Newsdesk Archive
When it comes to growing intestines, the first inch is the hardest—especially in a petri dish. Scientists at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center have met that benchmark: they recently reported in Nature Medicine that they had grown a piece of gut—nerves, muscles and all—from a single line of human stem cells. In the future such tissue could be used for studying disease and more.
Microscopic machines that swim through the bloodstream to deliver drugs or perform minor surgeries have been a dream of scientists for decades. In the past 15 years researchers have created micro-engine variants that rely on chemical reactions, magnetism or vibration for thrust—but they often motor around erratically. The main challenge is guiding them to where they are needed
Related: Tiny magnetic implant offers new drug delivery method
New details of the aging process have been uncovered by a research team. They discovered an altered balance between certain signaling molecules in the smooth muscle cells of blood vessels and the heart. The team also discovered a new class of drugs that combats an important part of the aging process.
Robotic movement sensing systems in the homes of elderly people can predict with a high level of accuracy when a person is at high risk of having a fall and send warnings to support workers or relatives, say researchers
Artificial intelligence has a new job: setting a good example for your kids. It seems that children’s behaviour can be influenced by the personality of a robot companion – playing with an enthusiastic or attentive robot, for instance, made them engage more and work harder.
Earlier this month, a company named Agility Robotics unveiled its first ever robot: a bipedal creation named Cassie that looks like a headless, wingless ostrich. Cassie has reverse knees, motor-powered ankles, and can walk over different sorts of terrain at a decent clip. Related: Are Cyborgs In Our Future? 'Homo Deus' Author Thinks So
In 2015 UC Santa Barbara mechanical engineer and materials scientist Jonathan Berger developed an idea that could change the way people think about high-performance structural materials. Two years later, his concept is paying research dividends.
One of the great mysteries of modern cosmology is how our universe can be so thermally uniform—the vast cosmos is filled with the lingering heat of the Big Bang. Over time, it has cooled to a few degrees above absolute zero, but it can still be seen in the faint glow of microwave radiation, known as the cosmic microwave background. In any direction we look, the temperature of this cosmic background is basically the same, varying by only tiny amounts. But according to the standard “cold dark matter” model of cosmology, there wasn’t enough time for hotter and cooler regions of the early universe to even out.
Two faraway objects may once have made up a binary asteroid in our solar system before being separated and pushed into their current orbits by the mysterious Planet Nine millions of years ago.
This is the conclusion of a new study, which conducted the first spectroscopic observations of asteroids 2004 VN112 and 2013 RF98 – a pair with nearly identical orbits.
Related: Scientists need your help to find the mysterious planet they suspect is lurking in our solar system
Scientists have just found organic molecules on the Ceres, the dwarf planet hidden in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The find is particularly exciting because this is the very first, unambiguous detection of organic molecules on an asteroid.
Alt: Life's Building Blocks Found on Dwarf Planet Ceres
Although scientists have been able to levitate specific types of material, a pair of UChicago undergraduate physics students helped take the science to a new level.
Third-year Frankie Fung and fourth-year Mykhaylo Usatyuk led a team of UChicago researchers who demonstrated how to levitate a variety of objects—ceramic and polyethylene spheres, glass bubbles, ice particles, lint strands and thistle seeds—between a warm plate and a cold plate in a vacuum chamber.
A star -- as big or bigger than our sun -- in Pegasus constellation is expanding and contracting in 3 directions at once every 2.5 hours, the result of heating and cooling of hydrogen fuel burning 28 million degrees Fahrenheit at its core
Related: A bridge of stars connects two dwarf galaxies
Related: Research team finds radial acceleration relation in all common types of galaxies
There’s a star about 370 light-years from here that’s pulsating in response to its unusually heavy planetary companion. It’s the first time that astronomers have seen this sort of interaction between a planet and its host star.
The Phoenix cluster is an enormous accumulation of about 1,000 galaxies, located 5.7 billion light years from Earth. At its center lies a massive galaxy, which appears to be spitting out stars at a rate of about 1,000 per year.
On Wednesday morning, NASA rewarded five members of the public — two doctors, a dentist, an engineer and a product designer — for their creative ideas for how to poop in a spacesuit.
Yes, it sounds a little bit funny. But unmet toilet needs could have life or death consequences for an astronaut in an emergency situation.
Related: 3D-Printed 'Laugh' Is 1st Major Artwork to Be Made in Space
Any dog owner will tell you how smart they think their dog is. What we usually think of as smartness in dogs is measured or observed in their external behaviour. Being able to respond to commands, for example, or remember the location of a hidden toy.
What do humans, great apes, orcas, bottlenose dolphins, Asian elephants and Eurasian magpies have in common? They can all, unlike all other animals studied, recognise themselves in a mirror. Now, neuroscientists are claiming rhesus monkeys should join that exclusive self-aware club. But, there’s a caveat: the monkeys have to be trained.
If you think there are more dangerous infectious diseases than ever, you're right. One big reason: pushing animals like this one out of their homes.
Pygmy elephants. Monkeys with noses the size of beer cans. And a deer so small you could cradle it like a baby.
The invasive Brazilian peppertree contains a substance that keeps drug-resistant bacteria from producing their deadly toxins.
Related: New antibiotic from bacteria found on Kenyan ant could help beat MRSA
We are starting to see the kind of incurable infection that scientists have warned us about for years. In January, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that a woman in Nevada had died from an infection resistant to every available antibiotic.
Cooperation comes more easily when you throw violent death into the mix. This principle seems to be behind how cooperation evolved in bacteria, and it might apply to plants and animals as well.
To digest food, build biofilms and perform other necessities of life, many bacteria have to secrete enzymes and other chemicals into the environment. Nearby cells can then reap the benefits, too.
Powerful gene editing procedures could one day be allowed to prevent people from passing on serious medical conditions to their children, according to a major report from senior US researchers.
DNA of 500-year-old bacteria is first direct evidence of an epidemic — one of humanity's deadliest — that occurred after Spanish conquest.
One of the worst epidemics in human history, a sixteenth-century pestilence that devastated Mexico’s native population, may have been caused by a deadly form of salmonella from Europe, a pair of studies suggest.
A 1,700-year-old untouched tomb bearing the bones of a dozen male adults, as well as pre-Columbian figurines and statues, has been unearthed in Mexico.
Children buried in the Ancient Egypt necropolis of Saqqara 2,000 years ago may have suffered from anaemia, tooth decay and chronic sinusitis, archaeologists have discovered.
Saqqara is a vast burial ground which was used throughout antiquity, as the necropolis for Memphis, the ancient Egyptian capital.
The search for a secret chamber in King Tutankhamun’s tomb will recommence later this month.
A team from the Polytechnic University of Turin will be scanning the burial site and surrounding areas in the hope of finding buried treasures.
Alt: Egypt Probes King Tut's Tomb For Hidden Chamber
A statuette which Greek archaeologists are calling a "7,000-year-old enigma" has gone on show in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.
The bird-like object was carved from granite - without the benefit of metal tools, as it dates from the Final Neolithic period.
Continued erosion on the Atlantic seaboard has exposed the remains of a shipwreck on the south-west Mayo coastline.
Research also finds possible monastery or Bronze Age fortress on Kid island
Their motivation may not have been to support a sprawling political patronage network, but when the Khmer dominated the region about 1,000 years or so ago, one necessity of maintaining their empire was steady deforestation.
To push the city toward a more eco-friendly future, Brussels is planning to build three vertical structures using recyclable materials, renewable energy sources, and 30,000 plants.
This plan to redefine the urban landscape using nature is one of many being undertaken by cities across the globe, and it could prove very beneficial to the environment.
Imagine patterning and visualizing silicon at the atomic level, something which, if done successfully, will revolutionize the quantum and classical computing industry. A team of scientists has done just that, led by a world-renowned physicist and his up-and-coming protégé.
A heat-reflecting, futuristic supermaterial that looks like a roll of plastic wrap could one day cool both houses and power plants without using any energy, according to a new study.
In the future, wide-ranging composite materials are expected to be stronger, lighter, cheaper and greener for our planet, thanks to a new invention. Nine years ago, an American researcher invented an energy-efficient technology that harnesses largely low-temperature, water-based reactions.
Related: A small group of scientists are now racing to document rare plant life in these limestone karsts before local companies quarry them to dust and grind them up for production of the cement that is fueling this country’s building boom.
A tsunami’s immense wall of water may not be stoppable. But there may be a way to take the ferocious force of nature down a few notches, using a pair of counterwaves.
If released at the right moment, a type of sound wave known as an acoustic-gravity wave could subdue a tsunami
A gigantic, powerhouse winter storm is charging through the North Atlantic and promises to flood the high Arctic with abnormally mild air. Arctic temperatures have blown past previous record highs in recent months, and this surge of (relative) warmth is just the latest in a long series that has amazed scientists.
For the fourth time in just over a year, the North Pole may near the melting point in winter, a previously rare event.
Related: Hidden lakes drain below West Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier
New research describes how scientists have used the world's largest array of seismic sensors to map a deep-Earth area of melting carbon covering 1.8 million square kilometers. Situated under the Western US, 350km beneath Earth's surface, the discovered melting region challenges accepted understanding of how much carbon Earth contains -- much more than previously understood.
Related: Humans are causing climate to change '170 times faster than natural forces'
Temperatures are now so high at the north pole that scientists are contemplating radical schemes to avoid catastrophe
New findings from the University of Michigan explain an Ice Age paradox and add to the mounting evidence that climate change could bring higher seas than most models predict.
The study, published in Nature, shows how small spikes in the temperature of the ocean, rather than the air, likely drove the rapid disintegration cycles of the expansive ice sheet that once covered much of North America.
The core of the Earth has posed a mystery to scientists for generations.
Within the planet's molten iron core lies another, inner iron core, which despite being hotter than the surface of the sun, does not melt.
Instead, the iron maintains itself in a solid crystal form at all times.
Africa is a tough place. It always has been. Especially if you have to fend off gigantic predators like sabre-toothed carnivores in order to survive. And, when you’re a small, dog-sized pre-mammalian reptile, sometimes the only way to protect yourself against these monsters is to turn your saliva into a deadly venomous cocktail.
An international team of researchers has found a trove of marine fossils at a North American site that offers evidence of life bouncing back faster than thought after the most devastating mass extinction in Earth's history. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the team describes the wide assortment of fossils they found and what they believe the discovery will contribute to understanding the evolutionary history of our planet.
The woolly mammoth vanished from the Earth 4,000 years ago, but now scientists say they are on the brink of resurrecting the ancient beast in a revised form, through an ambitious feat of genetic engineering.
The scientist leading the “de-extinction” effort said the Harvard team is just two years away from creating a hybrid embryo, in which mammoth traits would be programmed into an Asian elephant.
Scientists have uncovered the first evidence of live births in the group of animals that includes dinosaurs, crocodiles and birds.
All examples of this group, known as the Archosauromorpha, lay eggs.
Biomarkers are biological attributes that can give doctors or researchers clues about the health status or illnesses of a patient.
Although these molecules are very stable in tissues, prior to this study it was unclear whether they could still be found in human tissues after thousands of years
The face of a modern human is almost uniquely flat and extraordinarily expressive. But our remarkable faces may not be as "modern" as we think
Airports around the world are rolling out facial-recognition technology in an attempt to improve security and reduce the painful boarding process.
Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport is testing facial recognition technology made by Portuguese firm Vision-Box
Ever wonder what it’s like to have an “eagle eye?” Surgeons and spies alike may soon find out, thanks to a new camera lens that works the same way eagle—and human—eyes do, despite being no bigger than a grain of salt. With spy gadgets in mind, scientists started working on the microlens a few years ago, but this new version features improvements to the lens’s field of view and focusing ability.
Virtual reality devices can already fool your eyes and ears. Soon your other senses will be fooled too, with the creation of a device that can bring the weather in your virtual world to life.
Nimesha Ranasinghe at the National University of Singapore is working towards the ultimate VR experience. Last year, his team showed how electrodes can be used to add sweet tastes into virtual reality. His new accessory, called Ambiotherm, adds atmosphere into the mix as well.
We are at the point where computers and machines are no longer going to be simply tools. Computers are becoming, literally, part of us.
"There are a couple of very interesting things happening as we speak facilitating humans and machines working together in a very different way," said Justin Sanchez, director of the Biological Technologies Office at DARPA.
A company has developed a type of technology that allows a machine to effectively learn from fewer examples and refine its knowledge as further examples are provided.
This technology could be applied to everything from teaching a smartphone to recognize a user's preferences to helping autonomous driving systems quickly identify obstacles.
Scientists' ability to create organisms through synthetic biology is getting easier and cheaper fueling the start of a new era in biology.
Synthetic biology has already lead to some innovations such as lab-grown meat, advancement in medicine, and even helping to bring back extinct species.
Few government bodies are considering how we will categorize machines with advanced artificial intelligence.
Some have proposed creating a separate category known as "electronic persons" as a basis for deciding questions of legal standing.
With the mass bee extinction showing no signs of stopping—we lost 44 percent of all bee colonies last year—efforts to save the bees might need some supplementation.
Eijiro Miyako, a researcher at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, has crafted what he thinks might be a temporary solution
You know those nasty brown spots that can ruin an otherwise perfectly delicious apple? Those spots and other problems — like blossom blight and yellow leaves — are often caused by fungi. Apple growers usually fight back with fungicides, but a new study has found that those fungicides could be hurting honey bees.
Related: Another sting in the tail for bees: Devastating wing-deforming virus could destroy the species
Whoop whoop! A vibrational pulse produced by honeybees, long thought to be a signal to other bees to stop what they are doing, might actually be an expression of surprise.
Bees produce vibrations with their wing muscles that are inaudible to humans but can be detected by accelerometers embedded in the honeycomb.
You've probably heard the news that our nation's bees are in trouble. Pollinators have been disappearing for decades, and the population crash could threaten the global food supply. Now, a small city in Iowa has decided to do something about it.
A study, led by Newcastle University's Dr Alan Jamieson, has uncovered the first evidence that man-made pollutants have now reached the farthest corners of our earth.
Alt: Deepest Place on Earth Contains 'Extraordinary' Pollution Levels
Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have discovered a patch of land in an ancient valley on Mars that appears to have been flooded by water in the not-too-distant past. In doing so, they have pinpointed a prime target to begin searching for past life forms on the Red Planet.
Since Pluto was infamously demoted to a dwarf planet in 2006, some astronomers have turned their attention to finding the true Planet 9, a hypothetical, Neptune-sized world that orbits the Sun at least a few hundred times further out than Earth.
With SETI — the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence — we use radio telescopes to search for signals from alien civilizations. This is a relatively passive system, where we sit back and listen for what signals might be out there. As of yet, the search has come up empty handed.
By contrast, "Active SETI" or what is now called Messaging Extra Terrestrial Intelligence, or METI, is a proactive system of sending a message to a specific place to say "hello" to let potential alien astronomers know we're here.
The chemistry that gives festive sparklers their sparkle could be used to reduce the hazards of falling space junk. Researchers have demonstrated that a mixture similar to that used in fireworks can help bring dead satellites back to Earth safely.
A rare Trojan asteroid of Uranus has been found, following the same orbit as the planet. Its existence implies there could be many more of these companion asteroids, and that they are more common than we thought.
Tiny metalic-gold particles are being used to convert sunlight into fuel. The technology is being developed in South Australia to store solar energy as an alternative to battery storage.
Penn State University scientists have discovered a way to build a flow battery that converts carbon dioxide into usable energy
While this technology might not be commercially available for a long time, it could eventually help to drastically decrease carbon emissions as we move away from fossil fuels
The cost of solar panels is dropping exponentially, and solar power is now 80% cheaper than it was in 2010. A new startup plans to make it even more of a threat to fossil fuels, while also making panels much more efficient.
By adding a catalyst, a hydrogen separating membrane and carbon dioxide sorbent to the century-old four-stroke engine cycle, researchers have demonstrated a laboratory-scale hydrogen reforming system that produces the green fuel at relatively low temperature in a process that can be scaled up or down to meet specific needs.
The race to build a self-driving car keeps getting more intense -- and expensive.
Related: World's First Self-Driving Tesla Taxis Will Hit the Road in Dubai
Related: Dutch trial foot-level traffic lights for phone users
Five years since it completed its first flight demonstration, Dutch company PAL-V is finally accepting pre-orders for Liberty. The vehicle’s three wheels and retractable top-mounted rotor may make the vehicle looks more like a gyrocopter than a traditional sedan, but it can drive and fly.
Like a scene from “The Jetsons,” commuters in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, may soon climb aboard automated flying taxis, soaring over busy streets and past the desert city’s gleaming skyscrapers, all — quite literally — at the push of a button.
Alt: Dubai aims to launch hover-taxi by July
Native Americans, including noncombatants, who surrendered during King Philip’s War to avoid enslavement were enslaved at nearly the same rate as captured combatants, research shows.
Priceless stone sculptures that were smashed with hammers by Islamic State extremists in the ancient Syrian town of Palmyra have been meticulously restored by Italian experts with the help of laser scans and 3D printers.
The 2nd century AD funerary busts – one of a man, the other of a woman – were vandalised by Isis terrorists after they overran the archeological site and its museum in 2015.
The Edo Castle in Tokyo—now part of the city’s Imperial Palace—was once much grander than the buildings and walls that still exist today. That’s because it was originally designed as a home for the country’s shoguns, the line of dictators appointed by the Emperor who ruled Japan for centuries until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.
Related: Tomb with ancient mural surveyed near Fukushima plant
The enormous 240-gallon clay vessel, or karas, was nestled snugly in the corner of Asli Saghatelyan’s maran (storage cellar) in Chiva, a modest village in the Vayots Dzor region of Armenia. Asli and her son Mushegh watched with curious faces as I beheld their egg-shaped earthenware with awe.
The Earth’s magnetic field — which deflects harmful space radiation from the surface — has been weakening, losing about 10 percent of its strength over the last two centuries, and the decay may have been accelerating in recent years.
That weakening led to speculation that the magnetic field may be on the cusp of disappearing during a reversal, when the planet’s north and south poles flip, which could have consequences for civilization and life. But geoscientists have little knowledge of what has been occurring with the magnetic field during recent millenniums.
Alt: Astonishing geomagnetic spike hit the ancient kingdom of Judah
A new study of ancient ash links an El Chichón eruption to a time of inexplicable cultural upheaval in Maya history
The Maya, who thrived from A.D. 250 to 900, are widely considered the most advanced civilization in the pre-Columbian Americas. They developed a writing system, precise calendars, new mathematics and magnificent cities with pyramids that still cast their shadows today.
It's not every day that scientists can study a volcano up close, but researchers investigating the feasibility of volcano-powered electricity successfully drilled into the core of one in Iceland.
Beneath the waves in the southwest Pacific Ocean lies a mostly hidden realm — dubbed Zealandia — that deserves to be called a continent, geologists say.
Alt: Zealandia – pieces finally falling together for continent we didn't know we had
Women have claimed for years that their bodies react differently whether they’re pregnant with a male or female baby.
Related: Timing when you get pregnant could prevent a miscarriage
Related: Removal of ovaries during hysterectomy linked to increase in heart disease, cancer and premature death
The widely condemned practice of ceremonial genital mutilation among girls and young women follows an evolutionary logic, according to a provocative study published Monday.
Related: Denmark’s 29,000 Doctors Declare Circumcision of Healthy Boys an “Ethically Unacceptable” Procedure Offering no Meaningful Health Benefits
Related: Your Appendix Might Serve an Important Biological Function After All
The appearance of fake news on websites and social media has inspired scientists to develop a "vaccine" to immunise people against the problem.
A University of Cambridge study devised psychological tools to target fact distortion.
A historic church which has been completely underwater for decades is still nearly perfectly intact, a drought has revealed. The Dominican church in Mexico was submerged by water in the 1960s, but drone footage shows that the stone structure has not crumbled beneath the surface.
The church is believed to have been built by monks and nuns in the 1500s, when they arrived in Mexico to spread Christianity.
The Great Pyramids in Giza, the Parthenon in Athens and Chichen Itza in Mexico have something in common. Besides attracting hordes of tourists, all of these architectural wonders appear to use the golden ratio.
About 1,000 years ago, Vikings dug a grave for a "warrior of high status" and buried him in a boat that was overflowing with grave goods, including a hefty sword and a broad-bladed ax, according to a new study.
Related: Romanian skeleton puzzles archaeologists
Scientists have for the first time revealed the face of the patron saint of lovers, who paid a heavy price for his defence of romance 1,700 years ago.
Experts in Brazil have revealed what Saint Valentine looked like, using state-of-the-art 3D interactive technology after studying the ancient holy man's skull.
A facial reconstruction has been made of Orkney's St Magnus to help mark the 900th anniversary of his death.
Related: Did a 17th century Slovakian lawyer invent the smiley face and the hashtag? Curators find the 'world's first emoji' in a 382-year-old memo
Italian and British researchers investigating a prehistoric cemetery in central Sudan have found what they believe are the oldest prostate stones, revealing the disease affected men as early as 12,000 years ago.
One of the few remaining unstudied major biblical sites, where according to the Bible the Ark of the Covenant was kept for two decades, will be excavated by archaeologists this summer for the first time.
Alt: New Search Begins for the Ark of the Covenant
One of the more mysterious symbols that has been found in ancient carvings is an image that looks uncannily like a handbag. The shape appears in depictions made by the Sumerians of Iraq, in the ruins of ancient Turkish temples, in decorations of the Maori of New Zealand, and in crafts made by the Olmecs of Central America. Handbags can be seen in the art of disparate cultures from around the world and throughout time, with the first known instance of a handbag appearing at the end of the Ice Age
A newly unearthed essay by Winston Churchill reveals he was open to the possibility of life on other planets.
Churchill's interest in science is well-known: he was the first British prime minister to employ a science adviser, Frederick Lindemann, and met regularly with scientists such as Sir Bernard Lovell, a pioneer of radio astronomy.
The search for a secret chamber in the tomb of King Tutankhamun will resume later this year when a team of Italian researchers begin the most in-depth investigation ever of the boy king's burial site.
A team from the Polytechnic University of Turin will scan the tomb and its surroundings with advanced radar technology.
A veteran Swiss archaeologist has unearthed three temples in Sudan built thousands of years ago, a discovery he says promises to throw new light on Africa's buried ancient past.
The round and oval shaped structures dating from 1,500 to 2,000 BC were found late last year not far from the famed archaeological site of Kerma in northern Sudan.
"This architecture is unknown ... there is no example in central Africa or in the Nile Valley of this architecture"
Psychogeography – the idea that places can soak up stories and legends – is the subject of a new book
Not far from where I live there’s a landscape that’s soaked in apocalyptic imagery. It’s a place that has soaked up history and stories, legends and folklore, tales that sit and ferment in the unforgiving stone, long outlasting those frail humans who first forged them. It has what we might call psychogeography, an entwining of people and place, where humans influence the land and the land, in turn, makes its indelible mark on generations of people.
Your thoughts are your own, right? Perhaps not. New technology is bringing that day closer when the unscrupulous may actually be able to hack human thoughts.
An MIT spinoff company in India is proposing a novel solution to air pollution problems in Asia — turning vehicle exhaust into ink.
It involves attaching a device, called a Kaalink, to the business end of a standard automobile exhaust pipe.
Beware the sly fox. For the first time, red foxes in Australia have been documented climbing trees to look for baby koalas and other unsuspecting creatures to munch on.
The idea that a dog takes on the personality of its owner has received scientific support.
Researchers in Austria say dogs can mirror the anxiety and negativity of owners.
Be nice – or your dog may judge you. Both pets and monkeys show a preference for people who help others, and this might explain the origins of our sense of morality.
The world’s smallest porpoise is in dire straits. Only 30 individuals of the vaquita porpoise are left on the planet.
The population of vaquitas has dramatically dwindled since 2011. Between 2015 and 2016, almost half the remaining vaquitas died, and over the past five years, their numbers have decreased by a total of 90 per cent.
The world’s oceans are drowning in human rubbish. Each year more than 300 million tons of plastic are produced globally, and 10 per cent will end up in the sea. It is estimated that there is now a 1:2 ratio of plastic to plankton and, left unchecked, plastic will outweigh fish by 2050.
Supermarkets are being urged to create a plastic-free aisle in every store to prevent tons of waste packaging ending up in the world’s oceans.
Around 300 million tons of plastic are produced globally each year, yet just 12 per cent is recyclable, and much of it is washed into the seas where it is toxic to wildlife.