Science News, Research And Discussion

Interesting science news,
research tidbits
and science discussion

Of Interest...

18 June 2013 Striking correlation found between infection and mood disorders Researchers discover that every third person who is diagnosed for the first time with a mood disorder had been admitted to hospital with an infection prior to the diagnosis...

17 June 2013 Robo-cat offers speed and agility for search and rescue Swiss robotics researchers say the design of their cat-like robot is based on meticulous observations of the feline leg, giving the robot all the speed and stability that real cats have...

14 June 2013 Menopause - it's a guy thing After decades of trying to shoehorn menopause into a variety of evolutionary contexts that never seemed to add up, a team of Canadian scientists has concluded that what really causes menopause in women is men...

12 June 2013 Novel epigenetic messaging system found in sperm A dad's exposure to stress leaves a lasting impression on his sperm, say researchers who have been investigating a never-before-seen epigenetic link to diseases such as anxiety and depression that are passed from father to child...

11 June 2013 Plastic could work as shield against space radiation hazards Experiments carried out aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter indicate that light plastic materials may provide sufficient radiation shielding for astronauts on future missions into deep space...

10 June 2013 *Dark matter observations: missed it by that* much** A theory which endows dark matter particles with a rare form of electromagnetism has been strengthened by a detailed analysis from Vanderbilt University which indicates that attempted observations of the mysterious substance are falling short by only the tiniest of margins...

9 June 2013 Neanderthal bone reveals modern day affliction The first-known case of a bone tumor has been discovered in a fragment of the rib of a young Neanderthal who lived about 120,000 years ago in Eastern Europe...

6 June 2013 Comet smash simulations hint at life's cosmic origins Computationally intensive simulations show that cometary impacts alone could have produced the building blocks of life without the need for "special" conditions, such as the presence of catalysts or UV radiation...

6 June 2013 Kinect-like gesture recognition leveraged from standard WiFi signals In a clever use of Doppler frequency shifts, computer scientists have shown it's possible to use the existing WiFi signals around us to detect specific movements without needing sensors on the human body or cameras...

5 June 2013 Thought-controlled drone demonstrated In what they say is the first step toward restoring the autonomy of paralysis sufferers, researchers have demonstrated complex maneuvering by a drone controlled only by the user's thoughts...

3 June 2013 Earth's Milky Way neighborhood gets upsized Earth resides between two major spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy in what was thought to be a smaller spur structure called the Local Arm. Now, however, new observations indicate that our Local Arm is in fact much more like the adjacent major arms...

2 June 2013 Txting tested for battlefield comms Radios, gunfire, explosions, vehicles, and live voices all combine during combat to create extreme auditory overload for military personnel, but defense researchers think they may have a solution - the humble text message...

31 May 2013 CO₂ not to blame for global warming, claims new study that argues global cooling has already begun Conventional thinking on climate change holds that human emissions of carbon dioxide have been the major contributor to global warming, but an intriguing new study that examined data going back to the Industrial Revolution indicates that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) conspiring with cosmic rays are the real culprit...

29 May 2013 Mysterious "anti-glitch" observed in neutron star's rotation Astronomers using NASA's Swift X-ray Telescope have observed a spinning neutron star suddenly slowing down, a never before seen event that is expected to catalyze renewed efforts to better understand the puzzling physics of these bizarre stellar remnants...

28 May 2013 Evidence that probiotics alter brain function In a discovery that carries significant implications for changing brain function through dietary interventions, UCLA researchers say they now have the first evidence that bacteria ingested in food can affect how the human brain works...

27 May 2013 Honey, I baked the kids The relaxation of marijuana laws in Colorado has caused a surge in the number of young children being treated for accidentally eating marijuana-laced cookies and candies, say medicos from the University of Colorado...

26 May 2013 Torturous terrain behind human bipedal evolution? Archaeologists at the University of York say challenging terrain could have been the driving force behind our earliest ancestors leaving the trees and becoming upright bipeds...

23 May 2013 Baits failing as cockroaches adapt to dislike sugar Sugar is losing its attraction for roaches and making baits less effective, say scientists who have been investigating the genetic adaptations that are causing cockroaches to reject glucose and any baits made with it...

22 May 2013 Physics-defying magnetic field behavior in solar flares explained When a solar flare filled with charged particles erupts from the Sun, its magnetic lines of force sometimes break apart and then quickly reconnect in a way that has mystified astrophysicists, but an explanation for this flouting of a widely accepted rule of physics may be in the offing...

21 May 2013 The pirate ant: scientists mull bizarre pigmentation of new species Scientists working in the Philippines have discovered a new enigmatic species of ant with a bizarre pigmentation pattern that has no equivalent anywhere else on the planet...

20 May 2013 Humans, as well as bats, have echolocation skills Researchers have been investigating how blind and visually impaired people can use echolocation, the navigational sonar used by bats and dolphins, to determine the location of objects...

19 May 2013 Medicinal clays may be new weapon against antibiotic-resistant infections Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute is trying a new approach to developing effective antibacterial agents - one that draws on a naturally occurring substance recognized since antiquity for its medicinal properties: clay...

16 May 2013 "Flowers" self-assemble from basic chemistry By simply manipulating chemical gradients in a beaker of fluid, researchers at Harvard have found they can control the growth behavior of crystals to create beautiful, precisely tailored nanostructures...

16 May 2013 Marijuana users have smaller waists, better blood sugar control Pot smokers have 16 percent lower fasting insulin levels compared to non-users, say researchers examining the relationship between marijuana use and fasting insulin, glucose, and insulin resistance...

15 May 2013 Stunning new species of palm-pitviper discovered Herpetologists have identified a striking new species of highly dangerous green palm-pitviper that lives within a cloud forest reserve in northern Honduras...

13 May 2013 New technique for finding distant planets makes its first discovery For the first time, astrophysicists from Tel Aviv University and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have discovered an exoplanet using a new technique that relies on Einstein's special theory of relativity...

12 May 2013 Liquid hydrogen fueled drone shatters endurance record Researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory have set a new continuous flight record with an electric drone powered by a fuel cell running from liquid hydrogen in cryogenic storage...

9 May 2013 Hubble identifies Earth-like debris in white dwarfs' atmospheres The Hubble Space Telescope has found the building blocks of Earth-like planets - silicon and carbon - in an unlikely place: the atmospheres of a pair of burnt-out white dwarf stars...

9 May 2013 Pear-shaped atoms may hold clues to unsolved physics Physicists have found the first direct evidence of exotic pear shaped nuclei in atoms, a discovery that could advance the search for a new fundamental force in nature and explain why the Big Bang created more matter than antimatter...

7 May 2013 Climate change, not humans, wiped out megafauna, claim Aussie scientists New research challenges the notion that humans were responsible for the demise of the gigantic animals that once roamed Australia, pointing the finger instead at climate change...

7 May 2013 Nocebo effect behind electrosmog illnesses, say European researchers An investigation into the purported health risks associated with electromagnetic fields has shown that media reports alone may cause suggestible people to develop symptoms of a disease...

5 May 2013 Madagascar's dwarf lemurs shed light on tropical climate hibernation By comparing the hibernation habits of eastern dwarf lemurs and their western counterparts, researchers hope to better understand what sends animals into hibernation mode...

2 May 2013 Tiny robotic insect makes first controlled flight Inspired by the biology of a fly, with submillimeter-scale anatomy and two wafer-thin wings that flap 120 times per second, this tiny robotic insect that's half the size of a paperclip represents the cutting edge of micro-manufacturing...

1 May 2013 Scientists merge electronics with bio-printed ear Using off-the-shelf 3D printing tools, Princeton scientists have built a functional cell-cultured ear that can "hear" radio frequencies...