Newsdesk Archive
The Voyager-1 spacecraft has become the first manmade object to leave the Solar System.Scientists say the probe's instruments indicate it has moved beyond the bubble of hot gas from our Sun and is now moving in the space between the stars.Launched in 1977, Voyager was sent initially to study the outer planets, but then just kept on going.
NASA's Curiosity rover has captured two stunning videos of solar eclipses from the surface of Mars, including one that shows the Red Planet's skies darkening dramatically above the 1-ton robot.Curiosity recorded the two Mars solar eclipse videos on back-to-back days last month, Aug. 19 and Aug. 20. In both cases, Phobos
It's been a week of doom as far as the public face of science is concerned. On Tuesday we had Sir David Attenborough's depressing prognostications that the future is going to be worse for our children and their children (especially if we insist on producing more children in the first place).
New genetic research led by the Genographic Project consortium shows a distinctive ancestry for the Uros populations of Peru and Bolivia that predates the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores and may date back to the earliest settlement of the Altiplano, or high plain, of the central Andes some 3,700 years ago.
Long before the arrival of European colonists, the indigenous people of Mexico showed wide variation in their facial appearance, a diversity that perhaps has not been fully appreciated, a new study of skulls suggests. Researchers hope their findings might help forensic investigators acurately identify people who are killed attempting to cross the U.S. border.
An international team of researchers and archaeologists, led by Oxford University has new dating evidence indicating when the earliest fully modern humans arrived in the Near East, the region known as the Middle East today.They have obtained the radiocarbon dates of marine shell beads found at Ksar Akil, a key archaeological site in Lebanon, which allowed them to calculate that the oldest human fossil from the same sequence of archaeological layers is 42,400
The trait of lactase persistence (lactose tolerance) is probably one of the better schoolbook examples of natural selection in human populations. The reasons for this are probably two-fold. There is a very strong signature of selection within a specific gene known to associate with the trait in question in many populations. And, there is a very compelling historical narrative which explains rather neatly how this particular functional change could have undergone such strong selection within the past ~5,000 years across these populations.
Employers discriminate against "unattractive" job applicants - particularly women - according to a study at an Italian university.The study, from from the University of Messina, was titled: "Searching for a job is a beauty contest".Researchers sent more than 1100 fake CVs to more than 1500 advertised job openings. Keeping the skills and qualifications the same on them all, changed the names, genders, and pictures of the "applicants.".
Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, a 74-year-old astrobiologist and his team from the University of Sheffield believe to have found evidence of alien life after sending a balloon 27 km into the stratosphere. The specifically designed balloon was sent into the atmosphere above Chester during the annual Perseid meteor shower.On its way back to Earth, the balloon captured small biological organisms on the sterile microscope slides.
A new study led by Adelaide researchers has estimated, for the first time, the rates of evolution during the "Cambrian explosion" when most modern animal groups appeared between 540 and 520 million years ago.The findings, published online today in the journal Current Biology, resolve "Darwin's dilemma": the sudden appearance of a plethora of modern animal groups in the fossil record during the early Cambrian period.
New research has revealed the hidden past of crocodiles, showing for the first time how these fierce reptiles evolved and survived in a dinosaur dominated world.While most modern crocodiles live in freshwater habitats and feed on mammals and fish, their ancient relatives were extremely diverse -- with some built for running around like dogs on land and others adapting to life in the open ocean, imitating the feeding behaviour of today's killer whales.
On the same day that the latest installment of the Jurassic Park film series has been confirmed, a study published in PLOS One has detailed experiments that seem to demonstrate once and for all that dinosaurs will never again walk the Earth.The 1993 film, based on a book by Michael Crichton, depicts a theme park island filled with dinosaurs, resurrected from ancient DNA extracted from fossilized mosquitoes trapped in amber.
In the centuries-old best friendship between dogkind and humankind, humans are apparently easily replaced with robots. Seemingly loyal canines are totally willing to interact with cold, hard machines, according to a new study in Animal Cognition, gazing lovingly at their robot faces and finding hidden foodstuffs that the robot pointed to. Robots, stop taking things away from us!
It's a question that has long fascinated and flummoxed those who study human behavior: From whence comes the impulse to dream? Are dreams generated from the brain's "top" -- the high-flying cortical structures that allow us to reason, perceive, act and remember? Or do they come from the brain's "bottom" -- the unheralded brainstem, which quietly oversees such basic bodily functions as respiration, heart rate, salivation and temperature control?.
The Voyager-1 spacecraft has become the first manmade object to leave the Solar System.Scientists say the probe's instruments indicate it has moved beyond the bubble of hot gas from our Sun and is now moving in the space between the stars.Launched in 1977, Voyager was sent initially to study the outer planets, but then just kept on going.
It's been a week of doom as far as the public face of science is concerned. On Tuesday we had Sir David Attenborough's depressing prognostications that the future is going to be worse for our children and their children (especially if we insist on producing more children in the first place).
New genetic research led by the Genographic Project consortium shows a distinctive ancestry for the Uros populations of Peru and Bolivia that predates the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores and may date back to the earliest settlement of the Altiplano, or high plain, of the central Andes some 3,700 years ago.
Long before the arrival of European colonists, the indigenous people of Mexico showed wide variation in their facial appearance, a diversity that perhaps has not been fully appreciated, a new study of skulls suggests. Researchers hope their findings might help forensic investigators acurately identify people who are killed attempting to cross the U.S. border.
The trait of lactase persistence (lactose tolerance) is probably one of the better schoolbook examples of natural selection in human populations. The reasons for this are probably two-fold. There is a very strong signature of selection within a specific gene known to associate with the trait in question in many populations. And, there is a very compelling historical narrative which explains rather neatly how this particular functional change could have undergone such strong selection within the past ~5,000 years across these populations.
Employers discriminate against "unattractive" job applicants - particularly women - according to a study at an Italian university.The study, from from the University of Messina, was titled: "Searching for a job is a beauty contest".Researchers sent more than 1100 fake CVs to more than 1500 advertised job openings. Keeping the skills and qualifications the same on them all, changed the names, genders, and pictures of the "applicants.".
Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, a 74-year-old astrobiologist and his team from the University of Sheffield believe to have found evidence of alien life after sending a balloon 27 km into the stratosphere. The specifically designed balloon was sent into the atmosphere above Chester during the annual Perseid meteor shower.On its way back to Earth, the balloon captured small biological organisms on the sterile microscope slides.
Orangutans not only plan their travel routes in advance, but they also inform others about their trip a day ahead of time.This very human-like behavior implies other things about orangutans.
Bird species with larger than average brains have lower levels of a key stress hormone, an analysis of nearly 200 avian studies has concluded. Such birds keep their stress down by anticipating or learning to avoid problems more effectively than smaller-brained counterparts, researchers suggest.Birds in the wild lead a stressful life. Constantly spotting predators lurking in the trees or sensing dramatic changes in temperature is essential for survival, but can leave birds on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
Does the sweaty stink of a man's used t-shirt reveal more about him than his personal hygiene habits? According to UK researchers, the answer is yes.Psychology researcher Craig Roberts, from the University of Stirling, and colleagues, have that found women's preferences for male body odor are constant over time.Related: Can you smell the perfect partner?
If you give the civil servants at your local airport $85 then they may not touch your n0-no square. At least as much as they might otherwise.
The U.S. National Security Agency is able to crack protective measures on iPhones, BlackBerry and Android devices, giving it access to users' data on all major smartphones, according to a report Sunday in German news weekly Der Spiegel.Related: A List Of Online Encryption Tools That The NSA Has Already Foiled.
Mathematics has been called the language of the universe. Scientists and engineers often speak of the elegance of mathematics when describing physical reality, citing examples such as π, E=mc2, and even something as simple as using abstract integers to count real-world objects. Yet while these examples demonstrate how useful math can be for us, does it mean that the physical world naturally follows the rules of mathematics as its "mother tongue," and that this mathematics has its own existence that is out there waiting to be discovered? This point of view on the nature of the relationship between mathematics and the physical world is called Platonism, but not everyone agrees with it.
Children who read for pleasure are likely to do better in maths and English than those who rarely read in their free time, research suggests.The study, by the Institute of Education, London University, examined the reading habits of 6,000 children.It indicated reading for pleasure was more important to a child's development than how educated their parents were.
"Your cheatin' heart will make you weep," as Hank Williams once sang, and we all want to believe that it's true. Whether we're talking about a college student with exam answers written on his hand, or a tax cheat who's avoided paying the government, we want them to feel tormented by their own acts of duplicity, and sorry that they've pulled the wool over someone's eyes.
Irvine, California
Researchers have discovered a strange new type of movement in plants - tiny spores that walk and jump.Lead researcher Philippe Marmottant from Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble, initially examined the spores under the microscope and saw their movement.
The area of Arctic sea ice was nearly 30% greater in August than a year ago, according to recent satellite data, though projections based on longer-term trends suggest the sea ice will continue its decline over time.
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet could have formed 20 million years earlier than previously thought, researchers propose, after updating a detail in global climate models, placing more confidence in those models' ability to predict future changes in global climate.
NASA has narrowed the list of candidates down to three space rocks for an ambitious mission to capture an asteroid and tow it to the moon, where it can be explored by astronauts.
A NASA probe launching toward the moon tonight (Sept. 6) is carrying a high-tech laser experiment designed to improve deep-space communications.NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft
Three ancient river systems, now buried, may have created viable routes for human migration across the Sahara to the Mediterranean region about 100,000 years ago, according to research published September 11 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Tom Coulthard from the University of Hull, UK, and colleagues from other institutions.
An excavation at the site of an ancient Maya city in Mexico has yielded a gruesome find: the remains of dismembered, decapitated bodies. The discovery provides new archaeological evidence for the violent scenes depicted in Maya art, the researchers say.Nicolaus Seefeld, an archaeologist at the University of Bonn in Germany, stumbled across the 1,400-year-old mass grave as part of his work on the water system in the city of Uxul. The remains of 24 people were found in an approximately 344-square-foot (32 square meters) artificial cave that served as a water storage reservoir.
Scientists have uncovered a portion of an ancient path that may have led to Stonehenge.While dismantling a modern road that runs near Stonehenge, the archaeologists uncovered two ditches found to be remnants of an ancient pathway called the avenue. Archaeologists have known of the avenue and suspected it led directly to the monument, but the modern road had cut the delicate pathway in two, obscuring its purpose. The new discovery confirms the avenue's role as an ancient pathway to the site.
Orangutans not only plan their travel routes in advance, but they also inform others about their trip a day ahead of time.This very human-like behavior implies other things about orangutans.
Bird species with larger than average brains have lower levels of a key stress hormone, an analysis of nearly 200 avian studies has concluded. Such birds keep their stress down by anticipating or learning to avoid problems more effectively than smaller-brained counterparts, researchers suggest.Birds in the wild lead a stressful life. Constantly spotting predators lurking in the trees or sensing dramatic changes in temperature is essential for survival, but can leave birds on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
Does the sweaty stink of a man's used t-shirt reveal more about him than his personal hygiene habits? According to UK researchers, the answer is yes.Psychology researcher Craig Roberts, from the University of Stirling, and colleagues, have that found women's preferences for male body odor are constant over time.Related: Can you smell the perfect partner?
If you give the civil servants at your local airport $85 then they may not touch your n0-no square. At least as much as they might otherwise.
The U.S. National Security Agency is able to crack protective measures on iPhones, BlackBerry and Android devices, giving it access to users' data on all major smartphones, according to a report Sunday in German news weekly Der Spiegel.Related: A List Of Online Encryption Tools That The NSA Has Already Foiled.
Mathematics has been called the language of the universe. Scientists and engineers often speak of the elegance of mathematics when describing physical reality, citing examples such as π, E=mc2, and even something as simple as using abstract integers to count real-world objects. Yet while these examples demonstrate how useful math can be for us, does it mean that the physical world naturally follows the rules of mathematics as its "mother tongue," and that this mathematics has its own existence that is out there waiting to be discovered? This point of view on the nature of the relationship between mathematics and the physical world is called Platonism, but not everyone agrees with it.
Children who read for pleasure are likely to do better in maths and English than those who rarely read in their free time, research suggests.The study, by the Institute of Education, London University, examined the reading habits of 6,000 children.It indicated reading for pleasure was more important to a child's development than how educated their parents were.
"Your cheatin' heart will make you weep," as Hank Williams once sang, and we all want to believe that it's true. Whether we're talking about a college student with exam answers written on his hand, or a tax cheat who's avoided paying the government, we want them to feel tormented by their own acts of duplicity, and sorry that they've pulled the wool over someone's eyes.
Irvine, California
Researchers have discovered a strange new type of movement in plants - tiny spores that walk and jump.Lead researcher Philippe Marmottant from Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble, initially examined the spores under the microscope and saw their movement.
The area of Arctic sea ice was nearly 30% greater in August than a year ago, according to recent satellite data, though projections based on longer-term trends suggest the sea ice will continue its decline over time.
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet could have formed 20 million years earlier than previously thought, researchers propose, after updating a detail in global climate models, placing more confidence in those models' ability to predict future changes in global climate.
NASA has narrowed the list of candidates down to three space rocks for an ambitious mission to capture an asteroid and tow it to the moon, where it can be explored by astronauts.
A NASA probe launching toward the moon tonight (Sept. 6) is carrying a high-tech laser experiment designed to improve deep-space communications.NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft
Three ancient river systems, now buried, may have created viable routes for human migration across the Sahara to the Mediterranean region about 100,000 years ago, according to research published September 11 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Tom Coulthard from the University of Hull, UK, and colleagues from other institutions.
An excavation at the site of an ancient Maya city in Mexico has yielded a gruesome find: the remains of dismembered, decapitated bodies. The discovery provides new archaeological evidence for the violent scenes depicted in Maya art, the researchers say.Nicolaus Seefeld, an archaeologist at the University of Bonn in Germany, stumbled across the 1,400-year-old mass grave as part of his work on the water system in the city of Uxul. The remains of 24 people were found in an approximately 344-square-foot (32 square meters) artificial cave that served as a water storage reservoir.
Scientists have uncovered a portion of an ancient path that may have led to Stonehenge.While dismantling a modern road that runs near Stonehenge, the archaeologists uncovered two ditches found to be remnants of an ancient pathway called the avenue. Archaeologists have known of the avenue and suspected it led directly to the monument, but the modern road had cut the delicate pathway in two, obscuring its purpose. The new discovery confirms the avenue's role as an ancient pathway to the site.
Orangutans not only plan their travel routes in advance, but they also inform others about their trip a day ahead of time.This very human-like behavior implies other things about orangutans.
Bird species with larger than average brains have lower levels of a key stress hormone, an analysis of nearly 200 avian studies has concluded. Such birds keep their stress down by anticipating or learning to avoid problems more effectively than smaller-brained counterparts, researchers suggest.Birds in the wild lead a stressful life. Constantly spotting predators lurking in the trees or sensing dramatic changes in temperature is essential for survival, but can leave birds on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
Does the sweaty stink of a man's used t-shirt reveal more about him than his personal hygiene habits? According to UK researchers, the answer is yes.Psychology researcher Craig Roberts, from the University of Stirling, and colleagues, have that found women's preferences for male body odor are constant over time.Related: Can you smell the perfect partner?
If you give the civil servants at your local airport $85 then they may not touch your n0-no square. At least as much as they might otherwise.
The U.S. National Security Agency is able to crack protective measures on iPhones, BlackBerry and Android devices, giving it access to users' data on all major smartphones, according to a report Sunday in German news weekly Der Spiegel.Related: A List Of Online Encryption Tools That The NSA Has Already Foiled.
Mathematics has been called the language of the universe. Scientists and engineers often speak of the elegance of mathematics when describing physical reality, citing examples such as π, E=mc2, and even something as simple as using abstract integers to count real-world objects. Yet while these examples demonstrate how useful math can be for us, does it mean that the physical world naturally follows the rules of mathematics as its "mother tongue," and that this mathematics has its own existence that is out there waiting to be discovered? This point of view on the nature of the relationship between mathematics and the physical world is called Platonism, but not everyone agrees with it.
Children who read for pleasure are likely to do better in maths and English than those who rarely read in their free time, research suggests.The study, by the Institute of Education, London University, examined the reading habits of 6,000 children.It indicated reading for pleasure was more important to a child's development than how educated their parents were.
"Your cheatin' heart will make you weep," as Hank Williams once sang, and we all want to believe that it's true. Whether we're talking about a college student with exam answers written on his hand, or a tax cheat who's avoided paying the government, we want them to feel tormented by their own acts of duplicity, and sorry that they've pulled the wool over someone's eyes.
Irvine, California
Researchers have discovered a strange new type of movement in plants - tiny spores that walk and jump.Lead researcher Philippe Marmottant from Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble, initially examined the spores under the microscope and saw their movement.
The area of Arctic sea ice was nearly 30% greater in August than a year ago, according to recent satellite data, though projections based on longer-term trends suggest the sea ice will continue its decline over time.
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet could have formed 20 million years earlier than previously thought, researchers propose, after updating a detail in global climate models, placing more confidence in those models' ability to predict future changes in global climate.
NASA has narrowed the list of candidates down to three space rocks for an ambitious mission to capture an asteroid and tow it to the moon, where it can be explored by astronauts.
A NASA probe launching toward the moon tonight (Sept. 6) is carrying a high-tech laser experiment designed to improve deep-space communications.NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft
Three ancient river systems, now buried, may have created viable routes for human migration across the Sahara to the Mediterranean region about 100,000 years ago, according to research published September 11 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Tom Coulthard from the University of Hull, UK, and colleagues from other institutions.
An excavation at the site of an ancient Maya city in Mexico has yielded a gruesome find: the remains of dismembered, decapitated bodies. The discovery provides new archaeological evidence for the violent scenes depicted in Maya art, the researchers say.Nicolaus Seefeld, an archaeologist at the University of Bonn in Germany, stumbled across the 1,400-year-old mass grave as part of his work on the water system in the city of Uxul. The remains of 24 people were found in an approximately 344-square-foot (32 square meters) artificial cave that served as a water storage reservoir.
Scientists have uncovered a portion of an ancient path that may have led to Stonehenge.While dismantling a modern road that runs near Stonehenge, the archaeologists uncovered two ditches found to be remnants of an ancient pathway called the avenue. Archaeologists have known of the avenue and suspected it led directly to the monument, but the modern road had cut the delicate pathway in two, obscuring its purpose. The new discovery confirms the avenue's role as an ancient pathway to the site.
Bird species with larger than average brains have lower levels of a key stress hormone, an analysis of nearly 200 avian studies has concluded. Such birds keep their stress down by anticipating or learning to avoid problems more effectively than smaller-brained counterparts, researchers suggest.Birds in the wild lead a stressful life. Constantly spotting predators lurking in the trees or sensing dramatic changes in temperature is essential for survival, but can leave birds on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
Does the sweaty stink of a man's used t-shirt reveal more about him than his personal hygiene habits? According to UK researchers, the answer is yes.Psychology researcher Craig Roberts, from the University of Stirling, and colleagues, have that found women's preferences for male body odor are constant over time.Related: Can you smell the perfect partner?
The U.S. National Security Agency is able to crack protective measures on iPhones, BlackBerry and Android devices, giving it access to users' data on all major smartphones, according to a report Sunday in German news weekly Der Spiegel.Related: A List Of Online Encryption Tools That The NSA Has Already Foiled.
Mathematics has been called the language of the universe. Scientists and engineers often speak of the elegance of mathematics when describing physical reality, citing examples such as π, E=mc2, and even something as simple as using abstract integers to count real-world objects. Yet while these examples demonstrate how useful math can be for us, does it mean that the physical world naturally follows the rules of mathematics as its "mother tongue," and that this mathematics has its own existence that is out there waiting to be discovered? This point of view on the nature of the relationship between mathematics and the physical world is called Platonism, but not everyone agrees with it.
Children who read for pleasure are likely to do better in maths and English than those who rarely read in their free time, research suggests.The study, by the Institute of Education, London University, examined the reading habits of 6,000 children.It indicated reading for pleasure was more important to a child's development than how educated their parents were.
"Your cheatin' heart will make you weep," as Hank Williams once sang, and we all want to believe that it's true. Whether we're talking about a college student with exam answers written on his hand, or a tax cheat who's avoided paying the government, we want them to feel tormented by their own acts of duplicity, and sorry that they've pulled the wool over someone's eyes.
Researchers have discovered a strange new type of movement in plants - tiny spores that walk and jump.Lead researcher Philippe Marmottant from Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble, initially examined the spores under the microscope and saw their movement.
The area of Arctic sea ice was nearly 30% greater in August than a year ago, according to recent satellite data, though projections based on longer-term trends suggest the sea ice will continue its decline over time.
The West Antarctic Ice Sheet could have formed 20 million years earlier than previously thought, researchers propose, after updating a detail in global climate models, placing more confidence in those models' ability to predict future changes in global climate.
NASA has narrowed the list of candidates down to three space rocks for an ambitious mission to capture an asteroid and tow it to the moon, where it can be explored by astronauts.
Three ancient river systems, now buried, may have created viable routes for human migration across the Sahara to the Mediterranean region about 100,000 years ago, according to research published September 11 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Tom Coulthard from the University of Hull, UK, and colleagues from other institutions.
An excavation at the site of an ancient Maya city in Mexico has yielded a gruesome find: the remains of dismembered, decapitated bodies. The discovery provides new archaeological evidence for the violent scenes depicted in Maya art, the researchers say.Nicolaus Seefeld, an archaeologist at the University of Bonn in Germany, stumbled across the 1,400-year-old mass grave as part of his work on the water system in the city of Uxul. The remains of 24 people were found in an approximately 344-square-foot (32 square meters) artificial cave that served as a water storage reservoir.
Scientists have uncovered a portion of an ancient path that may have led to Stonehenge.While dismantling a modern road that runs near Stonehenge, the archaeologists uncovered two ditches found to be remnants of an ancient pathway called the avenue. Archaeologists have known of the avenue and suspected it led directly to the monument, but the modern road had cut the delicate pathway in two, obscuring its purpose. The new discovery confirms the avenue's role as an ancient pathway to the site.
Satellites, regardless of their function, are expensive. Between development, launch costs, and maintenance a single satellite can cost millions of dollars to keep in orbit. However, in a bid to change the rules of the satellite game Titan Aerospace has introduced a new high altitude UAV to replace conventional satellites.Named the Solera, the solar-powered UAV has a massive 50 m (164 ft) wingspan, attached to its 15.5 m (54 ft) body. The entire craft, which weighs only 159 kg (350 lbs), is covered with some 3,000 solar cells allowing it to produce 7 kW of power during daylight hours.
We think a wayward comet is the leading culprit in the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. But has a comet ever killed anyone? The Tunguska atomic bomb-sized blast in 1908 could have, if the comet had exploded over a city rather than desolate Siberia.More recently, comet Hale-Bopp can be indirectly blamed for the 1997 mass suicide of 38 members of a New Age religious cult called Heavens Gate. UFO buffs, eager to call any blob of light seen in the heavens a visitor from space, said that a
Since April, thousands of people have applied to take a one-way trip to Mars. Following further stages of selection and training, the plan is for the first four astronauts to lift off in 2022. After a seven-month journey they will settle permanently on the red planet to conduct scientific experiments and do whatever it takes to survive. Meanwhile, the rest of us will be able to watch their lives unfold on reality TV.
A team of astronomers has used the Low Frequency Receiver onboard the twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory spacecraft to deduce the characteristics of nanodust, showing that this nanometer-scale dust is a significant contributor to the total mass in interplanetary space.
Last year, an astronaut named Don Pettit began an unusual writing project on NASA
New research has revealed that chemical reactions previously thought to be
Maggots are typically a telltale sign of death and decay, but the legless larva have inspired a new robotic prototype that could one day help brain surgeons preserve the lives of their patients.For the last four years, J. Marc Simard, a neurosurgery professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, and his team have been developing an intracranial robot that will help remove brain tumors. Shaped like a mechanical finger, multiple joints give the brain bot a range of probing motions.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins and the National Institutes of Health have identified a compound that dramatically bolsters learning and memory when given to mice with a Down syndrome-like condition on the day of birth. As they report in the Sept. 4 issue of Science Translational Medicine, the single-dose treatment appears to enable the cerebellum of the rodents
A team of researchers at the Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University has found a way to self-assemble complex structures out of bricks smaller than a grain of salt. The new method could help solve one of the major challenges in tissue engineering: creating injectable components that self-assemble into intricately structured, biocompatible scaffolds at an injury site to help regrow human tissues.
Cinnamon might improve not only the taste of apple pie and oatmeal but also the health of people with diabetes, a new review study suggests.Researchers found that people with type 2 diabetes who took cinnamon supplements had lower fasting plasma glucose levels compared with people who didn't take cinnamon.
"Our long-term goal is to create fabrics that can dynamically alter their texture and color to adapt to their environments," Alon Gorodetsky, an assistant professor of chemical engineering and materials science at the University of California, Irvine, said in a statement.
Experts are calling for a third of the country's peatlands, covering a million hectares or almost 2.5 million acres, to be in good condition or under restoration schemes by 2020.A failure to preserve the UK's peat areas, which occur both in uplands and in low-lying wetlands, could see billions of tonnes of carbon they store being lost to the atmosphere, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) UK peatland programme's experts warned.
There has been a 60 per cent increase in the amount of ocean covered with ice compared to this time last year, the equivalent of almost a million square miles.In a rebound from 2012's record low, an unbroken ice sheet more than half the size of Europe already stretches from the Canadian islands to Russia's northern shores, days before the annual re-freeze is even set to begin.
As Earth's temperature climbs, the stony corals that form the backbone of ocean reefs are in decline.It's a well-documented story: Violent storms and coral bleaching have all contributed to dwindling populations, and increasing acidity of seawater threatens to take an additional toll.