of dramatic climate change on our planetary neighbour.Related: How habitable is Mars? A new view of the Viking experiments
Mining in space is moving from science fiction to commercial reality but metals magnates on this planet need not fear a mountain of extraterrestrial supply - the aim is to fuel human voyages deeper into the galaxy.Within three years, two firms plan prospecting missions to passing asteroids.
The Lycurgus Cup, a 4th century cup held by the British Museum in London, is made of glass which changes colour from red to green depending on whether light is shining through the Cup or reflected off it. It gets this property from gold and silver nanoparticles embedded in the glass."The Lycurgus Cup is a beautiful artefact which, by accident, makes use of the exciting properties of nanoparticles for decorative effect".
Birds are related to T. rex, one of the largest predators ever to stalk the Earth, so why are they so puny by comparison, even the birds that don't fly? It's all about balance, apparently.Theropod dinosaurs, the ancestor of birds, walked with their legs vertical using their tail for balance. As their descendents evolved to fly, their heavy tails became a liability and shrank to a stub.
An enormous carnivorous dinosaur that once roamed North America kept Tyrannosaurus rex from achieving its potential for millions of years, a new discovery suggests.The new dinosaur, dubbed Siats meekerorum, is part of a group of giant predators known as carcharodontosaurs, and it's only the second of this group to be discovered in North America. North Carolina State University paleontologist Lindsay Zanno discovered the Siats bones eroding out of a hillside in Utah in 2008.
The DNA gleaned from two ancient Siberian skeletons is related to that of modern-day Native Americans and western Eurasians, new research suggests.The genetic material from the ancient Siberians provides additional evidence that the ancestors of Native Americans made the arduous trek from Siberia across the Bering Strait into the Americas.But it also reveals there were multiple waves of migrations in Asia around this time, said Mark Hubbe, a biological anthropologist at The Ohio State University who was not involved in the study.
A winner of the coveted red dot awards for design concept in 2013, Sign Language Ring is a device that detects sign language motion and "translates" that to voice by emitting audio through a speaker.Comprising a bracelet and set of detachable rings worn on select fingers, Sign Language Ring was inspired by Buddhist prayer beads, according to its six designers from Asia University. The wearable device can also translate voice to text, transcribing spoken language picked up by a microphone into text that's displayed on the bracelet's screen.
No space probe has ever returned a sample from Mars. However, we have had a few Martian rocks delivered to Earth in the form of meteorites, which were dislodged by impacts and set adrift between worlds before crashing here. While studying Mars rocks in situ would be idea, the type of equipment we have on Earth is often impractical to ship aboard spacecraft and land on another planet. In that sense, meteorites provide a complementary way to study Mars, providing data that may be otherwise difficult to obtain.
Two tiny satellites supported by Kickstarter campaigns were kicked out into orbit from the International Space Station on Tuesday, beginning what's expected to be a months-long citizen science mission.
Some of the same doctors and researchers who have, in recent years, gotten FDA approval for breakthrough studies involving MDMA and psilocybin mushrooms are now turning their attention to ayahuasca. Preliminary work suggests the brew could help treat depression, chronic addiction, and fears of mortality. People with less-defined diagnoses but a hunger for something missing say ayahuasca offers something ineffable: compassion, connectedness, spirituality.
Humans have no exclusive claim on intelligence. Across the animal kingdom, all sorts of creatures have performed impressive intellectual feats. A bonobo named Kanzi uses an array of symbols to communicate with humans. Chaser the border collie knows the English words for more than 1,000 objects. Crows make sophisticated tools, elephants recognize themselves in the mirror, and dolphins have a rudimentary number sense.And reptiles? Well, at least they have their looks.
US engineers have created the "most waterproof material ever" - inspired by nasturtium leaves and butterfly wings.The new "super-hydrophobic" surface could keep clothes dry and stop aircraft engines icing over, they say.
Giant sloths were eaten by a population living in Uruguay 30,000 years ago, suggesting humans arrived in the Americas far earlier than previously thought, according to a new study.The discovery, along with other recent findings, strengthens the theory that people arrived in South America via ocean crossings long before humans might have walked into North America from northeastern Asia, during the end of the last glacial period around 16,000 years ago. The study was published in the latest Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Scientists at a cave site in South Africa are kicking into high gear as they continue to uncover more fossil bones of what is suspected to be an early human ancestral ("hominid") species.The location is known as the "Rising Star" Cave site in South Africa's Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, about 40 kilometers north of Johannesburg, and although it is far too soon to determine the classification and age of the fossil finds, the site could turn out to yield the richest collection of hominid fossil finds at any one site in South Africa, a country that has made history in the chronicles of human evolution research.Related: Rising Star cave produces over 200 hominin fossils
A volcanic eruption has created a new island in the sea about 620 miles south of Tokyo.If not eroded, new island 620 miles south of Tokyo could cement Japanese sovereignty in regional dispute with China.
For nearly as long as astronomers have been able to observe asteroids, a question has gone unanswered: Why do the surfaces of most asteroids appear redder than meteorites -- the remnants of asteroids that have crashed to Earth?
The sun unleashed a powerful solar flare early Tuesday, the latest in a series of intense storms this month from Earth's closest star.While the powerful solar flare was not aimed directly at Earth when it erupted, it did trigger a radio blackout at 5:26 a.m. EST, officials with NOAA-led Space Weather Prediction Center said. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory caught sight of the solar flare and captured a high-definition video of the solar eruption.
American drivers are consuming less and less fuel, following a trend of reduced car ownership and distance traveled, according to a new report by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI).The findings show that overall fuel consumption among light-duty vehicles fell 11 percent over a recent seven-year period. Light-duty vehicles consumed 123.9 billion gallons of gasoline in 2011, down from a peak of 138.8 billion gallons in 2004.
Are monkeys, like humans, able to ascertain where objects are located without much more than a sideways glance? Quite likely, says Lau Andersen of the Aarhus University in Denmark, lead author of a study conducted at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory University, published in Springer's journal Animal Cognition. The study finds that monkeys are able to localize stimuli they do not perceive.
Ancient viruses from Neanderthals have been found in modern human DNA by researchers at Oxford University and Plymouth University.The researchers compared genetic data from fossils of Neanderthals and another group of ancient human ancestors called Denisovans to data from modern-day cancer patients. They found evidence of Neanderthal and Denisovan viruses in the modern human DNA, suggesting that the viruses originated in our common ancestors more than half a million years ago.
In a further study of Neanderthal occupation at Abri du Maras, Ardèche in France, the evidence is stacking up to support the view that this group was behaviourally flexible and capable of creating a variety of sophisticated tools including projectile points and more importantly, cord and string.
In the same way that fragments of ancient pottery and bones offer valuable information about human history, music can also reveal previously hidden clues about the past, according to new research from an international team led by McMaster University psychologist Steven Brown.
Many people believe that a grid of earth energies circles the globe, connecting important and sacred sites such as Stonehenge, the Egyptian Pyramids, and the Great Wall of China.If you plot these and other sites on a map, a curious thing becomes apparent: Many of them can be connected by straight lines. Were these monuments and sacred sites specifically built at those locations by ancient people with lost knowledge of unknown earth energies especially strong along these "ley lines"?
Archaeologists digging in Turkey have found the guardians of the "Gate to Hell" -- two unique marble statues which once warned of a deadly cave in the ancient Phrygian city of Hierapolis, near Pamukkale.Known as Pluto's Gate -- Ploutonion in Greek, Plutonium in Latin -- the cave was celebrated as the portal to the underworld in Greco-Roman mythology and tradition. It was discovered in March by a team led by Francesco D'Andria, professor of classic archaeology at the University of Salento.
Meat mummies.It's a word pairing that is, I dare say, pretty rare. Who among us has heard those two words together? What, indeed, could a "meat mummy" be?Indiana Jones, of course, would have known the answer right away. A meat mummy is a section of animal prepared as if for eating, then bandaged and placed in a sarcophagus by ancient Egyptians. Egyptian royalty, even after death, got hungry.
Human noses come in all shapes and sizes. But one feature seems to hold true: Men's noses are bigger than women's.A new study from the University of Iowa concludes that men's noses are about 10 percent larger than female noses, on average, in populations of European descent.
Diseases affecting the kidneys represent a major and unsolved health issue worldwide. The kidneys rarely recover function once they are damaged by disease, highlighting the urgent need for better knowledge of kidney development and physiology.
A "massive study" out of the U.K. has found no connection between playing videogames and bad behavior, even among young children.The Millennium Cohort Study followed approximately 11,000 children born between September 2000 and January 2002 "to explore how time watching TV and playing electronic games at age five years each predicts change in psychosocial adjustment." Does playing games cause bad behavior in children, in other words, and the authors of the study, carried out by the University of Glasgow, seemed to expect that it would.
Teachers and parents like to use board games to teach skills that range from fair play to counting. When it comes to improving early number skills, a new report by Boston College and Carnegie Mellon University researchers finds that how children count is what really counts.
Pregnant women exposed to phthalates, a group of hormone-mimicking chemicals found in personal care products and processed foods, may have an increased risk of preterm delivery, a new study suggests.
Curing insomnia in people with depression could double their chance of a full recovery, scientists are reporting. The findings, based on an insomnia treatment that uses talk therapy rather than drugs, are the first to emerge from a series of closely watched studies of sleep and depression to be released in the coming year.Related: Consistent Bed, Wake Time Linked to Healthier Weight
Solar cells offer the opportunity to harvest abundant, renewable energy. Although the highest energy light occurs in the ultraviolet and visible spectrum, most solar energy is in the infrared. There is a trade-off in harvesting this light, so that solar cells are efficient in the infrared but waste much of the energy available from the more energetic photons in the visible part of the spectrum.
I imagine you'd feel like a pretty big idiot for getting thrown in jail for a year because you shot what you thought was a deer but ended up being a robot. But, poachers take the mechanical bait all the time.
Humanity's success depends on the ability of humans to copy, and build on, the works of their predecessors. Over time, human society has accumulated technologies, skills and knowledge beyond the scope of any single individual.
How "smart" were the Neanderthals, really? The question has been at the center of scholarly debate for decades. But the findings of recent research, including archaeological investigations at a site known as Abri du Maras, near Ardèche, southeastern France, have yielded clues that may expand the known repertoir of tools and behaviors that Neanderthals used to survive in the world that existed about 74,000 years ago.
Archaeologists have unearthed traces of a previously unknown, 14th-century Canaanite city buried underneath the ruins of another city in Israel.The traces include an Egyptian amulet of Amenhotep III and several pottery vessels from the Late Bronze Age unearthed at the site of Gezer, an ancient Canaanite city.
A team of Egyptian and French archaeologists have found five heads of royal statues from the pharaonic era, officials from the antiquities ministry said on Saturday."The heads, which had crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt and were made from limestone, were discovered" south of Luxor, Antiquities Minister Mohammed Ibrahim said in a statement.
It has baffled humans for millennia: how did life begin on planet Earth? Now, new research from a Texas Tech University paleontologist suggests it may have rained from the skies and started in the bowels of hell.Sankar Chatterjee, Horn Professor of Geosciences and curator of paleontology at the Museum of Texas Tech University believes he has found the answer by connecting theories on chemical evolution with evidence related to our planet's early geology.
Mysterious cosmic rays constantly bombard Earth from outer space. Now scientists find these energetic particles could limit where life as we know it might exist on alien planets.Cosmic rays continue to baffle scientists more than a century after they were first discovered.
Scientists have now identified 1,000 planets revolving around other suns, and 12 of those might actually be able to support life. Finding another Earth within the decade is not outside the realm of possibility.For at least 2,500 years people have speculated about worlds beyond Earth capable of sustaining life. Aristotle said: No way. Epicurus said: Way. Humans have been arguing about it ever since.
Europe next week will launch a trio of hi-tech satellites to explore something that may seem utterly mundane: Earth's magnetic field.After all, magnetism has been with us for billions of years. We harness it in innumerable ways, in navigation and electrical devices. What's new?Well, plenty, actually.
It's a land of ice and fire. For the first time, an active volcano has been spotted rumbling away under the ice sheet of west Antarctica. It's further evidence that the frozen continent is anything but still. The heat from the volcano could speed up the demise of Antarctica's fragile ice sheet.Related: Could volcanoes be driving Antarctic ice loss?
Classical scholars from the Cluster of Excellence "Religion and Politics" made an unusually large find of seals in an ancient sanctuary in Turkey. They discovered more than 600 stamp seals and cylinder seals at the sacred site of the storm and weather god Jupiter Dolichenus, 100 of which in the current year alone. "Such large amounts of seal consecrations are unheard-of in any comparable sanctuary", said excavation director Prof. Dr. Engelbert Winter and archaeologist Dr. Michael Blömer at the end of the excavation season. In this respect, the finding of numerous pieces from the 7th to the 4th centuries B.C. close to the ancient city of Doliche is unparalleled.
The Wari, a complex civilization that preceded the Inca empire in pre-Columbia America, didn't rule solely by pillage, plunder and iron-fisted bureaucracy, a Dartmouth study finds. Instead, they started out by creating loosely administered colonies to expand trade, provide land for settlers and tap natural resources across much of the central Andes.The results, which appear in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, shed new light on how early states evolved into empires in the region that became the Inca imperial heartland. A PDF of the study is available on request.
Archaeologists working on the Bradford Kaims Wetland Heritage Project in north Northumberland, United Kingdom and supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage, have unearthed a series of hugely significant archaeological monuments forming a complex prehistoric landscape.
Natural selection favours those with a greater capacity to generate genetic variation.Some gamblers succeed by spiriting cards up their sleeves, giving them a wider range of hands to play. So do some bacteria, whose great capacity for genetic variability helps them evolve and adapt to rapidly changing environments.
Move over kale, there's a new superfood in town and it's here to end world hunger.The could-be hero is called breadfruit although it doesn't really seem like a fruit at all. It's large with prickly skin and tastes like a baked potato or -- you guessed it -- bread when prepared.
The roaring waters of the Congo River have the power to light up much of Africa - such is its huge hydroelectric potential.The whole project is known as Grand Inga - and if fully completed would be the world's largest hydroelectric plant with more than twice the power generation of the Three Gorges Dam in China.
A new high-resolution global map of forest loss and gain has been created with the help of Google Earth. The interactive online tool is publicly available and zooms in to a remarkably high level of local detail - a resolution of 30m.Related: Deforestation in Amazon jungle increases by nearly a third in one year
Two million native oysters have settled on man-made reefs in San Francisco Bay over the past year, marking the first major success in an effort to bring back a species ravaged by human excess, researchers said Thursday.
From replacement kidneys to guns, cars, prosthetics and works of art, 3D printing is predicted to transform our lives in the coming decades as dramatically as the Internet did before it."I have no doubt it is going to change the world," researcher James Craddock told AFP at the two-day 3D Printshow in Paris which wraps up later on Saturday.
Prototypes of Elon Musk's high-speed "Hyperloop" transit will be ready by 2015, according to the group taking over development of the project. That's just two years after Musk first described his idea to transport humans between cities in pods accelerated to near-supersonic speeds.
New research at the University of Chicago is laying the groundwork for touch-sensitive prosthetic limbs that one day could convey real-time sensory information to amputees via a direct interface with the brain.
Invisibility cloaking is no longer the stuff of science fiction: two researchers in The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering have demonstrated an effective invisibility cloak that is thin, scalable and adaptive to different types and sizes of objects.