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SciencePhysicsX-Ray Images of Bird Feathers Hold the Secret to Dinosaur Colors
Textbook illustrations and museum dioramas could soon be even more accurate in their depiction of the rich colors of long-extinct animals like dinosaurs. An international team of scientists used advanced X-ray imaging techniques to map out elements related to pigmentation in modern birds of prey, which they will use to reconstruct the likely color patterns … Continued
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ScienceAnimalsThis Amazonian Caterpillar Sports Donald Trump’s Hair
Did Donald Trump happen to lose one of his signature hairpieces in the Amazonian wilds of Peru? Wildlife photographer Jeff Cremer snapped this image of a caterpillar sporting the Republican candidate’s signature bright orange-yellow tufts of hair while on a scouting expedition in Peru. “I was putting on my boots and someone said, ‘Hey, check … Continued
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ScienceSpaceIt Would Cost a Whole Lot To Live on the Moon for One Year
This week Elon Musk announced plans to plans to build a “self-sustaining city” on Mars. It’s a thrilling notion, although folks were quick to point out not just the technical challenges of accomplishing such a feat, but also the tremendous cost. Even living on the Moon for a year would be pretty pricey, as a … Continued
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Tech NewsAnother Psychological Study Fails the Reproducibility Test
The field of psychology is currently in the midst of a kind of civil war, with one side claiming a widespread reproducibility crisis, and the other just as loudly proclaiming that concerns are greatly exaggerated. There’s certainly evidence for the former. Last year, a University of Virginia initiative called the Reproducibility Project repeated 100 experiments … Continued
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Tech News
Those Used Coffee Grounds Could Get the Lead Out of Your Water
Those used coffee grounds you dump into the trash every morning might just help remove lead and mercury from drinking water one day, according to a new study by a team of Italian scientists. Recycled coffee grounds have a lot of practical uses, from marinating meats and serving as natural deodorizers, to providing a nice … Continued
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ScienceAnimals
How Venomous Creatures Can Kill You–Or One Day Save Your Life
If you’ve ever been stung by a jellyfish while swimming in the ocean, you know firsthand the pain that a venomous creature can inflict, even if it doesn’t outright kill you. But scientists studying the chemical properties of venom might one day be able to develop therapeutic drugs that could save lives. That’s just one … Continued
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SciencePhysicsBreakthrough Quantum Cat Experiment Captured on Camera
The paradox of Schrödinger’s cat—in which a quantum cat is both alive and dead at the same time until we check to see which state it’s in—is arguably the most famous example of the bizarre counter-intuitive nature of the quantum world. Now, Stanford physicists have exploited this feature weirdness to make highly detailed movies of … Continued
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Tech News
Meet the Winners of This Year’s Ig Nobel Prizes
Rats in tiny trousers, pseudoscientific bullshit, the personalities of rocks, and Volkswagen’s, shall we say, “creative” approach to emissions testing were among the research topics honored by the 2016 Ig Nobel Prizes. The winners were announced last night at a live webcast ceremony held at Harvard University. For those unfamiliar with the Ig Nobel Prizes, … Continued
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Tech NewsWhat Ötzi the Iceman’s Voice Sounded Like
Ötzi the Iceman, the world’s favorite prehistoric mummy, has been subjected to every scientific test imaginable, since his remains were discovered poking out of a glacier high in the Italian Alps in 1991. Now, a team of Italian researchers has reconstructed Ötzi’s vocal cords and used it to reproduce what his voice may have sounded … Continued
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SciencePhysicsScientists Made Beautiful Holograms Using Sound
We’re all familiar with holograms, the projected 3D images created by manipulating light. But can you create a hologram with sound? Actually, yes. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute in Germany used tiny silicone beads assemble into patterns on the surface of water, holding that shape for as long as the sound persisted. In effect, … Continued
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Tech NewsWondergadget Allows Researchers To Read a Charred Biblical Scroll
For over forty years, archaeologists have longed to peek inside a badly damaged ancient scroll found on the western shore of the Dead Sea. Now an international team of scientists has managed to do so by virtually unrolling the scroll, revealing the text hidden deep within: the first few verses from the book of Leviticus. … Continued
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Tech NewsMoneyball Could Offer Winning Strategy for Drug Development
Nearly one-third of drugs in development ultimately fail during clinical trials because the side effects are just too severe. Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have developed a promising new AI tool that better predicts which drug candidates are likely to be too toxic—and it’s based on the Oakland A’s winning strategy, immortalized in the blockbuster … Continued
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SciencePhysicsDoes Listening to This Pink Kinetic Sand Give You the Tingles?
Kinetic sand is a freaky-looking substance made of 98 percent sand and 2 percent silicone oil, so it sticks to itself, but won’t stick to anything else. It’s like an especially granular type of dough, and you can watch—and hear—the stuff in action in a new short “trigger” video from The ASMR Circus. The ASMR … Continued
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Tech NewsHow Tiny Algae Helped Form the Famous White Cliffs of Dover
England’s famed White Cliffs of Dover were formed almost 100 million years ago out of the crushed shells of tiny single-celled algae. Now a team of scientists has identified the specific ocean conditions necessary for these sea creatures to thrive. Standing 300 feet tall and running eight miles along the cost of the English Channel, … Continued
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Tech News
Now We Know How Beer Foam Stops All That Sloshing
There’s something especially satisfying about a nice cold brew with a thick head of foam. But that foam also serves a purpose: not only does it enhance the flavor of your beer, it also helps dampen the inevitable sloshing when you and your pals clink glasses. Scientists now think they’ve figured out why. From a … Continued
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Tech News
Controversial Maya Codex Is the Real Deal After All
Scientists have been arguing over the authenticity of an ancient document called the Grolier Codex for 50 years. A new analysis published in a special section of the journal Maya Archaeology has concluded that the codex is indeed genuine, making it the oldest surviving manuscript from the pre-Colombian era. Perhaps you’re not familiar with the … Continued
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Tech NewsScientists Have Identified Schadenfreude Brain Cells
Secretly gloating over the misfortunes of others (a.k.a. schadenfreude) might not be the most noble of human traits, but it’s certainly universal—so much so, that it was memorably immortalized in the hit musical Avenue Q. Neuroscientists may have just identified the brain cells associated with that feeling. Discovering these so-called “schadenfreude neurons” was serendipitous—a side … Continued
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Tech NewsScientists Create Robotic Terminator To Hunt ‘Darwin’s Nightmare’ Fish
Hordes of lionfish have been roaming the Atlantic for several decades now, and their voracious appetite—and lack of natural predators—has seriously upset the ecological balance of those waters. Now there’s a new foundation devoted to building robots to hunt them down—a Terminator for lionfish. The prototypes under development are technically cousins to robotic vacuum cleaners, … Continued
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ScienceSpace
Lost Philae Lander Found Wedged Into a Crack on its Comet
The European Space Agency lost contact with its Rosetta mission’s plucky little lander, Philae, in May 2015. Now the orbiter’s high-resolution camera has found Philae wedged into a dark crack on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Landing a small craft on a moving comet was always an incredibly ambitious mission, but the Rosetta team pulled … Continued
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SciencePhysics
Scientists Just Made a Working Laser Using Blood
Lasers are behind so much of our cutting-edge technology. Now scientists at the University of Michigan have successfully shown that is possible to build a working laser with blood, the better to spot tumors in the human body. A laser is technically defined as any device that creates and amplifies a narrow, focused beam of … Continued
Jennifer Ouellette
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