Newsdesk Archive
Speak more than one language? Bravo! It seems that being bilingual helps delay the onset of several forms of dementia.Previous studies of people with Alzheimer's disease in Canada showed that those who are fluent in two languages begin to exhibit symptoms four to five years later than people who are monolingual.
Monkeys have been given the ability to control two virtual arms simultaneously using thought alone. The same technology might soon give people who are paralysed control of an exoskeleton that they can move with their mind.Monkeys and humans have previously controlled a single prosthetic arm using their thoughts.
About 165 million years ago, in what is now northeastern China, two insects were doing what comes naturally. Suddenly, in the middle of copulating, they were struck dead, felled by poisonous gas from a volcanic eruption.But the moment was not lost. Fortunately for science, the insects, still in the grip of what passes for passion among froghoppers, sank to the bottom of a lake where they were preserved for the ages under layers of ash and sediment.
A newly discovered "King of Gore" tyrannosaur pushes back the origins of T. rex's terrifying family tree to at least 80 million years ago, report paleontologists.Lythronax argestes (which literally means "Gore King from the Southwest") once stalked the shores of western North America in search of prey. It sported the same short snout, broad teeth, front-facing eye, and unimpressive forearms as Tyrannosaurus rex, which lived around 68 million years ago.
A few of the world's religions have a simple answer to mankind's origin: clay. Now science might actually back this up.New research from Cornell University suggests that life could have started in wet, wet clay. The study suggests that clay might have provided the perfect protective environment for life to materialize.
The search for other Earth-like planets in the galaxy got a major boost today (Nov. 4) with the discovery of hundreds of newfound alien planets identified by NASA's Kepler spacecraft, a haul that includes 104 strange, new worlds that could potentially support life.
European scientists have designed and built a disk they say could store data for a million years, potentially keeping a record of humanity long after we're gone.For centuries humans have recorded their achievements in various forms; from cave paintings and rock etching through to print and electronic media. But in the long term, all our existing methods of storage have a limited shelf life.
A robot developed by Japanese scientists is so fast it can "win" the rock-paper-scissors game against a human every single time.The Janken robot - named after the game's Japanese name - is a faster version of one unveiled by University of Tokyo researchers in June 2012.
Apart from preventing cavities and bad breath, maintaining good oral hygiene can also keep heart diseases at bay, according to a new study from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. The researchers found that good oral hygiene lowers progression of artherosclerosis (a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, and death).
The bacteria that live in your intestines are a mixed blessing. Scientists have known for decades that this so-called microbiota helps us digest our food and crowds out infectious germs. The bugs have also been implicated in allergies and obesity. Now, a new study adds one more potential malady to the list: rheumatoid arthritis.
There may be some truth to the old joke about only insects surviving an apocalypse.Down in Patagonia, thousands of miles from the site of the deadly asteroid impact in present-day Mexico that killed off the dinosaurs, most bugs easily survived one of Earth's worst mass extinctions 65 million years ago. The discovery adds to a growing body of evidence that the Cretaceous mass extinction had varied effects on species in different spots around the world.
A fossilized tomatillo, still in its papery shell, is the earliest fruit from the tomato family ever found in South America, researchers reported Oct. 30 at the Geological Society of America's annual meeting in Denver.The 52.2-million-year-old tomatillo was discovered at the fossil-rich Laguna del Hunco, Argentina, where ancient lakebeds interlayer with volcanic ashes, providing paleontologists with precisely dated discoveries. (Minerals in the ash pin down the rock ages.).
Like humans, bees avoid making difficult choices to minimise their losses, researchers have found."It's like taking a quiz game when you are given the option to pass and not take the penalty," says Dr Andrew Barron of Macquarie University, Sydney.
Extremely rare sighting raises hopes that larger mammals are more able to survive in logged areas than previously thoughtOne of the world's most elusive wild cats has been captured on camera in a heavily logged area of Borneo rainforest together with four other endangered species, suggesting that some wildlife can survive in highly disturbed forests.
Regions of Antarctica could hold 1.5-million-year-old ice that would reveal key parts of Earth's ancient climate history, new research suggests.The potential locations of the ice were described today (Nov. 5) in the journal Climate of the Past. One of those locations could allow scientists to drill miles-long sections of ice to explain why natural cycles in climate shifted about 1 million years ago.
Maine has supervolcanoes. Wait, Maine has volcanoes? Yes, and their eruptions could have been among the biggest ever on Earth, geoscientist Sheila Seaman reported Tuesday (Oct. 29) at the Geological Society of America's annual meeting."Long before there were these things called supervolcanoes, we've known about giant, big, horrific silicic volcanic eruptions," said Seaman, of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
BEIJING, Nov. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- What's instantly noticeable about the Forbidden City, which served as the home of emperors and their households for almost 500 years since the 15th century, are the enormous white stone foundations supporting the historical site's 980 wooden buildings.Alternate source: Ice proved cool way to move stones for Forbidden City, Nature.com
A collar with "almost pristine" colors that would have been worn by a mummy has been discovered in small pieces in an Egyptian tomb in Thebes and put back together again.People in ancient Egypt wore collars called "wesekhs" made of beads when they were alive.
'Godzilla' platypus, found in Australia, was at least one meter long, about twice the size of a modern day platypus. The so-called Godzilla platypus, is a new species, and is based on a single molar discovered in Queensland, Australia.About the size of a child, the largest-known platypus roamed what is now Australia as far back as 15 million years ago, according to newfound fossil remains of the giant monotreme.
A recent fossil find is renewing interest in the search for the ancient giant cephalopod known as the kraken.The idea of a kraken was originally proposed a couple of years ago at the meeting of the Geological Society of America by Mount Holyoke College palaeontologist Mark McMenamin.
Homing pigeons, like other birds, are extraordinary navigators, but how they manage to find their way back to their lofts is still debated. To navigate, birds require a 'map' (to tell them home is south, for example) and a 'compass' (to tell them where south is), with the sun and the Earth's magnetic field being the preferred compass systems.
How far into the past can ice-core records go? Scientists have now identified regions in Antarctica they say could store information about Earth's climate and greenhouse gases extending as far back as 1.5 million years, almost twice as old as the oldest ice core drilled to date.
The UK's drug laws are preventing scientists from carrying out vital research to unlock our understanding of the brain and find new treatments for conditions such as depression and Parkinson's disease, according to Professor David Nutt, a leading neuroscientist and former government drug adviser.
First came reports of earthquakes caused by hydraulic fracturing and the reinjection of water during oil and gas operations. Now US scientists are reporting tremors may have been caused by the injection of carbon dioxide during oil production.The evidence centres on a sudden burst of seismic activity around an old oil field in the Permian Basin in northwest Texas.
India has successfully launched a spacecraft to the Red Planet - with the aim of becoming the fourth space agency to reach Mars.The Mars Orbiter Mission took off at 09:08 GMT from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on the country's east coast.
DON'T be alarmed, but you have alien DNA in your genetic code. Science says so.Scientists from Kazakhstan believe that human DNA was encoded with an extraterrestrial signal by an ancient alien civilisation, Discovery.com reports.
A rare solar eclipse that began as a "ring of fire" and transformed into a spectacular total eclipse of the sun amazed skywatchers from North America to Africa today (Nov. 3), and they captured the photos to prove it.
The sun has erupted more than two dozen times over the last week, sending radiation and solar material hurtling through space - and scientists say more eruptions may be coming.This shouldn't be unusual. After all, we are technically at solar maximum, the peak of the 11-year cycle of the sun's activity.
A pair of "smart glasses" might help blind people navigate an unfamiliar environment by recognizing objects or translating signs into speech, scientists say.The majority of registered blind people have some residual ability to perceive light and motion. But assistive technologies for the visually impaired have been limited.
A wild boar which has been on the loose in Alderney for more than a month is thought to have swum there from the nearby French coast.The boar found its way into a pig farm on Friday but, when approached, escaped by jumping over a 1m (3ft) stock fence.
The stuff of rural legend, for decades apparent sightings of big cats stalking the British countryside have been dismissed as fantasy or hoax.But now, a scientist has uncovered tantalising evidence pointing towards the existence of such creatures living in the wild.
According to a new study published in the journal Palaeontology, two footprints found at Dinosaur Cove in southern Victoria are the oldest avian tracks ever discovered in Australia.
A religious center more than 3,000 years old from the pre-Incan Chavin culture has been discovered by Peruvian researchers in the Congona archaeological zone in northern Peru's Lambayeque region, archaeologist Walter Alva said Thursday.After a month of archaeological research, a specialized team from the Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum in Lambayeque - headed by Alva, who directs the museum - discovered the religious sanctuary.
Plastic bags that can stop bread and cheese from going mouldy after just a few days have been developed by scientists.The technology, which uses chemicals that prevent bacteria and fungi from growing, allows food to last for longer.
Scientists looking to create a potent blend of enzymes to transform materials like corn stalks and wood chips into fuels have developed a test that should turbocharge their efforts.The new research, published in October in the journal Molecular BioSystems, is part of a worldwide effort to create fuels from plants that are plentiful and aren't part of the food supply.
Here's the full text of the article Russell Brand kindly invited me to contribute to last week's issue of the New Statesman. The article, entitled The War on Consciousness, had to be shortened to fit the space available in the magazine, but I reproduce the complete unedited text here.
Sharks have roamed the world's seas for more than 420 million years and now scientists think they know one of the secrets of their longevity.Experts believe they have solved the riddle of why sharks survived the mass extinction that began 252 million years ago, wiping out around 80 per of all life on Earth.Fossil evidence has hinted that the fish survived the global catastrophe, known as the 'great dying' by diving deeper.
Viking graves in Norway contain a grisly tribute: slaves who were beheaded and buried along with their masters, new research suggests.In Flakstad, Norway, remains from 10 ancient people were buried in multiple graves, with two to three bodies in some graves and some bodies decapitated. Now, an analysis reveals the beheaded victims ate a very different diet from the people with whom they were buried.
The Norwegian Vikings were more oriented towards the East than we have previously assumed, says Marianne Vedeler, Associate Professor at the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo in Norway. After four years of in-depth investigation of the silk trade of the Viking Age, she may change our perceptions of the history of the Norwegian Vikings. The silk trade was far more comprehensive than we have hitherto assumed.
Coral reefs may be able to adapt to moderate climate warming, improving their chance of surviving through the end of this century, if there are large reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, according to a study funded by NOAA and researched by the agency's scientists and its academic partners. Results further suggest corals have already adapted to part of the warming that has occurred.
Mammal body size decreased significantly during at least two ancient global warming events. A new finding that suggests a similar outcome is possible in response to human-caused climate change, according to a University of Michigan paleontologist and his colleagues.
Up until a year ago, how an elephant made its guttural infrasonic calls was still a matter of debate, as Christian Herbst, from the University of Vienna, Austria, points out: 'Some people suggested it's just like in us humans, so a passive, flow-induced vibration of the tissue in the larynx, and others suggested it's like purring in cats [requiring neural control].
The mysterious relationship between Pangea integration and the biggest mass extinction happened 250 million years ago was tackled by Professor YIN Hongfu and Dr. SONG Haijun from State Key Laboratory of Geobiology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan).
Water has not flowed across Antarctica's Friis Hills for 14 million years, researchers reported Tuesday (Oct. 29) at the Geological Society of America's annual meeting in Denver.The Friis Hills rise 2,000 feet (600 meters) above Antarctica's Taylor Valley, one of the "Dry Valleys" west of McMurdo Sound. Fossils show tundra mosses and a lake once covered the flat-topped hills, when Earth's climate was warmer more than 14 million years ago.
A large pod of orcas swam around a Washington state ferry in an impressive display as it happened to be carrying tribal artifacts to a new museum at the ancestral home of Chief Seattle, and some people think it was more than a coincidence.
If there's one place in Bohol that has the perfect blend of religious significance and reality TV-worthy details, it would be the municipality of Dimiao.Dimiao is famed for its cemetery, which the National Museum has declared a National Cultural Treasure. The cemetery is known as the Ermita Ruins.
Washington: A new study suggests that mammal body size decreased significantly during at least two ancient global warming events. The new finding suggests that a similar outcome is possible in response to human-caused climate change, according to a University of Michigan paleontologist and his colleagues.Researchers have known for years that mammals such as primates and the groups that include horses and deer became much smaller during a period of warming, called the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), about 55 million years ago.
A team of researchers says it has identified a new species of humpback dolphin.Physical and genetic evidence suggests that cetaceans found in waters off northern Australia are distinct within the humpback family.Related: Japan dolphins and other sea species 'face extinction'
Scientists from Japan have harvested light energy using an exceptionally large number of light absorbers to relay photons via antennas into one final energy acceptor. This two-step sequence closely mimics natural photosynthesis, resulting in greater and more efficient energy transfer.
For the past eight years, two French researchers have been bouncing droplets around a vibrating oil bath and observing their unique behaviour. What sounds like a high-school experiment has in fact provided the first ever evidence that the strange features of the quantum world can be reproduced on a macroscopic scale.
A doomed "lava world" with a similar mass and density to that of Earth has been discovered orbiting a star 400 light-years away.Observations suggest the planet, named Kepler 78b, is composed mostly of rock and iron, much like our own planet.But its extremely close proximity to its host star - a hundredth of the distance between the Earth and the Sun - remains something of a puzzle.
The sun's activity is in free fall, according to a leading space physicist. But don't expect a little ice age. "Solar activity is declining very fast at the moment," Mike Lockwood, professor of space environmental physics at Reading University, UK, told New Scientist. "We estimate faster than at any time in the last 9300 years.".
Earthworms have long been the organic gardener's friend. They aerate soil as they burrow into the earth and release nutrients as soil passes through their digestive systems. In their tubular, segmented bodies, nutrients are transformed into a form that plants can consume. Their influence on the environment has interested scientists since Charles Darwin.So it came as a shock earlier this year when researchers reported in Nature Climate Change that earthworms contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
Researchers from ITM Power, a UK-based clean energy company, say their new blowtorch prototype produces fire using only water as fuel. The electrolyser system turns hydrogen and oxygen gases from water into fuel for the torch using electricity.
A blindfold is no match for the power of the brain. Even when shrouded in total darkness, your mind still thinks it can see your body moving, creating visual sensations of motion even when it's impossible to see, according to a new study in Psychological Science.
Syphilis has been infecting people for centuries, and many researchers have tried to pinpoint the part of the world where the bacterium that causes the disease first appeared, before spreading across the globe and becoming the international disease that it is today.
Here's the full text of the article Russell Brand kindly invited me to contribute to last week's issue of the New Statesman. The article, entitled "The War on Consciousness," had to be shortened to fit the space available in the magazine, but I reproduce the complete unedited text here.
Highly intelligent and social animals, African elephants depend on their sophisticated communication skills for survival in the wild. A recent study investigated the effects of culling and relocation on elephant decision-making and cognition decades later.
Humans have long wondered what their dogs were trying to say with their tail wags, but now scientists believe they have interpreted that form of communication.According to a press release, new research shows that a dog's brain operates similarly to a human's. Both are organized asymmetrically with right and left sides that operate differently. The researchers found that dogs can recognize and differentiate the meaning of a leftward wag and rightward wag.
The evolution of new species might not be as hard as it seems, even when diverging populations remain in contact and continue to produce offspring. That's the conclusion of studies, reported in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports on October 31st, that examine the full genome sequences of 32 Heliconius butterflies from the Central American rain forest, representing five different species.
An insect-like flying rescue robot that can bounce off trees and buildings has been revealed by its creators.Gimball has been developed to be used in situations that are hazardous to humans.The robot is designed to be able to deal with crashes, and to right itself after a collision.
In 1940 Henry Ford famously said: "Mark my word: A combination airplane and motorcar is coming. You may smile, but it will come."Just nine years later Moulton Taylor had designed and flown his Aerocar, proving the viability of Ford's fantastical concept.
Nuclear scientists are being urged by the former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix to develop thorium as a new fuel.Mr Blix says that the radioactive element may prove much safer in reactors than uranium.It is also more difficult to use thorium for the production of nuclear weapons.
One thousand years ago, on a floodplain of the Mississippi River near modern-day St. Louis, the massive Native American city known today as Cahokia sprang suddenly into existence. Three hundred years later it was virtually deserted.The reasons for Cahokia's quick emergence and precipitous decline have been among the greatest mysteries in American prehistory, but new research suggests a possible cause of the city's demise: a catastrophic flood.
Peru's economy is exploding, and so is the real estate market here. In the capital, Lima, housing has gotten so tight that it's spilled over into some of the country's archaeological sites. Those sites are supposed to be protected, but land traffickers have been selling fake titles, leading people to build homes and even entire neighborhoods on top of important ruins.
PBSFirst-born children, on average, do better in school, are less likely to have substance abuse problems and accumulate more wealth. But why? The answer may have a lot to do with a common complaint of eldest siblings.
Scientist from the University of Oxford and Churchill Hospital in the United Kingdom have discovered that women with larger than average butts are not only increasingly intelligent, but also resistant to chronic illnesses, Elite Daily reported.
At Halloween, images of witches flying across the night sky astride broomsticks are everywhere. The myth that witches could fly with the help of their broomsticks has been around for centuries, but could its origins be traced to a chemical in over-the-counter medicines found in most of our homes?.
Few names have cast more terror into the human heart than Dracula. The legendary vampire, created by author Bram Stoker for his 1897 novel of the same name, has inspired countless horror movies, television shows and other bloodcurdling tales of vampires.
New research refutes the scientific community's long-held belief that the body needs a specific protein to produce steroid hormones like testosterone, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's journal Endocrinology.
Animals are known to show consistent individual differences in behaviour, which is often referred to as them displaying 'personality'. In contrast to previous research into these predictable aspects of behaviour, this latest study has shown for the first time that some individual animals, just like humans, are consistently more un-predictable than others over time..
Restorers working on renovations for the Sforza Castle in Italy got quite a shock this week when they peeled away several coats of paint to reveal part of a Leonardo Da Vinci mural.Buried beneath 17 layers of whitewash, the portion of the drawing -- which depicts a tree root stuck in a rock -- has likely been hidden from view for at least 500 years.
Arctic reindeer can do something no other mammal can, though to be fair not many mammals can survive on the North Pole.Twelve years ago, scientists discovered the fabled sled-pullers changed their eye color depending on the season, Live Science reported.
How much does it cost to be the first person to hunt a mountain lion in Nebraska? $13,500.The state's Game and Parks Commission unanimously approved a cougar-hunting season earlier in July, and the last of 102 permits were claimed on October 16. Beginning on January 1, hunters will pursue the state's 22 big cats, to the celebration of Nebraska farmers and the dismay of wildlife conservationists.
Elephants are one of the longest-living land mammals and now it seems they could also claim the record for oldest new mothers.A Zimbabwean study has found that female African elephants can potentially remain fertile until their death as their ovaries have an adequate supply of oocytes.
American and Canadian researchers have for the first time quantified the energy cost to aquatic animals when they carry satellite tags, video cameras and other research instruments.
Endangered and iconic sea turtles have a record in their DNA pointing to loss of genetic diversity caused by recent human exploitation, a Flinders University study has revealed for the first time.
Dognition is a series of games owners play with their dogs to better understand how their dogs think. One game evaluates how well dogs navigate, and from the data, female dogs appear to be more flexible navigators than males. The findings, which are the opposite of what one would expect with human behavior , give people important insight into how dogs see the world.
When your cat sees a stranger, does he come and snuggle close or hiss and run away?Whether a feline friend is a lap cat or a claws-out kitty is largely affected by their socialization as young kittens. But at least part of cats' friendliness may be in their genes. And the widespread practice of spaying or neutering cats before they are adopted may be inadvertently selecting for aloof cats, by ensuring the friendliest animals don't reproduce, one researcher says.
An infant can recognise a lullaby heard in the womb for several months after birth, potentially supporting later speech development. This is indicated in a new study at the University of Helsinki.
Video gaming causes increases in the brain regions responsible for spatial orientation, memory formation and strategic planning as well as fine motor skills. This has been shown in a new study conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Charite University Medicine St. Hedwig-Krankenhaus.
Over a million years ago a bird the size of a "great egret or small heron" left its prints on the sands of a neighboring river bank on the coast of southern Victoria. Scientists found them and documented their findings this month in the journal Paleontolgoy, according to CNN. The tracks are the oldest ever found in Australia.
The dinosaur skull bought by actor Nicolas Cage after he outbid fellow A-lister Leonardo DiCaprio could now return to bite him where it hurts, after it is apparently part of a criminal inquiry into illegally imported fossil remains, according to the Daily Telegraph.
It wasn't easy being one of the largest dinosaurs on the planet, aside from the fact of their eventual extinction. Scientists in England and Argentina who used laser scanning and computer models to study the likely movement patterns of the 100-foot long Argentinosaurus discovered the enormous reptile was incredibly slow.
Venezuela, rich in oil, is also rich in tarpits: pools of viscous asphalt where for millions of years seeds, birds or giant mammals have got stuck and died. Rincón's main excavation site at the moment is the Mene de Inciarte, a tarpit about half a mile wide, which lies in the Sierra de Perijá mountain range on the border with Colombia.
Humanity may generate more than 11 million tons of solid waste daily by the end of this century, barring significant reductions in population growth and material consumption, according to experts.That mind-boggling large heap of trash expected by century end represents a three-fold increase in the amount of stuff people throw away today.
The hunt for dark matter just keeps getting more confusing. Today scientists released findings from the first three months of the Large Underground Xenon experiment, which looks directly for the invisible particles thought to make up dark matter.Many physicists hoped that the highly anticipated results would clear up the situation surrounding dark matter experiments, which have so far led to contradictory conclusions about the nature of the mysterious substance. Some thought that LUX might show them which way to go, narrowing the types of particles they might pursue. Instead, the experiment turned up empty.
A Brazilian court on Wednesday ordered work to resume on a dam in the Amazon, reversing a ruling that had ordered a stoppage over environmental concerns, the project consortium said.A Norte Energia statement said the president of the Federal Court in Brasilia lifted the suspension on the Belo Monte dam.
Ethiopia's green economy is booming, but most of the locals are not feeling the benefit.Last week, the country opened Africa's biggest wind farm. The Ashegoda Wind Farm will generate 120 megawatts of electricity. It came online just days after Ethiopia announced a preliminary agreement to build a 1000-megawatt geothermal facility, the largest in Africa.
Even though the California Gold Rush took place more than a century ago, it left a toxic legacy of mercury pollution that will continue to be a problem for some time, scientists say.New research shows that gold mining in the Sierra Nevada mountains between 1848 and 1884 left tons and tons of mercury-contaminated sediments in river valleys downstream, such as the Yuba River valley.
Scientists have found a way to reduce gambling-type behaviors in rats by blocking a specific dopamine receptor, signaling a potential treatment for pathological gambling.In a study led by Paul Cocker, a Ph.D. student in psychology at the University of British Columbia, a group of 32 rats compulsively used a slot-machine-like system of three flashing lights that lit up when the rats pushed one of two levers.
Our ability to exhibit self-control to avoid cheating or lying is significantly reduced over the course of a day, making us more likely to be dishonest in the afternoon than in the morning, according to findings published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
David Cameron has called on the Guardian and other newspapers to show "social responsibility" in the reporting of the leaked NSA files to avoid high court injunctions or the use of D notices to prevent the publication of information that could damage national security.
Warfare technology has come a long way since the days of throwing stones, but that won't keep the military from incorporating rocks into their arsenal of weapons.This week (28 October) at the annual AUSA Army meeting in Washington, DC, Lockheed Martin showcased developments in their surveillance technology called SPAN (Self-Powered Ad-hoc Network), a "covert, perpetually self-powered wireless sensor network" that can provide "unobtrusive, continuous surveillance" in units so small they can fit in a rock.
A compound extracted from the legs of centipedes could one day become a potent pain reliever, new research in mice suggests."The molecule we discovered was at least as good as, and sometimes significantly better than morphine," said study co-author Glenn King, a biochemist at the University of Queensland in Australia.
Researchers used the annual Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio to round up the 79 identical pairs of twins as part of the study. A panel of three plastic surgery residents compared the faces of the twins, one of which had been smoking for at least five years longer than the other.
The reservoir of molten rock underneath Yellowstone National Park in the United States is at least two and a half times larger than previously thought. Despite this, the scientists who came up with this latest estimate say that the highest risk in the iconic park is not a volcanic eruption but a huge earthquake.
A deadly bed of icy javelins could be awaiting any spacecraft that tries to land on some parts of the ice-covered world Europa, say researchers who have carefully modeled the ice processes at work on parts of the Jovian moon to detect features beyond the current low resolution images.If the prediction of long vertical blades of ice is correct, it will not only help engineers design a lander to tame or avoid the sabers, but also help explain a couple of nagging mysteries about the strange moon.
Three of NASA's most powerful space telescopes are teaming up to exploit naturally occurring "zoom lenses" in order to uncover galaxies as much as 100 times fainter than those currently observed. Known as gravitational lenses, these objects amplify the light emitted by an object behind it using their gravitational field.
Don't tell that hyper-competitive parent friend of yours. English-speaking toddlers learn the idea of the number one faster than Japanese- and Chinese-speaking kids, while Slovenian-speaking babies learn "two" sooner than English-speaking ones.