According to scientists at The Keck Institute for Space Studies in California, NASA is seriously considering capturing an asteroid to put in a high orbit around the moon. If the idea is implemented, we could be looking at a manned mission to "capture" an asteroid in the 2020s. This idea is thought to tie in with the Obama administration's enthusiasm for sending a manned mission to a near-Earth asteroid. If NASA were able to capture an object and lock it into an orbit around the moon, it could be safely used as a practise mission without the need for astronauts to move beyond the range of a rescue mission. ...
Infection control experts at The Johns Hopkins Hospital have found that a combination of robot-like devices that disperse hydrogen peroxide vapor into the air and then detoxify the disinfecting chemical are highly effective at killing and preventing the spread of multiple-drug-resistant bacteria.
Of special note, researchers say, was that enhanced cleaning with the vapor reduced by 80 percent a patient's chances of becoming colonized by a particularly aggressive and hard-to-treat bacterium, vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). ...
A new study from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) estimates that our galaxy contains at least 100 billion planets. The team made their estimate while analysing planets orbiting a star called Kepler-32 - planets that are representative, they say, of the vast majority in the galaxy and thus serve as a perfect case study for understanding how most planets form.
Sometimes, the Sun itself seems to dance. On just this past New Years Eve, for example, NASAs Sun-orbiting Solar Dynamic Observatory spacecraft imaged an impressive prominence erupting from the Suns surface. The dramatic explosion was captured in ultraviolet light in the above time lapse video covering four hours. Of particular interest is the tangled magnetic field that directs a type of solar ballet for the hot plasma as it falls back to the Sun. The scale of the disintegrating prominence is huge -- the entire Earth would easily fit under the flowing curtain of hot gas. A quiescent prominence typically lasts about a month, and may erupt in a Coronal Mass Ejection expelling hot gas into the Solar System. The energy mechanism that creates a ...
Scientists at University of St Andrews in Scotland and the Institute of Scientific Instruments (ISI) in the Czech Republic have designed a minute but completely functional tractor beam.
Reminiscent of Star Trek, they use a beam of light to draw objects towards the light source on a microscopic level.
The very first bionic hand that allows the amputee to actually feel what the hand is touching will be transplanted later this year.
According to doctors involved in the surgery the hand will be attached directly to the patient’s nervous system via electrodes clipped onto two of the arm’s main nerves. This will allow the patient to control the hand directly with his thoughts, and receive sensory signals to his brain from the bionic hand.
This will be a major breakthrough in prosthetics and could open the door to a new generation of artificial limbs with sensory perception. ...
Sad news, stoners. Scientists in Israel have cross-bred a new type of medical marijuana that essentially removes the dopey, high-inducing properties from it — basically, it's pot that won't get you stoned. Researchers with Tikun Olam have meticulously cross-bred their medical pot to eliminate most of the psychoactive THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) properties from it; instead, the cannabis has a high concentration of cannabidiol (CBD), a potent anti-inflammatory. The result is a substance that's great for woozy-free pain relief, terrible for stoners trying to get high. ...
Researchers at Yale School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute have identified a prime suspect in the mystery of an increased incidence of autoimmune diseases in the past few decades—dietary salt. In the paper, researchers showed that salt can induce and worsen pathogenic immune system responses in mice and that the response is regulated by genes already implicated in a variety of autoimmune diseases.
Down syndrome is caused by a triple copy of chromosome 21, which leads to a number of cognitive and physical delays. Now researchers from the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in La Jolla, California, have found a protein that restores the some of the cognitive and behavioral disorders found in the disease.
Mice who were deficient in the SNX27 protein exhibited similar characteristics to mice with Down syndrome—namely, they had fewer glutamate receptors, which are important for learning and memory, the team reported in Nature Medicine on Sunday (March 24). The researchers also showed that in mice with Down syndrome, the protein is blocked by a molecule encoded on chromosome 21, and produced in excess in Down syndrome mice as a re ...
Imagine a battery the size of the one in your cell phone with enough juice to jump-start a car. It's actually not too far-fetched. Scientists at the University of Illinois have been developing microbatteries. Only a few millimeters long, these batteries may pave the way for electronics to become smaller and thinner, while still providing enough energy to be highly effective. The best part is that it recharges 1000 times faster than current batteries. Good things do come in small packages ...
It turns out that ants are capable of making career moves.
Computer tracking of ants shows that colonies have three main occupations: nursing the queen, cleaning, and foraging for food. Younger ants typically stay near the queen, but as they get older, they make the transition to foraging. This transition with regards to age was an exciting discovery, giving more insight into ant behavior.
Listeria bacteria has been enlisted by researchers to selectively infect metastatic pancreatic cancer cells and deliver radioisotopes into them. The experimental treatment dramatically decreased the number of metastases (cancers that have spread to other parts of the body) in a mouse model of highly aggressive pancreatic cancer without harming healthy tissue. Mice livers are shown above. The saline control liver on the left presents a large number of metastases compared to the liver on the right which was subject to the radioactive Listeria treatment. ...
A Judean date palm plant was planted in 2005 using seeds that were hidden away for 2000 years. While other species of date palms thrive around the world, this particular species was thought to be extinct for 1800 years.
Date palms are either male or female, and this one, nicknamed Methuselah, is a male, so it will not produce fruit. However, the plant is alive and well, and is the oldest known seed to successfully germinate.
Human babies and mouse pups both automatically and deeply relax when carried by their mums, new research has revealed. The study showed the babies' heart rates slowed down and their nervous and motor systems relaxed when they were carried, suggesting it doesn't just feel good, its an essential mother-infant interaction.
Sadly, the remaining rhinos in Mozambique are reported to have been wiped out due to poaching. The animals had been under protection on a preserve, but 30 of the 100 rangers who were supposed to be caring for the animals are believed to have been aiding poachers, and are currently awaiting trial. Even if found guilty, it will only be a misdemeanor.
Rhino horns are a big market in certain Asian countries, primarily China and Vietnam, and are used in folk remedies or for ornamental purposes. If poaching continues, experts warn that elephants will suffer the same fate. ...
Overhunting is one reason for wildlife population decline, but do these animals even know what we’re doing to them? New research suggests that they do. Woolly monkeys in the Amazon were observed to react differently to people in their territory, depending on the behavior of the human.
In areas where hunting is heavy, humans gathering food or performing research do not elicit much of a response from the monkeys. Hunters, however, result in the monkeys becoming very quiet and motionless. In quieter areas where human contact is less frequent, the monkeys are more wary of the researchers and gatherers. This indicates that the monkeys are behaving based on experience.
The long term advantage of this behavior is uncertain. Woolly monkeys are highl ...
Researchers from McGill University in Montreal have discovered a bacterium living in the frozen permafrost of the high Arctic. The permafrost bacterium, Planococcus halocryophilus strain Or1, grows and divides at -15°C and can even remain metabolically active at -25°C.
This bacteria is yielding clues about how extraterrestrial organisms might endure extreme conditions - as one of the things that makes it extremely hard for life to flourish in foreboding places like Mars and the moons of Saturn is the punishing cold. ...
This image shows 26 carbon atoms and 14 hydrogen atoms rearranging bonds. There has never been an image of a single bond resolve at this level of detail so close to the reaction time before.
A manned mission to Mars will inevitably consist of a few people living in incredibly close quarters in a constantly stressful environment.
Starting next summer, Mars Society will be conducting a mock Mars mission in the Canadian Arctic. Six participants will live in a facility 7.6 meters tall (25 feet) and 8.3 meters wide (27 feet). For one full year, they will perform a great deal of geological experiments similar to work that would be done on Mars. Spacesuits will be worn to help simulate Mars-like conditions.
Though similar studies have been done in the past, this is the most stressful and will be more true to actual conditions on Mars. The goal of the experiment is to determine leadership structure and what equipment will be necessary. ...
Developed in the University of California, Berkeley, lab of Daniel Fletcher, the CellScope, here trained on an algae sample, turns the camera of a standard cell phone into a diagnostic-quality microscope with a magnification of 5x–60x.
The medication is designed to be injected right after a traumatic experience. It targets Oprl1, a receptor that researchers believe is responsible for attaching fear to traumatic memories.
Post-traumatic stress disorder is caused by many things, such as surviving an accident or exposure to violence. There are genetic risk factors, but many people who acquire the disorder had no predisposition. Symptoms include debilitating flashbacks and hallucinations of the event, avoiding close relationships, angry or violent outbursts, and an inability to return to the location where the traumatic experience occurred, among many others.
A new study out of Harvard University shows that pasteurized milk products from factory farms is linked to causing hormone-dependent cancers. It turns out that the concentrated animal feeding operations model of raising cows on factory farms churns out milk with dangerously high levels of estrone sulfate, an estrogen compound linked to testicular, prostate, and breast cancers.
Dr. Ganmaa Davaasambuu, Ph.D., and her colleagues specifically identified "milk from modern dairy farms" as the culprit, referring to large-scale confinement operations where cows are milked 300 days of the year, including while they are pregnant. Compared to raw milk from her native Mongolia, which is extracted only during the first six months after cows have already ...
The tail was discovered in northern Mexico and most likely belonged to a hadrosaur, a duck-billed dinosaur. The tail is 4.9 meters (16 feet) long and is made up of 50 vertebrae. Tails are rare finds, and this is the first discovered in such good condition.
Swedish engineers have developed a system that turns sweat into potable water. The Sweat Machine spins clothes to extract liquid from the fibres, filters it and transforms it into water. Their developers say the water extracted from the machine is cleaner than ordinary tap water.
This announcement is the result of over 30 years of extensive research. It was determined that prenatal exposure to low levels of mercury through fish in the mother’s diet or the environment does not contribute to disorders on the Autism spectrum.
Engineers are building special drones that will deliver food to your table – or home. Besides the iTray, which brings customers sushi at a Japanese restaurant in London (above), researchers have developed a 'tacocopter' and 'pizzacopter' that can traverse six kilometers in ten minutes. But don’t get your hopes up yet, there are plenty of technological barriers to overcome before drones deliver pizzas to our homes.
Glow-in-the-dark rabbits were born a few days ago at the University of Istanbul, Turkey. To produce the ‘mutant’ bunnies, researchers took two embryos from a pregnant female rabbit, injected them with a fluorescent jellyfish protein, and reinserted them into the female rabbit. The scientists believe this experiment could help in the development of better, more efficient ways to produce medicines.
The hyperloop would be solar powered and connect cities up to 900 miles away from each other. The passenger pods would be enclosed, which diminishes concerns about weather and interacting with wildlife. The designer of the hyperloop is Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and Tesla Motors.
There are still issues to work out before the plan would be practical, but it is an exciting look forward to alternative modes of transportation.
The program builds on previous research and uses a mathematical model to determine which letter the test subject was thinking about at the time of the scan. Researchers hope to refine this technology in the future in order to reconstruct memories or dreams.
Scientists have identified the genetic mutation responsible for the first blue chicken eggs in South American Mapuche fowl and their European descendants, Araucana, 200 to 500 years ago.
They used the unique genetic resources conserved by heritage or “fancy” poultry breeders to identify the exact location of the mutation in the genome in blue egg laying chickens and an additional genomic study to reveal the genetic cause of the blue colored eggshell is a harmless ancient retrovirus in the domestic chicken. ...
Scientists in Japan have built a levitating train that in recent trials hit speeds of almost 500 km/h. It's hoped that by 2027, this floating 'maglev' train will cut 55 minutes off the current travel time between Nagoya and Tokyo on today's high-speed trains.
This is Washoe, the first non-human to use sign language. When her caretaker Kat suffered a miscarriage, and Washoe was told that her baby had died, she signed "CRY", drawing a path down her cheek with her finger to mimic a tear. Chimpanzees don't shed tears, and Kat said this one sign told her more about Washoe's mental capabilities than all of her longer, grammatically perfect sentences.
A new vaccine has successfully killed the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) that causes AIDS in monkeys. It's hoped that with further research, an HIV-form of the vaccine can soon be tested in humans.
People who suffer from congenital analgesia can’t feel pain, and often end up hurting themselves as they don’t know when something is too hot, or making them bleed. Researchers have discovered that mutations in the gene SCN11A are responsible for this disorder, which blocks the transmission of pain signals. ...
Cosmologists have formulated a new theory that suggest the universe didn’t start with the Big Bang. They believe the birth of the universe happened after a 4D star collapsed into a black hole and ejected debris, which helps explain why the universe has an almost uniform temperature.
Barely half an hour after being jolted by a major earthquake on Tuesday, people of the Pakistani coastal town of Gwadar had another shock when they saw a new island emerge in the sea, just over a kilometre from the shore.
It has a rough surface, much of which is muddy and some parts are mostly made up of fine- to coarse-grained sand. ...
This 22-year-old man had a car accident last year and as a result his nose became infected and deformed. Doctors weren’t able to repair it, but decided to take cartilage from one of the young man’s ribs to grown a new nose. The nose, which is temporarily attached to his forehead, has been developing for 9 months and is ready to be transplanted.
Briton Peter Higgs (right) and Belgian ">François Englert (left) have won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics, 'for something small that makes all the difference' – the Higgs boson.
An unexpected side-effect of the 2010 flooding in parts of Sindh, Pakistan, was that millions of spiders climbed up into the trees to escape the rising flood waters; because of the scale of the flooding and the fact that the water took so long to recede, many trees became cocooned in spiders webs. People in the area had never seen this phenomenon before, but they also reported that there were less mosquitos than they would have expected, given the amount of standing water that was left. Not being bitten by mosquitoes was one small blessing for people that had lost everything in the floods. ...
In 2005 Swedish millionaire Johan Eliasch purchased a 400,000-acre (1,600 km2) area of land in the heart of the Amazon rainforest from a logging company for the sole purpose of it’s preservation.
Johan Eliasch, born in Sweden, is the Chairman and CEO of Head N.V. the global sporting goods group, and is the former Special Representative of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
In 2005, Johan Eliasch created the Rainforest Trust and purchased for preservation purposes a 400,000-acre (1,600 km2) rainforest area in the heart of the Amazon rainforest near the Madeira River. Johan Eliasch co-founded Cool Earth in 2006, a charity he co-chairs, which sponsors local NGO's to conserve endangered rainforest and has over 120,000 registered members. ...
Australian researchers have grown a kidney from human stem cells. The rudimentary kidney resembles that of a 5-week-old embryo, but it could be used to test drugs. The technology could also help produce kidneys for transplantation.
Chang’e-3 and the lunar rover Yutu (Jade Rabbit) landed on the lunar surface on December 14 at about 1:11 pm UTC. This is the first successful landing on the moon by any spacecraft in more than 30 years.
Snow has fallen in Cairo, Egypt for the first time in over a century. Other countries including Turkey, Syria and Israel have also been suffering the worst winter storm in decades.
A panel of respected physicians has written a major paper advising the public against 'wasting money' on multivitamins. Their report analysed 27 clinical studies: "We believe that the case is closed — supplementing the diet of well-nourished adults with (most) mineral or vitamin supplements has no clear benefit and might even be harmful. These vitamins should not be used for chronic disease prevention. Enough is enough."
The world's newest island, Niijima, keeps on growing, and is now eight times the size it was when it first emerged off the coast of Japan on 20 November. Having merged with its neighbouring uninhabited island, Nishino Shima - which sat 500 metres away in November - the pair bears an uncanny resemblance to Snoopy the cartoon dog.
Lions are now critically endangered in West Africa. Although they once ranged continuously from Senegal to Nigeria, new research has revealed only around 250 adult lions survive in the region, and only one of the four isolated populations contains more than 50 individuals.
The dragon’s blood tree (Dracaena draco) has a thick red resin that makes the plant appear to be bleeding when it is cut. These subtropical plants form huge umbrella-like canopies and can grow for hundreds of years, but they are currently listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN due to the trademark resin being used in traditional medicine, violin staining, and even for embalming the dead.
The genome of the 7,000-year-old hunter-gatherer has given scientists unprecedented insight into modern humans before the rise of farming, and overturns the popular image of light-skinned European hunter-gatherers. The DNA was taken from the wisdom tooth of the Mesolithic man and revealed he was probably lactose intolerant, had more difficulty digesting starchy foods than today's humans, and carried mutations that boost the immune system against nasty illnesses previously thought to only be introduced to humans by farm animals. ...
The culling policy aims to reduce shark attacks by killing white, bull and tiger sharks over 3 metres long off the coast of Western Australia. Research on previous culls reveal no scientific evidence that destroying sharks reduces attacks, and the cull has caused outrage from conservation groups. Two experts from the University of Western Australia explain: "Pre-emptively killing sharks is a response based on emotion rather than of scientific data."
In a world’s first researchers have converted adult cells into stem cells that regenerated into different cell types of human skin and hair follicles. The follicles produced hair shaft and could be used for hair regeneration. Is this the end of baldness?
Co-owned by Google, NRG Energy and BrightSource Energy, the giant Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California's Mojave desert will produce 392 MW of solar power at full capacity - enough electricity to provide 140,000 Californian homes with clean energy. The plant contains 300,000 large computer-controlled mirrors that help focus sunlight to the top of three 140m-high towers, where water is turned into steam to power turbines.
Researchers have reanimated an ancient, giant virus from 30,000-year-old Siberian permafrost that is almost not of this world--well, the world as we know it now, anyway. “Sixty percent of its gene content doesn’t resemble anything on earth,” reported one of the study's authors.
Thanks to deforestation, road building, and other human activity, these sweet little guys have become so rare that in 1997, just 102 Vancouver Island marmots remained in the wild. But conservation efforts have brought them back from the brink, with around 300 captive-bred individuals released into the wild in 2010, and 26 wild litters born last year, producing 80 pups. Researchers state that climate change may further reduce or impact subalpine habitats along with associated forage plants.
In recognition of the manta ray and the crucial role it plays in the world's oceans, Indonesia has declared the world's biggest manta ray sanctuary. For the first time, manta ray hunting and export is banned within the entire 3 million square kilometre area of Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone.
A new study has found that oxytocin alters anorexic patients' tendencies to fixate on images of high calorie foods and larger body shapes. The research presents a possible pathway for future treatments of anorexia nervosa, which has one of the highest mortality rates of all mental illnesses.
Autism may start during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, a new study showed. The researchers found patches of altered brain cells in the frontal and temporal cortexes of children with autism, important brain areas for social interaction and language. Although the scientists still have to figure out what causes these patches of brain cells, genetic factors and conditions inside the womb could be the culprits.
Surgeons have successfully replaced a patient’s skull with a 3D-printed version. Three months after the operation the patient, a 22-year-old woman with a rare disorder that thickened her skull and gave her poor eyesight as well as headaches, has recovered her eyesight and has gone back to work.
The International Court of Justice has just ruled Japan's whaling program illegal and not for scientific purposes. The ruling of this case, which was brought against Japan by Australia, means Japan must cease all special permits and refrain from issuing any more.
Meet Solar Impulse 2, an aircraft that can fly for up to five days straight and will reportedly be able to fly around the world. The plane is an impressive feat of engineering, with wings as wide as a 747, but weighing only a little more than the average car. Tests of the aircraft will begin in a few weeks, with the round-the-world attempt planned for next March.
Beijing subway owners have begun to offer its passengers the ability to pay their bills with plastic bottles, thus helping to preserve the environment and helping the pocket of every traveller.
What's worse than a tornado in your front yard? A firenado.
A woman in the US captured this incredible photo of a natural phenomenon known as a firewhirl. First documented by Australian scientists in 2003, firewhirls can grow to 30 metres tall.
Scientists identified sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon -- some of the key chemical ingredients for life -- in the powder Curiosity drilled out of a sedimentary rock near an ancient stream bed in Gale Crater on the Red Planet last month.
After decades of dreaming and preparation, scientists have finally put the Rosetta spacecraft into orbit around a comet. And now the Rosetta is about to land!
No pun intended, but nut allergies are getting more and more common. Now, new research suggests that by changing the protein structure of nuts, we may be able to create hypoallergenic nuts that even the severely allergic can eat. Which begs the question, would you risk eating these chemically modified nuts?
After being bitten by the lone star tick, people in the US are experiencing severe allergic reactions to red meat - including hives, swelling, trouble breathing and vomiting. So pretty much every meat lover's worst nightmare.
A six-metre tall boulder that bounced down a slope on Mars has left a mark visible from space. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took a snapshot of the 500-metre long trail in July.
Say hello to the Blackberry Passport. This killer phone sports a huge 4.5 inch 1440x1440 LCD display, massive 3450 mAH battery, and a capacitive touch keyboard. According to its makers, the phone's resolution is perfect for seeing images accurately, and any doctor who wants to look at detailed x-rays on their smartphone couldn’t do any better than the device’s 4.5-inch screen.
Trampe is the world's first bicycle lift intended for urban areas. The prototype was built in 1993. During its 15 years of operation, Trampe pushed more than 200.000 cyclists up the 130 m long hill Brubakken in Trondheim, Norway.
A mind-blowing swarm of Velella velella - relatives of jellyfish - appeared off the coast of Washington state in the US last week, and researchers aren't entirely sure why.
Human trials are now planned. If successful, the simple, cheap HIV vaccine could be taken as a probiotic-like drink.
The new vaccine works in the opposite way to most vaccines - by suppressing, rather than triggering, an immune response. This is because HIV and SIV actually require immune cells known as CD4 T-cells in order to proliferate and establish an infection in the body.
Japan may be short on land, but that's not stopping the country from investing in renewable energy. Two floating solar farms are scheduled to be operational by April 2015, and they'll eventually become part of a 60 megawatt floating solar network.
Right now, people with pacemakers need to go into surgery every time the battery dies. But this new pacemaker is based on the mechanics of a self-winding wristwatch, drawing all its power from the patient's beating heart.
Blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus), the largest animals on Earth, were nearly hunted to extinction in the last century. But now, the population of California blue whales is almost as high as it was in the early 1900s - a recovery that should be celebrated as a conservation success story!
A federal judge has passed down a ruling on the largest accidental marine oil spill (the Deepwater Horizon oil spill) in history, calling major players British Petroleum (BP) "reckless", and Transocean and Halliburton "negligent". BP is ordered to pay 17.6 billion for the damages it caused in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Let's just hope they don't end up spending that money on their military instead.
A new robotic 'smart suit' has been developed by FastCompany to give anyone from soldiers and fire-fighters to hiking enthusiasts and the elderly a bit of superhuman strength. It's lightweight, flexible, and can be worn under clothes.
According to its makers, "the suit works by mimicking the action of the leg muscles and tendons when a person walks, with an actuator system giving small, carefully timed assistance at the ankle and hip joints without restricting the wearer’s movement. The breakthrough is in the 'structured functional textiles' that transmit those applied forces all over the body during natural movement. Wearable, flexible sensors integrate into the fabric to gauge the body’s movement and provide support at the right moment." ...
These tiny chips have been designed to bring the capability of the Internet to everyday objects in your home. Think smart light globes, smart vacuum cleaners, and smart coffee makers, all communicating wirelessly with each other to cater to your every whim.
The collider will be twice the size of the Large Hadron Collider outside Geneva in Switzerland. At 80 km in circumference, it could encircle the whole island of Manhattan.
Desolate, frozen and black as coal - welcome to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. This is one of the closest colour images ever of a comet, taken from just 29 kilometres away by the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft. Rosetta will soon land on this rugged surface.
This is a full-disk image of Mars, showing nearly an entire hemisphere of the Red Planet. It was captured this week by India's Mars Orbiter Mission and shows a storm brewing in the north (around the 11 o'clock position).
To simulate life on Mars, a six-person crew will live in a dome in the middle of the desert—with almost no connection to the outside world—for eight straight months.
Hate winter? Scientists believe they've found the protein that causes winter-specific depression, a psychological condition known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD). According to study conducted by the University of Copenhagan in Denmark, people who develop SAD have less access to serotonin, the brain signalling compound associated with feelings of well-being and happiness, as the days get shorter in the winter months. This is because their brains ramp up the production of a transporter protein called serotonin transporter, which transports serotonin into the nerve cells where it’s not active.
The world’s first artificial cow's milk is being developed in an effort to put a more environmentally sustainable option on the market. Scientists say 'Muufri' milk will taste as good and be just as nutritious as regular milk, and it'll be on sale next year.
Users of magic mushrooms often report altered states of consciousness and a synesthesia-like melding of the senses. Now, scientists may have figured out why: Psilocybin changes the brain’s wiring, creating a hyperconnected brain that contains links between regions that don’t normally communicate with each other.
Communication between brain networks in people given psilocybin (right) or a non-psychedelic compound (left).
You might think that it's better to be well-fed rather than starving when you're trying to make a big, life-changing decision, but new research suggests quite the opposite.
According to a research study conducted by Utrecht University in the Netherlands, people who were hungry because of having fasted overnight perform better on a complex decision task than sated people. (Click here to read the research). This provides a first piece of evidence that the hot state of hunger improves, rather than compromises, advantageous decision making. Their experimental evidence suggests that the "hot state of hunger promoted rather than compromised complex decisions with uncertain outcomes that are advantageous in the long run as hungry participants were ...
No one wants to be sad.So why do we love listening to sad songs so much? New research suggests that we're drawn to sad songs because they evoke mostly positive emotions, which is great for our mental health.
According to the study published by the journal PLOS One, researchers found that "a wide range of complex and partially positive emotions, such as nostalgia, peacefulness, tenderness, transcendence, and wonder," were brought out in the participants that took part in the study by sad music. These are emotions are all healthy, feel-good emotions. The researchers concluded that "Music-evoked sadness plays a role in well-being, by providing consolation as well as regulating negative moods and emotions."
The microbes that live in your body outnumber your cells 10 to one. Recent studies suggest these tiny organisms help us digest food and maintain our immune system. Now, researchers have discovered yet another way microbes keep us healthy: They are needed for closing the blood-brain barrier, a molecular fence that shuts out pathogens and molecules that could harm the brain.
For all those doubters out there, this one is for you.
Lunar Mission One, which was announced today at the Royal Society in London, will be the UK’s first trip to the moon. It’s an exploratory robotic mission that hopes to see a probe land on the moon’s South Pole within the next ten years, should funding allow. The aim of the venture is to drill through the surface, reaching a depth of at least 20 meters, but perhaps as deep as 100 meters.
By analyzing this 4.5 billion year old rock that has been shielded from cosmic radiation and meteor bombardment, scientists hope to increase our understanding of the origins and evolution of the moon, solar system and even our planet. Furthermore, it should also inform us of the practicality of a permanent ...
Being a person that dislikes the smell or sight of blood, it makes me happy to read that a product that could prevent the leakage of blood has been created. The inventors call it "vetigel", but the "Band Aid of the Future" seems to be a better name. This product is a plant based adhesive that can heal wounds and clot blood within seconds. It has a great potential to revolutionize the Emergency Medicine field.
"The gel activates blood’s natural clotting process and is made with biocompatible components that can be absorbed directly into the body. By reassembling onto a wound site, VETIGEL mimics the body’s extracellular matrix and accelerates the production of fibrin, which enables the body to clot rapidly."
Good news for pain-pill poppers: Ibuprofen (found in Advil) may help you live longer. A new study shows that it increases life span in lab organisms, raising the possibility it does the same thing in people.
To put ibuprofen through its paces, biochemist Michael Polymenis of Texas A&M University, College Station, and colleagues gave yeast, nematode worms, and fruit flies doses of the drug that are comparable to what humans would take. The life spans of all three types of organisms increased if they received ibuprofen, the researchers report today in PLOS Genetics. In yeast, for instance, ibuprofen stretched life span by 17%, half of what researchers can produce by cutting the cells’ food supply (another approach to increasing longevity). ...
I've been advocating this for years. Just because you're a doctor and you're on TV, doesn't make you a know-it-all. Researchers from the University of Alberta have found that half the advice on Dr. Oz is wrong or has no evidence to back it up. In fact, on average, the shows give their viewers around 12 different recommendations per episode. But only half of them are supported by research. Just comes to show that people will believe anything they see on TV. When there is money to be made and an agenda to be pushed, lies will follow. ...
India’s tiger population has risen from 1,706 individuals to 2,226 in the past four years, officials have reported. With the global population teetering around 3,000 individuals, this kind of growth is incredible.
When a person dies from cancer, the culprit isn't usually the original tumor - it's metastasis, the spread of cancer cells throughout the body. Now, researchers have managed to package a drug in nanoparticles (a microscopic particle with at least one dimension less than 100 nm) so that it can target these cancer cells without, crucially, interfering with normal cells - and report that they've stopped cancer cells from spreading in mice. Nanoparticle research is currently an area of intense scientific research, due to a wide variety of potential applications in biomedical, optical, and electronic fields.
Researchers have discovered that sun exposure gives skin cells a postsunshine hangover that lasts for hours. In fact, UV rays damage skin cells for hours after you've stepped out of the sun - and even if you're in complete darkness!
A new study finds that Mudskipper fish carry water in their mouths in order to eat prey outside of water. As seen in the video below, the hidden water is expelled at the moment of eating and it serves as a suction to move the water and their meal back toward the esophagus. The water suction, or “hydrostatic” tongue, may serve as the evolutionary bridge that allowed our aquatic ancestors to begin feeding on land.
Before you get any ideas that we're cloning wholly mammoths back into the 21st century, it's not that. An American geneticist has extracted DNA from the frozen remains of a long-dead mammoth found on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean (shown above), created a synthetic replica of it, and implanted it into elephant cells that have been isolated in a petri dish, using a new technique of DNA splicing that allows for unprecedented accuracy.
The technique used to join synthetic mammoth DNA fragments with the genetic code of an elephant is called CRISPR/Cas9, and while it’s been recently used to create transgenic organisms, this is the first time it’s been used on the DNA of an extinct organism.
An injectable drug, called ATX-101, currently being tested melts away "submental fat", better known as the double chin. According to its makers, ATX-101 can be injected in a clinic and takes just five minutes. It consists of deoxycholic acid, a naturally-occurring molecule that helps us break down fat, which effectively destroys the membranes of fat cells, causing them to burst and then be metabolised by the body. ...
If you've ever been to the Netherlands, you probably noticed one of two things a) nearly everyone rides a bike or b) you're a lot shorter than everyone there. According to statistics, this countries population has gained an impressive 20 centimeters in the past 150 years and is now officially the tallest on the planet. While a rich diet and good health care is always a recipe for physical growth, a new study suggests something else is going on as well: The Dutch growth spurt may be an example of human evolution in action.
The study, published online today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, shows that tall Dutch men on average have more children than their shorter counterparts, and that more of their children survive. That suggests ge ...
According to a recent editorial by three researchers specializing in human biology, while physical activity can stave off the effects of several common and debilitating diseases, when it comes to weight loss, the devil is in the diet.
"A recent report from the UK's Academy of Medical Royal Colleges described 'the miracle cure' of performing 30 min of moderate exercise, five times a week, as more powerful than many drugs administered for chronic disease prevention and management," they write. "Regular physical activity reduces the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia and some cancers by at least 30 percent. However, physical activity does not promote weight loss."
A possible vaccine for lung cancer! In a country known for cigars, lung cancer is one of the major killers in Cuba. So for the past 25 years, they’ve been developing Cimamax, which is now available freely to Cubans. According to a Phase II trial conducted in Cuba in 2008, lung cancer patients who received the vaccine lived an average of four to six months longer than those who didn’t. This led Japan and some European countries to trial the drug as well.
The drug itself is far from flawless and, by attacking a cell’s protein rather than the tumour directly, can have severe side effects, including – of all things - causing a higher risk of cancer. It might not be a "cure" in the traditional sense, but it's a way of managing the disease. What t ...
After a journey spanning nine years and almost 5 billion kilometres, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is closer than ever to everyone’s favourite former planet, Pluto. On 14 July 2015, New Horizons is expected to fly within 12,000 km of the lonely cosmic body - about the distance between Seattle and Sydney - zooming through the orbits of its five tiny moons.
NASA scientists have nominated eight potential new targets for a 2020 Mars mission. They're focusing on ancient river deltas and hot springs as sites that have the best chance of preserving signs of life on the red planet. New sites can still be considered, and mission engineers have yet to weigh in on the technical feasibility of landing the rover in the nominated sites.
At only eights years-old, Zion Harvey is the youngest person with a double hand transplant ever. Four teams of surgeons worked over 11 hours to complete the complicated operation. Zion lost both of his hands and feet when he contracted sepsis at age two and experienced multiple organ failures. When he was four, he received a kidney transplant from his mother, and leg prosthetics have enabled him to engage in many activities.
According to a new report published out of the UK, E-cigarettes are 95% less harmful to your health than normal cigarettes. When supported by a smoking cessation service, they help most smokers to quit tobacco altogether. They have also concluded that there is "no evidence" that they offer young people a gateway into smoking.
In fact, the review suggests that e-cigarettes may be contributing to falling smoking rates in the U.K., as 2.6 million adults are now thought to be using the product. They also found that almost all of these adults are ex-smokers, providing evidence that many people are not starting to use the devices after having never smoked in the first place, and instead are using them to either quit or cut down on tobacco. ...
These tropical arachnids known as selenopid spiders (pictured above) possess the rare ability to steer themselves in the air and jump between trees - an unexpected talent for spiders, which have no history of flight.
Researchers theorize that this behavior may have evolved because tree trunks are a far better place for a tree-dwelling spider than the forest floor, an unfamiliar territory crawling with creatures looking for a meal. ...
Since its discovery in 2010, researchers have been trying to solve the mystery of dark streaks that appear and disappear seasonally on the planet's surface (shown above). Scientists are now claiming that this phenomenon, known as the recurring slope lineae, is caused by a bath of saltwater. What is still unknown, however, is where the water is coming from, or if the chemistry is even right for supporting life.
Scientists have discovered evidence that homosexuality is not a lifestyle choice, but rather is rooted in a person’s biology. While specific genes have not been found, a male twin study reveals that homosexuality may be caused by chemical modifications that alter gene activity. As the fetus develops, certain genes get turned on or off depending the chemicals the fetus is exposed to. These chemicals don't necessarily have to be chemicals ingested or inhaled by the mother, but could be an imbalance in a hormone, such as testosterone. As adults, genes can also activate and deactivated based on our environment. More research is needed, but scientists stress that these findings shouldn’t be used to produce tests for homosexuality or a misguid ...
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft completed the first of three final flybys of Saturn’s icy moon, Enceladus. On October 14, Cassini passed within 1838 kilometers (1142 miles) of Enceladus, providing unprecedented views of the moon’s north polar region. What's more, researchers predict that is contains a global ocean lying beneath its icy crust. Researchers found the magnitude of the moon's very slight wobble, as it orbits Saturn, can only be accounted for if its outer ice shell is not frozen solid to its interior, meaning a global ocean must be present.
According to a new study published in Cell Metabolism, mice who spent their free time on a running wheel were better able to shrink tumors (a 50 percent reduction in tumor size) compared to their less active counterparts. Researchers found that the surge of adrenaline ( epinephrine) that comes with a high-intensity workout helped to move cancer-killing immune (NK) cells toward lung, liver, or skin tumors implanted into the mice.
While the research is hopeful for patients looking for inexpensive ways to manage their cancer, more needs to be learned about the effects of exercise on metastasis and longevity, as well as if the observations hold true in humans. Scientists also wants to explore the combined impact of anti-cancer treatments and ex ...
This week in Science, researchers led by genome sequencing pioneer Craig Venter report engineering a bacterium to have the smallest genome - and the fewest genes - of any freely living organism. Known as Syn 3.0, the new organism has a genome whittled down to the bare essentials needed to survive and reproduce, just 473 genes. However, the function of 149 of Syn 3.0's 473 genes remain unknown.
As Syn 3.0's name suggests, it’s not the first synthetic life made by Venter. In 2010, Venter's team reported that they had synthesized the sole chromosome of Mycoplasma mycoides - a bacterium with a relatively small genome - and transplanted it into a separate mycoplasma called M. capricolum, from which they had previously extracted the DNA. After s ...
Infant swaddling, an old practice that has recently gained popularity in the United States, may be linked to increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). A new review of 760 SIDS cases in the journal Pediatrics found that infants who were swaddled - wrapped in light cloth with only the head exposed - were about a third more likely to die from SIDS. The risk was higher among infants sleeping on their stomachs or sides, positions already known to be more dangerous for sleeping babies. SIDS risk among swaddled infants was also higher for children older than 6 months, suggesting that swaddling should be stopped when babies are able to start rolling over. The researchers cautioned that these results should be taken with a grain of salt ...
Mary Ann Franco, now 70 years old, lost here eyesight in 1995 when a car accident damaged her spine. More than two decades after the initial injury, she fell in her home and injured her neck, sending her to the hospital once again to seek treatment for pain in her arm and back. After doctors decided to perform surgery on her back to alleviate her pain, they happened to cure her blindness. It is suspected that her first injury caused a lack of blood flow to the brain that controls eyesight, and this operation restored it. Interestingly, Franco has been colour blind since birth, but the operation seems to have fixed that problem, too.
The spinal cords running down our spines carry a bundle of nerve tissue and other cells from the base of the b ...
Back in January, I reported that the periodic table would be getting an update because four new elements were discovered - finally, the new names have been penciled in. Nihonium, moscovium, tennessine, and oganesson will grace the blocks assigned to atomic numbers 113, 115, 117, and 118, said the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) today.
Nihonium, discovered by a Japanese team, means “the land of the rising sun,” while moscovium and tennessine are named after places near the labs where they were discovered (Moscow and Tennessee, of course). And oganesson recognizes the work of Russian chemist Yuri Oganessian. By tradition, the right to suggest a name for an element is granted to its discoverer, although IUPAC has ...
Stan Larkin (pictured on the right), who's now 25, was diagnosed with familial cardiomyopathy. This form of disease results in the heart having difficulty pumping enough blood through the body. Faced with a lack of compatible heart donors, Stan underwent an operation in 2014 to remove his failing heart and replace it with an external total artificial heart, dubbed the Freedom portable driver.
This battery-powered device uses compressed air to pump blood around the body in the same way a heart does, and as the name suggests, it is portable and only weighs 6 kilograms (13 pounds). The device does an incredible job at keeping the patient in a healthy condition while a donor heart becomes available, but it isn’t considered a long-term option. ...
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has just awarded Virginal Galactic their first operating license, allowing them to start using their SpaceShipTwo craft for commercial use - as soon as certain guidelines are met. This means that the company - owned by billionaire Richard Branson - will soon be able to shuttle paying passengers into space.
Other than making the flights legal, the license dictates the conditions required before Virgin Galactic can actually let any passengers on board SpaceShipTwo, which will be carried by White Knight Two (below) roughly 99 kilometres (62 miles) into the sky.
Once everything is squared away with the FAA, SpaceShipTwo - a spacecraft designed to hold two pilots and six passengers - will hitch a ride w ...
The world’s longest glass-bottomed bridge in China's Hunan Province, which opened just over two weeks ago has been closed to the public. The Brave Men’s Bridge is 984 feet long, and spans a 590-foot deep crevasse. People attempting to make the terrifying walk across resorted to closing their eyes, crawling, and holding on to the rope guide for dear life.
According to officials, the bridge is attracting too many tourist, deeming it unsafe. The glass floor is made up of a 24 millimeter (approximately one inch) thick glass, and there’s nothing but air below.
As part of Donald Trump's cabinet pick, Myron Ebell, who is a director at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and a prominent climate change skeptic, will lead the Environmental Protection Agency's administration.
While Ebell has had no formal scientific education, and makes no claim to be a scientist, his view is that if public decisions are to be made according to scientific findings, than they should be discussed democratically by all people, not just scientists. Unfortunately, in the realms of science, public opinion doesn't matter much unless you're discussing the ethics of a scientific matter.
Appointing Ebell doesn't mean the environment is under threat, as suggested by the disenfranchised, New York Times. The discussion on global w ...
Sky gazers will be treated to a rare convergence of celestial events on 31 January — a blue moon, a supermoon, and a total lunar eclipse, all in one. The phenomenon, which hasn’t happened since 1866, graces the sky when the second full moon of the month (known as a blue moon) is in its closest position to Earth, making it appear even larger than usual — a supermoon.
The seldom-seen event will be visible in western North America, Asia, Australia, and elsewhere across the Eastern Hemisphere. So, if you’re in one of those lucky locations and want to see an event that’s literally once in a blue moon, here’s your chance.
Finally, the world is paying attention to the dangers of consuming trans-fatty acids in food.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called all nations to rid foods of artificial trans-fats in the next five years. Artificial trans-fat is made by converting healthy unsaturated oils (those that are fluid at room temperature) into ones that are chemically more stable through a process known as hydrogenation(illustrated below). The food industry began using this deceptive technique in the 1950s to increase the shelf-life of perishable grocery items such as pastries, and fried foods sold at restaurants.
Numerous studies have linked these fats to an increase in cholesterol levels, which can lead to cardiovascular diseases. One of the reasons for ...
A fire which broke out on Sunday evening at the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro has ravaged some of the country’s most important scientific collections. Nearly 20 million items are now irreparably destroyed by what was started by either an electrical short-circuit due to budget cuts or a homemade paper hot-air balloon that may have landed on the roof, said Brazil's Culture Minister Sergio Leitao.
Having been founded before Brazil’s independence from Portugal 200 years ago (1808), the museum housed ancient Egypt, Greek, and Roman artifacts and important paleontology and natural history collections, including one of Latin America’s oldest human fossils: the 11,500-year-old skull called Luzia(shown below). The Luzia skull was colle ...
At roughly 6 billion kilometers from Earth, the image you see to your right is the farthest images ever taken.
The New Horizons spacecraft captured its first images on August 16 of the remote icy world nicknamed Ultima Thule (a traditional name of distant places beyond the known world), confirming that New Horizons is on track for its January 1 flyby around Pluto. With about 160 million kilometers to go — roughly the same distance as Earth is from the sun — the tiny world appears as no more than a faint speck in the probe’s camera.
Officially named 2014 MU69, Ultima Thule is part of the Kuiper Belt, a thick disk-shaped zone containing space debris left over from the formation of the planets 4.6 billion years ago. By sending New Horizons to t ...
An experimental "vaccine" for celiac disease is set to be tested in a new clinical trial to see if the treatment can protect patients with the condition from the effects of eating gluten — or, in other words, allow those patients to eat gluten safely.
The treatment, called Nexvax2 and made by the biotech company ImmusanT Inc., is a type of immunotherapy that aims to "reprogram" the immune system to be tolerant of gluten, the researchers said.
Celiac disease is a condition in which people's immune systems react abnormally to gluten — a protein found in wheat, rye and barley — and this reaction damages the lining of the small intestine. The condition affects about 1 out of every 100 people in the United States.
The residents of Utqiaġvik, Alaska (formerly known as Barrow), saw the final sunset for 2018 last Sunday. The city is currently in complete darkness until the sun rises on January 23, 2019, which is when residents begin to see touches of light over the horizon again (due to the refraction and scattering of the atmosphere).
Between November 18 and January 23, there is a decreasing amount of twilight each day (see illustration below) during the first half of the polar night, and on the winter solstice (around December 21 or December 22), civil twilight in Utqiagvik lasts for a mere 3 hours. By January 27 or 28, the sun rises completely over the horizon.
Utqiaġvik is one of the northernmost public communities in the world and is the northernmo ...
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