Studies

– 201203download

In the year 2011 alone, the US faced 14 extreme weather events, while Japan registered record rainfalls and the Yangtze river basin in China suffered a record drought. The year 2010 saw Russia in the midst of its hottest summer in centuries, while Pakistan and Australia received record-breaking amounts of rain, highly atypical for the region. […]

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– 201203robojellyfish

After a three year effort, researchers at Virginia Tech have successfully managed to create a silicone robot that functions underwater by mimicking the  motion of a jellyfish. The robot can propel itself thanks to the heat-producing reactions catalyzed by its surface, and since it uses hydrogen and oxygen found in the water as fuel, the Robojelly can theoretically […]

– 201203full 600px Tycho supernova xray

Supernovae are one of the most energetic and brightest events in the cosmos, often so powerful they outshine whole galaxies. They’re considered  to play a major role in our understanding of the Universe, which is why scientists have invested so much time and effort into studying them. A recent study of X-ray and ultraviolet observations from […]

– 201112paper wasps recognize faces 44657 600x450

You’ve seen a wasp, you’ve seen another, and might think they all look the same, however it seems that among wasps, at least, the one hive mind doesn’t apply to appearances as well, as a new study shows that  paper wasps developed the ability to recognize each other’s faces, just like humans. Individuals of a […]

– 201112Antarctic ice sheet

Antarctica is the most the arid place on Earth. Its climate is so rough, so hazardous that no permanent human populace can live there, however just a few million years ago the harsh plains of the south and north poles had a subtropical climate – a paradise for life. During a transition period of just 100,000 years, […]

– 201111300 babies puppets

Morality has been the subject of interminable discussions among philosophers since ancient times. What’s makes for ethical behavior is most of the time a matter of the beholder, however it seems like nevertheless humans have an inherent sense of justice nested deep inside of them from an early age. A recent research suggests that babies […]

– 201111111129 Ravens1Photo hmed 1005a.grid 6x2 1

We’re inclined to think that gestures are reserved to species which at least possess some kind of articulated limbs. However, scientists have shown that wild ravens purposefully gesture, making it the first time this type of be­hav­ior has been ob­served in the wild ex­cept in the clos­est rel­a­tives of hu­mans, primates. Sure, you might argue […]

– 201111celegans 1

There are numerous challenges that come with outer Earth colonization of distant planets like Mars, or our neighboring moon, and one of the major issues scientists have addressed is reproduction. Part of a  recently published study, scientists have tracked the development of worm cultures in space in an experiment designed to study how micro-gravity and radiation has affected them. […]

– 201111trust

Humans are hot-wired to scan other people in their surroundings, and determine whether their trust worthy or not, all by reading various signals like body language, facial expression etc. – the so called first impression. A team of researchers from UC Berkeley have now conducted a study which claims that some people are genetically predisposed to […]