The rainbow looks different to a human than it does to a honeybee or a zebra finch. That’s because these animals can see colors that we humans simply can’t. Now scientists have developed a new video recording and analysis technique to better understand how the world looks through the eyes of other species. The accurate Read more about Animals Can See Colors We Can’t. A New camera method gives us a good idea.[…]
The humble membranes that enclose our cells have a surprising superpower: They can push away nano-sized molecules that happen to approach them. A team including scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has figured out why, by using artificial membranes that mimic the behavior of natural ones. Their discovery could make a Read more about Cells’ electric fields keep nanoparticles at bay, scientists confirm[…]
Textbook models will need to be re-drawn after a team of researchers found that water molecules at the surface of salt water are organised differently than previously thought. Many important reactions related to climate and environmental processes take place where water molecules interface with air. For example, the evaporation of ocean water plays an important Read more about Water molecule discovery on ion layer contradicts textbook models[…]
[…] few have looked at the effects on wildlife at the population level. Enter Erik Katovich, an economist at the University of Geneva. Dr Katovich made use of the Christmas Bird Count, a citizen-science project run by the National Audubon Society, an American non-profit outfit. Volunteers count birds they spot over Christmas, and the society Read more about Wind turbines are friendlier to birds than oil-and-gas drilling[…]
A new study published in The Astrophysical Journal reveals new evidence for standard gravity breaking down in an idiosyncratic manner at low acceleration. This new study reinforces the evidence for modified gravity that was previously reported in 2023 from an analysis of the orbital motions of gravitationally bound, widely separated (or long-period) binary stars, known Read more about Study of wide binary stars reveals new evidence for modified gravity at low acceleration[…]
[…] Curceanu hopes the apparatus and methods of nuclear physics can solve the century-old mystery of why lentils – and other organisms too – constantly emit an extremely weak dribble of photons, or particles of light. Some reckon these “biophotons” are of no consequence. Others insist they are a subtle form of lentil communication. Curceanu Read more about Biophotons: Are lentils communicating using quantum light messages?[…]
It sounds like a simple, well-known everyday phenomenon: there is high pressure in a champagne bottle, the stopper is driven outwards by the compressed gas in the bottle and flies away with a powerful pop. But the physics behind this is complicated. […] Using complex computer simulations, it was possible to recalculate the behavior of Read more about Clarified at last: The physics of popping champagne[…]
The typical strategy when treating microbial infections is to blast the pathogen with an antibiotic drug, which works by getting inside the harmful cell and killing it. This is not as easy as it sounds, because any new antibiotic needs to be both water soluble, so that it can travel easily through the bloodstream, and Read more about Research team discovers how to sabotage antibiotic-resistant ‘superbugs’[…]
This article was originally featured on The Conversation. The global anti-vaccine movement and vaccine hesitancy that accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic show no signs of abating. According to a survey of U.S. adults, Americans in October 2023 were less likely to view approved vaccines as safe than they were in April 2021. As vaccine confidence falls, health misinformation continues Read more about Health misinformation is rampant on social media[…]
Practicing yoga nidra — a kind of mindfulness training — might improve sleep, cognition, learning, and memory, even in novices, according to a pilot study publishing in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on December 13 by Karuna Datta of the Armed Forces Medical College in India, and colleagues. After a two-week intervention with a cohort Read more about Yoga nidra might be a path to better sleep and improved memory[…]
Batteries that exploit quantum phenomena to gain, distribute and store power promise to surpass the abilities and usefulness of conventional chemical batteries in certain low-power applications. For the first time, researchers, including those from the University of Tokyo, take advantage of an unintuitive quantum process that disregards the conventional notion of causality to improve the Read more about New way to charge batteries using indefinite causal order, comes with counterintuitive findings[…]
[…] At the Zooniverse, anyone can be a researcherYou don’t need any specialised background, training, or expertise to participate in any Zooniverse projects. We make it easy for anyone to contribute to real academic research, on their own computer, at their own convenience.You’ll be able to study authentic objects of interest gathered by researchers, like Read more about Zooniverse – help explore space, the planet, medicine, science![…]
A new study has identified a potentially growing natural hazard in the north: frostquakes. With climate change contributing to many observed changes in weather extremes, such as heavy precipitation and cold waves, these seismic events could become more common. Researchers were surprised by the role of wetlands and drainage channels in irrigated wetlands in origin Read more about Frostquakes are a thing now – being found in the North[…]
Balls of human brain cells linked to a computer have been used to perform a very basic form of speech recognition. The hope is that such systems will use far less energy for AI tasks than silicon chips. “This is just proof-of-concept to show we can do the job,” says Feng Guo at Indiana University Read more about AI made from living human brain cells performs speech recognition[…]
The following is an extract from our Lost in Space-Time newsletter. Each month, we hand over the keyboard to a physicist or two to tell you about fascinating ideas from their corner of the universe. You can sign up for Lost in Space-Time for free here. Space-time is a curious thing. Look around and it’s easy Read more about This mathematical trick can help you imagine space-time[…]
The world has reached a pivotal moment as threats from Earth system tipping points – and progress towards positive tipping points – accelerate, a new report shows Story highlights Rapid changes to nature and societies already happening, and more coming The report makes six key recommendations to change course fast A cascade of positive tipping Read more about Global Climate Tipping points: threats and opportunities accelerate and going very quickly now. Action is needed.[…]
[…] Using realistic ecological modeling, scientists led by Western Sydney University’s Jürgen Knauer found that the globe’s vegetation could actually be taking on about 20% more of the CO2 humans have pumped into the atmosphere and will continue to do so through to the end of the century. “What we found is that a well-established Read more about Plants may be absorbing 20% more CO2 than we thought, new models find[…]
[…] Every clock has two fundamental properties: a certain precision and a certain time resolution. The time resolution indicates how small the time intervals are that can be measured—i.e., how quickly the clock ticks. Precision tells you how much inaccuracy you have to expect with every single tick. The research team was able to show Read more about Limits for quantum computers: Perfect clocks are impossible, research finds[…]
Dirty air killed more than half a million people in the EU in 2021, estimates show, and about half of the deaths could have been avoided by cutting pollution to the limits recommended by doctors. The researchers from the European Environment Agency attributed 253,000 early deaths to concentrations of fine particulates known as PM2.5 that Read more about Toxic air killed more than 500,000 people in EU in 2021, data shows[…]
Researchers at the Zurich-based ETH public university, along with a US-based startup called Inkbit, have done the impossible. They’ve printed a robot hand complete with bones, ligaments and tendons for the very first time, representing a major leap forward in 3D printing technology. It’s worth noting that the various parts of the hand were printed Read more about Researchers printed a robotic hand with bones, ligaments and tendons for the first time[…]
Synex Medical, a Toronto-based biotech research firm backed by Sam Altman (the CEO of OpenAI), has developed a tool that can measure your blood glucose levels without a finger prick. It uses a combination of low-field magnets and low-frequency radio waves to directly measure blood sugar levels non-invasively when a user inserts a finger into Read more about Researchers use magnetic fields for non-invasive blood glucose monitoring[…]
An international team of scientists has reconstructed a historic record of the atmospheric trace gas carbon monoxide by measuring air in polar ice and air collected at an Antarctic research station. The team, led by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, assembled the first complete record Read more about Three thousand years’ worth of carbon monoxide records show positive impact of global intervention in the 1980s[…]
[…] In recent years, some researchers have been puzzled upon finding that water in their experiments, which was held in a sponge-like material known as a hydrogel, was evaporating at a higher rate than could be explained by the amount of heat, or thermal energy, that the water was receiving. And the excess has been Read more about In a surprising finding, light can make water evaporate without heat[…]
The Library of Babel is a place for scholars to do research, for artists and writers to seek inspiration, for anyone with curiosity or a sense of humor to reflect on the weirdness of existence – in short, it’s just like any other library. If completed, it would contain every possible combination of 1,312,000 characters, Read more about Library of Babel Online – all books ever written or ever to be written, all images ever created or ever to be created can be found here[…]
A team of scientists at Northwestern University has developed a synthetic version of melanin that could have a million and one uses. In new research, they showed that their melanin can prevent blistering and accelerate the healing process in tissue samples of freshly injured human skin. The team now plans to further develop their “super Read more about ‘Super Melanin’ Speeds Healing, Stops Sunburn, and More[…]