Artificial Eye Borrows From Nature
Using dragonflies and houseflies as models, bioengineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have created a series of artificial compound eyes. The key benefit provided by a compound-type eye is the wide field of vision it makes possible. Writing in Science, the researchers say the eyes could be used in surveillance, motion detection, environmental sensing […]
Persistence Of Triclocarban Surprises
Johns Hopkins researchers have been measuring levels of the antibacterial hand soap ingredient, triclocarban, as it passed through water treatment facilities and found that 75 percent of the ingredient washed down household drains persists during wastewater treatment. Worse still, the chemical accumulates in municipal sludge, which is later used as a fertilizer and soil conditioner […]
Searching For A Long Lost Star
Scientists once considered the idea of our sun being part of a binary star system highly unlikely, but the recent discovery of the planetoid Sedna adds credence to the idea that our sun might have a companion star, most likely a brown dwarf. Scientists at the Binary Research Institute (BRI) claim that the orbital characteristics […]
Focus Of Genetic Research Narrowed
Today, details of an important new way of determining proof of natural selection at the single gene level were published by the Public Library of Science (PLoS). The new statistical method will replace what is known as the standard neutral model, which many scientists say is less than ideal. According to them, the commonly used […]
Researchers Give Cholesterol Critics The Finger
Cholesterol has had nothing but bad press since scientists discovered that it was responsible for clogging arteries and causing all manner of health complications. But according to researchers at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, cholesterol is also responsible for us developing the correct number of fingers and toes in the correct locations. This gives a […]
Gamma Ray Apocalypse A Long Shot
A supernova gamma ray burst that could extinguish all life on Earth is one apocalyptic scenario that doesn’t get much airtime in the mass media. Asteroids and global warming tend to hog the headlines, probably due to the fact that they are much closer to home; well, in our local solar system anyway, whereas a […]
Neurons Mix Digital And Analog Functionality
The longstanding belief that each of the brain’s 100 billion neurons communicate strictly by a digital code looks to be incorrect. Writing in Nature, Yale neurologist David McCormick reported that communicating brain cells use a mix of analog and digital coding at the same time. “This study reveals that the brain is very sophisticated in […]
First Light For SETI Optical Telescope
The hunt for extraterrestrial life has just advanced to a new level with a powerful new optical telescope seeing first light. The high-tech telescope, located at the Oak Ridge Observatory in Massachusetts, was backed by The Planetary Society and built by Harvard physicist Paul Horowitz and his team. The telescope was built for one purpose […]
Venus Express At Critical Juncture
After a November 9 launch from a Soyuz-Fregat rocket last year, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Venus Express has traveled 400 million kilometers and is currently completing some final maneuvering that will hopefully put the spacecraft into a Venus orbit by April 13. The critical maneuvers have been spread over 9 days to reduce the […]
Uranium’s Effect On DNA Established
The use of depleted uranium in munitions and weaponry is likely to come under intense scrutiny now that new research that found that uranium can bind to human DNA. The finding will likely have far-reaching implications for returned soldiers, civilians living in what were once war-zones and people who might live near uranium mines or […]