Humans Changing Saltiness of the Seas
When you hear about climate change it's most often about melting glaciers and sea ice, increasing frequency of heatwaves and powerful storms. Maybe, just maybe, you'll hear about the acidification of the oceans too. What you don't hear about is the saltiness of the seas. But that's changing too, according to a new piece of research just published in Geophysical Research Letters (see the abstract and figures).
|  |
Why are the world's older trees disappearing?
Gloriously grand, gnarly and twisted, big old trees are the kings of the forest, providing food and shelter for humans and animals since the dawn of time.
And they make pretty nifty places to build treehouses too! But now scientists say these ancient giants are under threat. According to a report published recently in the journal Science, death rates have increased alarmingly among trees between 100 and 300 years old. |  |
Sneering at those who believe in the Mayan apocalypse while counting down to End Times
Today, the Guardian guffaws in the faces of those "very silly people" who believe that, according to Mayan prophecy, the world will end this Friday.
You know what? The Guardian's mocking of dumb foreigners for believing the world is about to curl up and die would be way more convincing if the Guardian itself hadn't for the past four years been publishing a countdown to the end of the world. Yes, that's right, the same paper that sniffily sneers at the "idiocy" of Mayan-obsessed Ruskies and Chinese is doing its very own, supposedly scientific (ha ha) countdown to when there will be "irreversible climate change" leading to a "disaster" that will "clearly threaten human civilisation". That's a fancy way of saying "when the world will end". Where the Mayan prophecy (which doesn't actually exist) at least gave us a few thousand years to prepare for the end of the world, the Guardian has given us a mere 100 months. |  |
Mayan apocalypse: End of the world, or a new beginning?
One in 10 of us is said to be anxious that 21 December marks the end of the world. The Ancient Mayans predicted this doomsday, and the press is eating it up. But where are all the believers?
That the world will end in 2012 is the most widely-disseminated doomsday tale in human history, thanks to the internet, Hollywood and an ever-eager press corps. Recent hurricanes, unrest in the Middle East, solar flares, mystery planets about to collide with us - all "proof" of what the ancient Mayans knew would come to pass on 21 December 2012. |  |
MIT researchers discover a new kind of magnetism
Following up on earlier theoretical predictions, MIT researchers have now demonstrated experimentally the existence of a fundamentally new kind of magnetic behavior, adding to the two previously known states of magnetism.
Ferromagnetism — the simple magnetism of a bar magnet or compass needle — has been known for centuries. In a second type of magnetism, antiferromagnetism, the magnetic fields of the ions within a metal or alloy cancel each other out. In both cases, the materials become magnetic only when cooled below a certain critical temperature. The prediction and discovery of antiferromagnetism — the basis for the read heads in today’s computer hard disks — won Nobel Prizes in physics for Louis Neel in 1970 and for MIT professor emeritus Clifford Shull in 1994.
Follow article link...
'The idea we live in a simulation isn't science fiction'
The idea that we live in a simulation is just science fiction, isn't it?
There is a famous argument that we probably do live in a simulation. The idea is that in future, humans will be able to simulate entire universes quite easily. And given the vastness of time ahead, the number of these simulations is likely to be huge. So if you ask the question: 'do we live in the one true reality or in one of the many simulations?', the answer, statistically speaking, is that we're more likely to be living in a simulation.
Follow article link...
The astonishing maps that reveal how our brain organises everything we see
Scientists have put together the first ever map of how the brain organises the thousands of images that come flooding in through our eyes every day.
A team at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that the brain is wired to put in order all the categories of objects and actions that we see.
To illustrate their findings, they have created the first map of how the brain organises these categories across the cortex.
The result — achieved through computational models of brain imaging data collected while test subjects watched hours of video clips — is what researchers call 'a continuous semantic space'.
Follow article link...
Curators discover first recordings of Christmas Day
Curators at the National Museum of London have discovered what they believe to be the first ever recordings of a family Christmas.
They were made 110 years ago by the Wall family who lived in New Southgate in North London.
There are 24 clear recordings on wax cylinders which were made using a phonograph machine between 1902 and 1917.
Music curators say the sound quality of the music recorded is outstanding.
Follow article link...
Revealed: Rudolph Really Did Have a Red Nose
Most people know Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer had a very shiny nose — but why? Medical researchers say they've now found the answer.
The secret to Rudolph's rosy schnozzle is the dense network of blood vessels in his nose. Reindeer, it seems, have 25 percent more capillaries carrying red, oxygen-rich blood in their nasal architecture than humans, say the scientists from the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and the University of Rochester in New York.
Follow article link...
The record-breaking bite of Megapiranha
There’s a terrible B-movie from 2010 called Megapiranha, about giant, genetically modified piranhas that wreak havoc upon Floridian tourists. One of them leaps out of the water and bites a helicopter. It’s all rather silly, but if you look on Wikipedia’s entry for the film, you’ll see these words at the top: “For the prehistoric creature, see Megapiranha.”
Yes, Megapiranha existed. At around 71 centimetres long, it wasn’t big enough to attack a chopper, but it was still three times the size of its modern meat-eating cousins.
Follow article link...
Ancient Sea Monster Found—First Freshwater Species Known
It's not quite Nessie, but it's close.
Fossils belonging to an 84-million-year-old freshwater sea monster have been found in Hungary, according to a new study.
The recently unearthed creature belongs to a family of ancient aquatic reptiles known as mosasaurs, which looked like crosses between crocodiles and whales. Mosasaurs lacked the superlong necks found in plesiosaurs, which the legendary inhabitant of Loch Ness is alleged to be.
Follow article link...
Extinct elephant 'survived late' in North China
Wild elephants living in North China 3,000 years ago belonged to the extinct genus Palaeoloxodon, scientists say.
They had previously been identified as Elephas maximus, the Asian elephant that still inhabits southern China.
The findings suggest that Palaeoloxodon survived a further 7,000 years than was thought.
The team from China examined fossilised elephant teeth and ancient elephant-shaped bronzes for the study.
Follow article link...
Vodka 'saved' elephants in Siberian freeze
Two elephants have been saved from the deadly Siberian cold by drinking vodka, Russian officials say.
They say the animals had to be taken out into the bitter cold after the wooden trailer they were travelling in caught fire in the Novosibirsk region.
The elephants, aged 45 and 48, suffered frostbite to the tips of their ears amid temperatures of -40C (-40F)
But they were warmed up by two cases of vodka mixed with warm water, one official was quoted as saying.
Follow article link...
Researchers debunk the IQ myth
After conducting the largest online intelligence study on record, a Western University-led research team has concluded that the notion of measuring one's intelligence quotient or IQ by a singular, standardized test is highly misleading.
The findings from the landmark study, which included more than 100,000 participants, were published today in the journal Neuron. The article, "Fractionating human intelligence," was written by Adrian M. Owen and Adam Hampshire from Western's Brain and Mind Institute (London, Canada) and Roger Highfield, Director of External Affairs, Science Museum Group (London, U.K).
Follow article link...
Human hands evolved so we could punch each other
Forget toolmaking, think fisticuffs. Did evolution shape our hands not for dexterity but to form fists so we could punch other people? That idea emerges from a new study, although it runs counter to conventional wisdom.
About the same time as we stopped hanging from trees and started walking upright, our hands become short and square, with opposable thumbs. These anatomical changes are thought to have evolved for tool manipulation, but David Carrier at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City has an alternative explanation.
Follow article link...
Tool-Using Orangutans Learn Like Humans
Even when they are very young, orangutans may start to form ideas about their world—specifically, how and when to use certain tools. That’s the conclusion of a new study, which indicates that ape cultural traditions may not be that different from our own.
Like humans, orangutans have behavioral traditions that vary by region. Orangutans in one area use tools, for example, whereas others don’t. Take the island of Sumatra, in western Indonesia. By the age of 6 or 7, orangutans from swampy regions west of Sumatra’s Alas River use sticks to probe logs for honey. Yet researchers have never observed this “honey-dipping” among orangutans in coastal areas east of the water.
Follow article link...
Ancient city of Troy rebranded itself after war
EVEN ancient cities knew about rebranding. Troy was destroyed by war about 3200 years ago - an event that may have inspired Homer to write the Iliad, 400 years later. But the famous city rose again, reinventing itself to fit a new political landscape.
Troy lies in north-west Turkey and has been studied for decades. Pottery made before the war has a distinct Trojan style but after the war its style is typical of the Balkans. This led archaeologists to believe that the locals had been forced out and replaced by populations from overseas.
Follow article link...
MIT researchers discover a new kind of magnetism
Following up on earlier theoretical predictions, MIT researchers have now demonstrated experimentally the existence of a fundamentally new kind of magnetic behavior, adding to the two previously known states of magnetism.
Ferromagnetism — the simple magnetism of a bar magnet or compass needle — has been known for centuries. In a second type of magnetism, antiferromagnetism, the magnetic fields of the ions within a metal or alloy cancel each other out. In both cases, the materials become magnetic only when cooled below a certain critical temperature. The prediction and discovery of antiferromagnetism — the basis for the read heads in today’s computer hard disks — won Nobel Prizes in physics for Louis Neel in 1970 and for MIT professor emeritus Clifford Shull in 1994. | |
'The idea we live in a simulation isn't science fiction'
The idea that we live in a simulation is just science fiction, isn't it?
There is a famous argument that we probably do live in a simulation. The idea is that in future, humans will be able to simulate entire universes quite easily. And given the vastness of time ahead, the number of these simulations is likely to be huge. So if you ask the question: 'do we live in the one true reality or in one of the many simulations?', the answer, statistically speaking, is that we're more likely to be living in a simulation. | |
The astonishing maps that reveal how our brain organises everything we see
Scientists have put together the first ever map of how the brain organises the thousands of images that come flooding in through our eyes every day.
A team at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that the brain is wired to put in order all the categories of objects and actions that we see. To illustrate their findings, they have created the first map of how the brain organises these categories across the cortex. The result — achieved through computational models of brain imaging data collected while test subjects watched hours of video clips — is what researchers call 'a continuous semantic space'. | |
Curators discover first recordings of Christmas Day
Curators at the National Museum of London have discovered what they believe to be the first ever recordings of a family Christmas.
They were made 110 years ago by the Wall family who lived in New Southgate in North London. There are 24 clear recordings on wax cylinders which were made using a phonograph machine between 1902 and 1917. Music curators say the sound quality of the music recorded is outstanding. | |
Revealed: Rudolph Really Did Have a Red Nose
Most people know Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer had a very shiny nose — but why? Medical researchers say they've now found the answer.
The secret to Rudolph's rosy schnozzle is the dense network of blood vessels in his nose. Reindeer, it seems, have 25 percent more capillaries carrying red, oxygen-rich blood in their nasal architecture than humans, say the scientists from the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and the University of Rochester in New York. | |
The record-breaking bite of Megapiranha
There’s a terrible B-movie from 2010 called Megapiranha, about giant, genetically modified piranhas that wreak havoc upon Floridian tourists. One of them leaps out of the water and bites a helicopter. It’s all rather silly, but if you look on Wikipedia’s entry for the film, you’ll see these words at the top: “For the prehistoric creature, see Megapiranha.”
Yes, Megapiranha existed. At around 71 centimetres long, it wasn’t big enough to attack a chopper, but it was still three times the size of its modern meat-eating cousins. | |
Ancient Sea Monster Found—First Freshwater Species Known
It's not quite Nessie, but it's close.
Fossils belonging to an 84-million-year-old freshwater sea monster have been found in Hungary, according to a new study. The recently unearthed creature belongs to a family of ancient aquatic reptiles known as mosasaurs, which looked like crosses between crocodiles and whales. Mosasaurs lacked the superlong necks found in plesiosaurs, which the legendary inhabitant of Loch Ness is alleged to be. | |
Extinct elephant 'survived late' in North China
Wild elephants living in North China 3,000 years ago belonged to the extinct genus Palaeoloxodon, scientists say.
They had previously been identified as Elephas maximus, the Asian elephant that still inhabits southern China. The findings suggest that Palaeoloxodon survived a further 7,000 years than was thought. The team from China examined fossilised elephant teeth and ancient elephant-shaped bronzes for the study. | |
Vodka 'saved' elephants in Siberian freeze
Two elephants have been saved from the deadly Siberian cold by drinking vodka, Russian officials say.
They say the animals had to be taken out into the bitter cold after the wooden trailer they were travelling in caught fire in the Novosibirsk region. The elephants, aged 45 and 48, suffered frostbite to the tips of their ears amid temperatures of -40C (-40F) But they were warmed up by two cases of vodka mixed with warm water, one official was quoted as saying. | |
Researchers debunk the IQ myth
After conducting the largest online intelligence study on record, a Western University-led research team has concluded that the notion of measuring one's intelligence quotient or IQ by a singular, standardized test is highly misleading.
The findings from the landmark study, which included more than 100,000 participants, were published today in the journal Neuron. The article, "Fractionating human intelligence," was written by Adrian M. Owen and Adam Hampshire from Western's Brain and Mind Institute (London, Canada) and Roger Highfield, Director of External Affairs, Science Museum Group (London, U.K).
The findings from the landmark study, which included more than 100,000 participants, were published today in the journal Neuron. The article, "Fractionating human intelligence," was written by Adrian M. Owen and Adam Hampshire from Western's Brain and Mind Institute (London, Canada) and Roger Highfield, Director of External Affairs, Science Museum Group (London, U.K).
Human hands evolved so we could punch each other
Forget toolmaking, think fisticuffs. Did evolution shape our hands not for dexterity but to form fists so we could punch other people? That idea emerges from a new study, although it runs counter to conventional wisdom.
About the same time as we stopped hanging from trees and started walking upright, our hands become short and square, with opposable thumbs. These anatomical changes are thought to have evolved for tool manipulation, but David Carrier at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City has an alternative explanation. | |
Tool-Using Orangutans Learn Like Humans
Even when they are very young, orangutans may start to form ideas about their world—specifically, how and when to use certain tools. That’s the conclusion of a new study, which indicates that ape cultural traditions may not be that different from our own.
Like humans, orangutans have behavioral traditions that vary by region. Orangutans in one area use tools, for example, whereas others don’t. Take the island of Sumatra, in western Indonesia. By the age of 6 or 7, orangutans from swampy regions west of Sumatra’s Alas River use sticks to probe logs for honey. Yet researchers have never observed this “honey-dipping” among orangutans in coastal areas east of the water. | |
Ancient city of Troy rebranded itself after war
EVEN ancient cities knew about rebranding. Troy was destroyed by war about 3200 years ago - an event that may have inspired Homer to write the Iliad, 400 years later. But the famous city rose again, reinventing itself to fit a new political landscape.
Troy lies in north-west Turkey and has been studied for decades. Pottery made before the war has a distinct Trojan style but after the war its style is typical of the Balkans. This led archaeologists to believe that the locals had been forced out and replaced by populations from overseas. | |
'Raiders of the Lost Ark' Package Mystery Solved
First, there was "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Now, there's "Mailers of the Lost Package."
Days after the University of Chicago announced it had received a replica of the journal from the film "Raiders of the Lost Ark," the school says it has solved an international mystery with its roots in Guam.
A few weeks ago, a journal addressed to one Henry Walton Jones, Jr. — the given name of Hollywood's Indiana Jones — was placed inside another package and mailed from Guam to Italy, where someone had bought it on eBay.
Days after the University of Chicago announced it had received a replica of the journal from the film "Raiders of the Lost Ark," the school says it has solved an international mystery with its roots in Guam.
A few weeks ago, a journal addressed to one Henry Walton Jones, Jr. — the given name of Hollywood's Indiana Jones — was placed inside another package and mailed from Guam to Italy, where someone had bought it on eBay.
No comments:
Post a Comment