Signals from space to Earth using quantum technology could establish the reality of Einstein's worst fear, that the theory of relativity cannot be made compatible with quantum requirements. It is an open issue whether quantum laws, originally established to describe nature at the microscopic level of atoms, are also valid at the macroscopic level.
read more | digg story
Thursday, July 31, 2008
New Way To Weigh Giant Black Holes
How do you weigh the biggest black holes in the universe? One answer now comes from a completely new technique that astronomers have developed. By measuring a peak in the temperature of hot gas in the center of the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 4649, scientists have determined the mass of the galaxy's supermassive black hole.
read more | digg story
The tribe that lives without numbers
The 300-strong group use one term to quantify things between one and four and another for five or above, researchers found. 'It is often assumed counting is an innate part of human cognition,' said Prof Edward Gibson, of US university MIT.
read more | digg story
Biofuels, Food Prices and Global Warming Roundup
The current rate at which biofuels are falling out of favor is largely founded on biased ideologies, which have been shaped by widespread political and corporate agenda-pushing from all sides of the fence.
read more | digg story
Dance Club Stays Alive With Power Generating Floor
Believe it or not, this actually isn't the first power-generating dance floor to harness some of the pent up energy of club-goers, but it is apparently the first one to hit the UK, and hopefully a sign of more to come.
read more | digg story
To trust or not to trust: How the brain handles betrayal
The development of trust is an essential social tool. Bonds of trust are also extremely fragile, and a single act of betrayal can instantly erase years of trustworthy behavior. Recent research has attempted to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying trust behavior and investigate how the brain deals with breaches of trust.
read more | digg story
The 6th Great Mass Extinction is Happening as You Read This
It is a radical vision to many people, and the Wildlands Project expects that it will take at least 100 years to complete.
read more | digg story
Frogs With Disease-resistance Genes May Escape Extinction
As frog populations die off around the world, researchers have identified certain genes that can help the amphibians develop resistance to harmful bacteria and disease. The discovery may provide new strategies to protect frog populations in the wild.
read more | digg story
Major Discovery: Pathologists Have Found the Weakness of HIV
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) researchers at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston believe they have uncovered the Achilles heel in the armor of the virus that continues to kill millions. The weak spot is hidden in the HIV envelope protein gp120, which is essential for HIV attachment to host cells.
read more | digg story
Oil & Gas Collateral Damage: She Can Light Her Water on Fire
Jessica Ernst lives in the village of Rosebud, Alberta, East of Calgary. EnCana, a big oil & gas company, is operating close to her house. The photo above speaks for itself. Read on for her story.
read more | digg story
Water: The Forgotten Crisis
This year, the world and, in particular, developing countries and the poor have been hit by both food and energy crises. As a consequence, prices for many staple foods have risen by up to 100%. When we examine the causes of the food crisis, a growing population, changes in trade patterns, urbanization, dietary changes, biofuel production, and clima
read more | digg story
Forests to fall for food and fuel
Demand for land to grow food, fuel crops and wood is set to outstrip supply, leading to the probable destruction of forests, a report warns. The Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) says only half of the extra land needed by 2030 is available without eating into tropical forested areas.
read more | digg story
Photos of Lifeforms Under a Microscope [PICS]
Photomicrography is the art of capturing images in a microscope. The primary medium for photomicrography was film until the past decade when digital imaging became cheaper and easier to use. Here are some photomicrographs from a 2007 Nikon competition. Most of them feature lifeforms although there are a handful of pics on inanimate objects.
read more | digg story
Hunger Can Make You Happy
When our bodies notice we need more calories, levels of a hormone called ghrelin increase. Ghrelin is known to spur hunger, but new research suggests this may be a side effect of its primary job as a stress-buster.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
What We Say Without Words (Slideshow)
Former FBI agent Joe Navarro describes how our torsos, hands, feet and legs frequently communicate emotions that are not put into words.
read more | digg story
Will Our Future Brains Be Smaller?
The speed at which we react to threatening situations can have life or death implications. In the more primitive past, it could have meant escaping a wild animal; today it might mean swerving to avoid a head-on car crash.
read more | digg story
What Happens When Human Rights Are Given to Nonhumans?
Spain’s recent vote to give limited human rights to Great Apes is a great start at breaking down the species barriers, under which humans are regarded as godlike and the rest of the animal kingdom are treated like dirt. But some are aghast. Catholic bishops attacked the vote as undermining a divine will that placed humans above animals.
read more | digg story
The Japanese Town Living in a World Without Waste
Kamikatsu may be a backwater in the wooded hills and rice terraces of south-eastern Japan but it's become a world leader on waste policy.There are no waste collections from households at all. People have to take full responsibility for everything they throw away. The Mayor has urged politicians around the world to follow his lead
read more | digg story
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Jupiter's Third Red Spot Destroyed
As Jupiter reached opposition earlier this week, it put on a spectacular show of cannibalism for anyone viewing with modest telescopes.
read more | digg story
Water Discovered for First Time in Ancient Moon Samples
Water has been found conclusively for the first time inside ancient moon samples brought back by Apollo astronauts. The discovery may force scientists to rethink the lunar past and future, although uncertainty remains about how much water exists and whether future explorers could extract it.
read more | digg story
Amazing 3D Renderings of the Inner Workings of Your Body (Video)
"Hybrid's illustrations and animations extend beyond the boundary of highly informative graphics: they enter the realm of high art, achieving a combination of Truth and Beauty."-Ed Bell
read more | digg story
Rare 'Star-Making Machine' Discovered In a Distant Universe
Astronomers have uncovered an extreme stellar machine -- a galaxy in the very remote universe pumping out stars at a surprising rate of up to 4,000 per year. In comparison, our own Milky Way galaxy turns out an average of just 10 stars per year. The discovery goes against the most common theory of galaxy formation.
read more | digg story
Flying Saucer Power Source Discovered: Ionized Air
What ultra-advanced anti-gravity system allows UFOs to fly in such a bizarre way? Apparently it's ionized air. An engineering professor at the University of Florida has it all figured out, and he's going to build his own flying saucer.
read more | digg story
Top 10 Newly Discovered Species
Thousands of species were discovered or "newly described" in the past year, according to the annual "State of Observed Species" report produced by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University and an international committee of taxonomists. From among those thousands, here 10 you can't miss!
read more | digg story
Magnetic Fields As Youve Never Seen Them Before [pics+video]
A stunning new film shot at the NASA laboratory at UC Berkeley reveals the secret lives of magnetic fields as they morph and twist in space - but are we observing a scientific experiment, the universe in flux or a documentary of a fictional world?
read more | digg story
A Neuroscientist on the Importance of Pleasure in our Lives
'What do people find most pleasurable in their daily lives?' Sex. But No. 2 is being with friends. Most everything we find pleasurable, including eating and drinking, is so much better when doing it with someone else.
read more | digg story
Climate crisis breakthrough? Artificial photosynthesis
Climate crisis breakthrough? Artificial photosynthesis "a step nearer" The quest for a way to artificially recreate photosynthesis may be a step closer, thanks to a breakthrough by a team of Chinese researchers, who are investigating the use of carbon 'nanotubes'.
read more | digg story
Children Are Naturally Prone To Be Empathic And Moral
Children between the ages of seven and 12 appear to be naturally inclined to feel empathy for others in pain, according to researchers at the University of Chicago, who used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scans to study responses in children.
read more | digg story
How Your Brain Can Control Time
The three methods your mind uses to reverse, speed, and even slow the minutes.
read more | digg story
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Really Bad Weather. Pics from Nat'l Severe Storms Lab [PICS]
1st Gallery is of Lightening. If interested, can access other weather galleries; Tornadoes gallery has some great stuff. Galleries are uneven -- some pics are great, others less so. But all can be accessed in high res. Overall a good collection.
read more | digg story
Life In The Milky Way: Do Galactic Cycles Influence Earth
Do Galactic Cycles Influence Earth's Biological History? Research revealed that the rise and fall of species on Earth seems to be driven by the undulating motions of our solar system as it travels through the Milky Way. Scientists believe that this cosmic force may offer the answer to some of the biggest questions in our Earth biological history.
read more | digg story
30 Abosultely Incredible Abstract Satellite Images of Earth
“It is impossible to give a clear account of the world, but art can teach us to reproduce it - just as the world reproduces itself in the course of its eternal gyrations.” Albert Camus
read more | digg story
3 Ideas That Are Pushing the Edge of Science
Sperm-powered medical nanobots that can clear blood clots and prevent strokes. "Focus" fusion power that's ridiculously cheap and safe. A model of the universe with four dimensions of space—and two dimensions of time.
read more | digg story
The Electronics Junkyard Dismantlers of Guiyu
Guiyu was once a peaceful rice-growing village located in the eastern province of Guangdong, southern China – that is - until a surge of broken computers and laptops arrived from the Western World. Since then, Guiyu has been proclaimed the World’s electronic-waste capital.
read more | digg story
Breakthrough: Fake DNA Could Power Faster Computers
Chemists claim to have created the world's first DNA molecule made almost entirely of artificial parts. The finding could lead to improvements in gene therapy, futuristic nano-sized computers, and other high-tech advances, the Japanese researchers say.
read more | digg story
How Scientists Brought Magic Mushrooms Into the Mainstream
For a time, it seemed that convincing America's premier research institutions to fund or sponsor research on hallucinogenic drugs was nearly impossible. In fact, the recent Journal of Pharmacology study on magic mushroom effects represents a 30-year effort to rebuild legitimate psychedelic research programs from the ashes of 1960.
read more | digg story
Stunning Images of Meteors Who Crash Landed on Earth [PICS]
Meteors striking the surface of the earth leave behind an otherworldly mark. The most notorious of them — an enigmatic explosion that took place above Siberia on June 30, 1908 — is the inspiration for a gallery of striking photographs.
read more | digg story
Quantum Physicists Snap First "Ghost Photos"
Scientists funded by the Air Force have used quantum entanglement - in which pairs of particles continue to interact even after they are spatially separated - to snap a picture of a tin solider without aiming a camera directly at the object.
read more | digg story
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Dr. Dean Ornish: Your genes are not your fate - TED
Dean Ornish shares new research that shows how adopting healthy lifestyle habits can affect a person at a genetic level. For instance, he says, when you live healthier, eat better, exercise, and love more, your brain cells actually increase.
read more | digg story
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
