'Tatooine-like' double-star systems can host planets
A new study shows that planetary systems can form and survive in the chaotic environment around pairs of stars.
A team reports in Science the discovery of two planets orbiting a pair of stars - a so-called binary. Gravitational disturbances generated by stellar pairs are thought to be very severe for any orbiting planets. Nasa's Kepler space telescope found two small planets around a pair of low-mass stars. Such systems have particular significance for science fiction fans. In the Star Wars films, Luke Skywalker's home planet of Tatooine orbits a binary star. |  |
How to learn in your sleep
It sounds like every student's dream: research published today in Nature Neuroscience shows that we can learn entirely new information while we snooze
Anat Arzi of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and her colleagues used a simple form of learning called classical conditioning to teach 55 healthy participants to associate odours with sounds as they slept. |  |
How Looking to Animals Can Improve Human Medicine
If humans and animals experience some of the same injuries, diseases and disorders (and they do), then why don’t doctors more often seek the advice of veterinarians and animal experts?
It is a good question, and one that Barbara Natterson-Horowitz asks in her new book, Zoobiquity, co-authored by Kathryn Bowers.
“Engineers already seek inspiration from the natural world, a field called biomimetics,” says Natterson-Horowitz. “Now it’s medicine’s turn.”
It is a good question, and one that Barbara Natterson-Horowitz asks in her new book, Zoobiquity, co-authored by Kathryn Bowers.
“Engineers already seek inspiration from the natural world, a field called biomimetics,” says Natterson-Horowitz. “Now it’s medicine’s turn.”
Chimp 'Secret Handshakes' May Be Cultural
Chimpanzees that engage in unusual hand-holding behavior during grooming may be showing off a little culture, new research suggests.
These chimp handshakes, which are seen only among some of the primates, seem to differ from group to group in ways that aren't dependent on genetics or environment. That leaves cultural differences between groups as a possible explanation for why and how the hand-holding occurs. |  |
Why Humans Give Birth to Helpless Babies
Human babies enter the world utterly dependent on caregivers to tend to their every need. Although newborns of other primate species rely on caregivers, too, human infants are especially helpless because their brains are comparatively underdeveloped. Indeed, by one estimation a human fetus would have to undergo a gestation period of 18 to 21 months instead of the usual nine to be born at a neurological and cognitive development stage comparable to that of a chimpanzee newborn. Anthropologists have long thought that the size of the pelvis has limited human gestation length. New research may challenge that view.
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How Video Games Could Improve Our Vision
The developmental psychologist Daphne Maurer made headlines this year with research suggesting that people born with cataracts could improve their eyesight by playing Medal of Honor, the “first-person shooter” video game. But her fame goes far beyond the video screen.
Dr. Maurer, 56, director of the Visual Development Lab at McMaster University in Ontario, is an author, with her husband, Charles, of the pioneering 1988 book “The World of the Newborn,” an inventory of what babies sense and experience. In recent years she has been directing a study tracking infants born with visual impairments into later life. This longitudinal study is her attempt to learn how early sensory deprivation affects vision over a lifetime. We spoke in person earlier this year and again by telephone last month. An edited and condensed version of the two conversations follows. |  |
Earth supports one-third less life than previously thought
The total mass of life on Earth may be one-third less than thought, altering how active we think life on our planet is, researchers say.
Past estimates of how much life there is on Earth suggested living organisms store about 1 trillion tons of carbon, of which about 30 percent dwells in single-celled microbes in the ocean floor, and about 55 percent rests in land plants. However, it turns out previous estimates of the amount of life in the ocean floor were based on samples taken in very nutrient-rich areas, such as close to shore. About half the world's ocean is extremely nutrient-poor, meaning that comparably little in the way of life should be found there. |  |
Big Chem, Big Harm?
NEW research is demonstrating that some common chemicals all around us may be even more harmful than previously thought. It seems that they may damage us in ways that are transmitted generation after generation, imperiling not only us but also our descendants.
Yet following the script of Big Tobacco a generation ago, Big Chem has, so far, blocked any serious regulation of these endocrine disruptors, so called because they play havoc with hormones in the body’s endocrine system.
One of the most common and alarming is bisphenol-A, better known as BPA. The failure to regulate it means that it is unavoidable. BPA is found in everything from plastics to canned food to A.T.M. receipts. More than 90 percent of Americans have it in their urine.
Yet following the script of Big Tobacco a generation ago, Big Chem has, so far, blocked any serious regulation of these endocrine disruptors, so called because they play havoc with hormones in the body’s endocrine system.
One of the most common and alarming is bisphenol-A, better known as BPA. The failure to regulate it means that it is unavoidable. BPA is found in everything from plastics to canned food to A.T.M. receipts. More than 90 percent of Americans have it in their urine.
Cannabis Carbon Footprint: Marijuana Industry's Environmental Impact
Debate over the War on Drugs and the legality of marijuana persists in the U.S., as thousands recently rallied in Seattle for legalization and millions of dollars have been raised in support of legalization measures in two states. Yet an often overlooked part of the debate is marijuana's environmental impact -- what is the carbon footprint of cannabis?
According to a 2011 report, indoor marijuana growing may account for one percent of the entire country's electricity consumption. The independent report, by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researcher Evan Mills, Ph.D., notes that this energy use costs about $6 billion annually. The report also claims that the carbon dioxide pollution from this electricity use "plus associated transportation fuels equals that of 3 million cars.".
According to a 2011 report, indoor marijuana growing may account for one percent of the entire country's electricity consumption. The independent report, by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researcher Evan Mills, Ph.D., notes that this energy use costs about $6 billion annually. The report also claims that the carbon dioxide pollution from this electricity use "plus associated transportation fuels equals that of 3 million cars.".
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Argentinian politicians unveil plan to shoot seagulls that attack whales
Saving the whales is something Argentinians take so seriously that authorities in Patagonia have launched a 100-day plan to shoot seagulls that have learned to attack the big mammals as they surface to breathe.
Environmentalists say the plan is misguided. They say humans are the real problem, creating so much garbage that the gull population has exploded. Both sides agree that what was bizarre animal behaviour a decade ago has now become a real hazard for threatened southern right whales in one of their prime birthing grounds, turning whale-watching from a magical experience to something from a horror movie. |  |
Underwater robots to 'repair' Scotland's coral reefs
Underwater robots tasked with saving coral reefs are being developed at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland.
Dubbed "coralbots", they are being designed to work in groups, in a similar manner to bees and ants. The team is still "training" the software that will control the bots to "recognise" corals and distinguish them from other sea objects. Corals are easily damaged by pollution and destructive fishing practices, and it takes decades for them to re-grow. |  |
Archaeologists discover ancient theater masks in Turkey
The chance finding of a Stone Age toy car has led archaeologists in Turkey to even more finds. While excavating near the village of Girnavaz, located in the southeastern Turkish province of Mardin, archaeologists discovered several bronze and iron masks- the first of their kind to be found in Turkey.
The Roman period masks appear to have belonged to a traveling theater group that came to the area two thousand years ago. The strong Roman influence seen in the masks design has led archaeologists to believe that the actors themselves came to the province from the Rome. It is unclear how or why the masks would have been left behind. |  |
Hidden depths of Iraq and mankind's majestic past
In 1978, during a bitterly cold winter on Jabal Hamrin, a hilly ridge in central-eastern Iraq, a young British archaeologist was investigating a mystery.
Dr Robert Killick, 23, was part of the British archaeological expedition excavating a 2300BC Bronze Age grave believed to belong to a chieftain. In the 4 by 5 metre grave, the archaeologists dug up the kind of items one would expect inside most graves of an era that believed in life after death - more than 50 pottery vessels, several spearheads and other weapons. In addition there were the remains of a chariot, for the dead warrior to drive majestically into the other world. |  |
Israel Ancient Jewelry Uncovered In Archaeological Dig
TEL AVIV, Israel -- Israeli archaeologists have discovered a rare trove of 3,000-year-old jewelry, including a ring and earrings, hidden in a ceramic jug near the ancient city of Megiddo, where the New Testament predicts the final battle of Armageddon.
Archaeologists who unearthed the jug during excavations at the site in 2010 left it in a laboratory while they waited for a molecular analysis of what was inside. When they were finally able to clean it, pieces of gold jewelry – a ring, earrings, and beads – dating to around 1100 B.C. poured out. |  |
Source Of Loud Boom In Foothills A Mystery
EL DORADO COUNTY (CBS13) – People from all over El Dorado County say they’re hearing loud booms several times a week, but there are many theories on what is causing them.
“I thought it was thunder,” said one person.
“It’s definitely not thunder; too consistent. I thought it was just mining,” said another person.
“I always considered them to be sonic booms from flying aircrafts for years,” said Loring Brunius, owner of Sierra Rock Diamond Quarry.
“I thought it was thunder,” said one person.
“It’s definitely not thunder; too consistent. I thought it was just mining,” said another person.
“I always considered them to be sonic booms from flying aircrafts for years,” said Loring Brunius, owner of Sierra Rock Diamond Quarry.
Once, the future was spaceflight. Now it’s cat videos and status updates
It’s an immensely strange thing, the end of the space age. Imagine telling the vast audience who, in 1969, watched a live broadcast of Neil Armstrong stepping onto the moon that they would lose interest in the endeavour within three years.
Spaceflight was the very embodiment of the future, yet the moon program came to a quiet end. Over the decades, manned spaceflight went from a defining human achievement to a very expensive niche interest. Those viewers may or may not have recognized that the marvel that was going to describe their futures wasn’t on the moon, but right in front of them: the broadcast itself. |  |
The Mystery at the Heart of This Year's Record-Setting Arctic Ice Melt
You have probably heard that the Arctic has less sea ice right now than humans have ever recorded. The new record, set yesterday, beat the previous low, which was measured in September 2007.
"By itself it's just a number, and occasionally records are going to get set," said National Snow and Ice Data Center scientist Walt Meier in an official statement. "But in the context of what's happened in the last several years and throughout the satellite record, it's an indication that the Arctic sea ice cover is fundamentally changing."
There are two odd things about this sad record of global change.
"By itself it's just a number, and occasionally records are going to get set," said National Snow and Ice Data Center scientist Walt Meier in an official statement. "But in the context of what's happened in the last several years and throughout the satellite record, it's an indication that the Arctic sea ice cover is fundamentally changing."
There are two odd things about this sad record of global change.
China's Antarctic Astronomy Base in Active Search for Alien Life
Chinese astronomers are actively searching for Earth-like planets using survey instruments in Antarctica, as they believe efforts to seek an extra-solar planet that that harbors life will soon be rewarded. "It's highly possible that human beings might find such a planet in the coming few years," said Wang Lifan, director of the Chinese Center for Antarctic Astronomy. "Such planets likely exist in the Milky Way, with a possible distance of thousands of light years from us."
Chinese astronomers installed the first of three Antarctic Survey Telescopes (AST3-1) at Dome Argus, located at the highest elevation on the Antarctic continent, at the beginning of the year. One of its primary missions is to search for extra-solar planets suitable for life. |  |
In the Victorian Age, astronomy and nudity went hand in hand [NSFW]
Near the end of the nineteenth century there was a brief vogue among artists for mixing astronomical subjects and hot naked women. The foremost among these, the Spanish painter Luis Falero, had his work used in popular science texts, and spawned a number of imitators.
Warning: NSFW artworks below! Born in Toledo in 1851, Falero studied art, chemistry and mechanical engineering in Paris. Deciding that the last two were too dangerous, he decided to focus on painting. He never lost his interest in science, however. Especially astronomy. Many of his paintings combine astronomical subjects with nude women — a combination of his two great passions. |  |
Climate Change Killed Egypt's Pyramid Builders
The drought parching the United States is one of the worst in the nation's history, but it hasn't been as destructive as the drought that may have withered ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom. Pollen and charcoal buried in the Nile Delta 4,200 years ago tell the tale of a drought of literally Biblical proportions associated with the fall of the pyramid builders.
"Even the mighty builders of the ancient pyramids more than 4,000 years ago fell victim when they were unable to respond to a changing climate," said U.S. Geological Survey Director Marcia McNutt in a press release. "This study illustrates that water availability was the climate-change Achilles Heel then for Egypt, as it may well be now, for a planet topping seven billion thirsty people." |  |
Archaeologists discover ancient theater masks in Turkey
The chance finding of a Stone Age toy car has led archaeologists in Turkey to even more finds. While excavating near the village of Girnavaz, located in the southeastern Turkish province of Mardin, archaeologists discovered several bronze and iron masks- the first of their kind to be found in Turkey.
The Roman period masks appear to have belonged to a traveling theater group that came to the area two thousand years ago. The strong Roman influence seen in the masks design has led archaeologists to believe that the actors themselves came to the province from the Rome. It is unclear how or why the masks would have been left behind. |  |
Lidar archaeology shines a light on hidden sites
If you think archaeologists spend all the time with trowel in hand in a muddy ditch then it’s time to think again. More and more are using sophisticated aircraft-mounted lasers, and it is opening up a new age of discovery.
For the best part of 25 years, archaeologists Arlen and Diane Chase slogged through the thick undergrowth in the west of Belize in search of an ancient city whose details had been lost to the passage of time and the decay of the jungle. The going was tough, often requiring a machete to clear a path through the dense vines and creepers that blocked their way. Over time, their perseverance paid off as their hand-drawn maps began to reveal long-forgotten parts of the massive Mayan city of Caracol. |  |
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