Climate change is already having an impact across the US
Jun 16, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (89) |
38
Extreme weather, drought, heavy rainfall and increasing temperatures are a fact of life in many parts of the U.S. as a result of human-induced climate change, researchers report today in a new assessment. These and other ...
New polymer that changes color instantly in response to external magnetic field (w/Video)
Jun 16, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (19) |
2
A research team led by a chemist at the University of California, Riverside has fabricated microscopic polymer beads that change color instantly and reversibly when external magnetic fields acting upon the microspheres change ...
Same-sex behavior seen in nearly all animals
Jun 16, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (21) |
7
Same-sex behavior is a nearly universal phenomenon in the animal kingdom, common across species, from worms to frogs to birds, concludes a new review of existing research.
Cannabis alters human DNA
Jun 16, 2009 |
2.5 / 5 (32) |
41
A new study published by University of Leicester researchers has found "convincing evidence" that cannabis smoke damages DNA in ways that could potentially increase the risk of cancer development in humans.
Brain energy use key to understanding consciousness
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Jun 16, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (14) |
3
High levels of brain energy are required to maintain consciousness, a finding which suggests a new way to understand the properties of this still mysterious state of being, Yale University researchers report.
MIT slows concrete creep to a crawl
Jun 16, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (12) |
3
MIT civil engineers have for the first time identified what causes the most frequently used building material on earth — concrete — to gradually deform, decreasing its durability and shortening the lifespan of infrastructures ...
Global sunscreen won't save corals
Jun 16, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (13) |
1
Emergency plans to counteract global warming by artificially shading the Earth from incoming sunlight might lower the planet's temperature a few degrees, but such "geoengineering" solutions would do little to stop the acidification ...
Geologists demonstrate extent of ancient ice age
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jun 16, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (13) |
6
Geologists at the University of Leicester have shown that an ancient Ice Age, once regarded as a brief ‘blip’, in fact lasted for 30 million years.
Giant eruption reveals 'dead' star
Jun 16, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (9) |
9
An enormous eruption has found its way to Earth after travelling for many thousands of years across space. Studying this blast with ESA's XMM-Newton and Integral space observatories, astronomers have discovered a dead star ...
New piece found in the puzzle of epigenetics
Jun 16, 2009 |
5 / 5 (8) |
0
For many years scientists have known that the numerous biological functions of an organism are not regulated solely by the DNA sequence of its genes: Superordinate regulatory mechanisms exist that contribute to determining ...
Memories may be formed throughout the day, not just while sleeping
Jun 16, 2009 |
5 / 5 (8) |
1
Scientists have long thought that processes occurring during sleep were responsible for cementing the salient experiences of the day into long-term memories. Now, however, a study of scampering rats suggests that the mechanisms ...
Nanoparticles could someday lead to end of chemotherapy
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Jun 16, 2009 |
5 / 5 (8) |
0
Nanoparticles specially engineered by University of Central Florida Assistant Professor J. Manuel Perez and his colleagues could someday target and destroy tumors, sparing patients from toxic, whole-body chemotherapies.
Study shows Maya intensively cultivated manioc 1,400 years ago
Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils
Jun 16, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (9) |
0
A University of Colorado at Boulder team has uncovered an ancient and previously unknown Maya agricultural system -- a large manioc field intensively cultivated as a staple crop that was buried and exquisitely ...
What limits the size of birds?
Jun 16, 2009 |
5 / 5 (6) |
2
Why aren't birds larger? Fifteen-kilogram swans hold the current upper size record for flying birds, although the extinct Argentavis of the Miocene Epoch in Argentina is estimated to have weighed 70 kilograms, the size of ...
Scientists create hybrid system of human-machine interaction
Jun 16, 2009 |
5 / 5 (6) |
0
In a groundbreaking study, scientists at Florida Atlantic University have created a "hybrid" system to examine real-time interactions between humans and machines (virtual partners).
