Just a smidge bigger than the moon, a newfound white dwarf is the smallest known example of these star carcasses. A white dwarf is the remnant left behind when certain stars peter out. They’ve lost a lot of their mass — and size. This one has a radius of only about...
Testing for COVID-19 has usually required sticking a cotton swab far into the nose — uncomfortably far up. Two scientists at the University of Milan, in Italy, knew their kids would fight repeated testing that way. Yet as biologists, Elisa Borghi and Valentina Massa knew repeated testing for the new coronavirus can...
For the first time, physicists have used lasers to deep-freeze antimatter. In a new experiment, an ultraviolet laser quelled the thermal jitters of antihydrogen atoms, chilling the antiatoms to just above absolute zero. This technique for slowing down antimatter — the oppositely charged counterpart to normal matter — could help scientists...
Black, Latino and Asian people tend to see U.S. neighborhoods as more diverse when their group is in the majority In the wake of the past year’s Black Lives Matter protests, achieving “diversity” across domains has become a pressing societal concern. But “diversity” means different things to different people, sociologist Janet...
COVID considerations unsurprisingly dominate the tech developments that could have a big impact in the coming year. This year looks to be a promising one for technology development. From advances in vaccines to olfaction, neuroscience to mass spectrometry, researchers describe the tools and techniques generating excitement in their disciplines. NICK...
A smartwatch app alerts users with hearing loss to nearby sounds A new smartwatch app alerts users who are deaf or hard of hearing of nearby sounds, such as microwave beeps or car horns. “The main motivation [for the app] came from my own experience, and conversations that my colleagues...
It was the year 1002. The English king Ethelred II – not-so-fondly remembered as “Æthelred the unready” – was at war. For over a century, Viking armies had been scoping out the land as a potential new home, under the command of leaders with well-groomed facial hair and evocative names, such as...
Mid-day Meals (MDM)hit the news headlines and became talk of the country when the ministry of mass education planned to send nearly hundred officials abroad to learn distribution of MDM as alleged by a secretary concerned. The issue raised debates as many critics termed such step as wastage of government...
Someday, shadows and light could team up to provide power. A new device uses the contrast between bright spots and shade to create an electric current. That current can power small electronics, such as a watch or LED lights. By using shade, “we can harvest energy anywhere on Earth, not...
Humankind’s gift of gab is not set in stone, and farming could help to explain why. Over the last 6,000 years or so, farming societies increasingly have substituted processed dairy and grain products for tougher-to-chew game meat and wild plants common in hunter-gatherer diets. Switching to those diets of softer,...
2017 was a good year for worrying about nutrient losses that might come with a changing climate. The idea that surging carbon dioxide levels could stealthily render some major crops less nutritious has long been percolating in plant research circles. “It’s literally a 25-year story, but it has come to...
Every day, it seems like there’s a new natural disaster in the headlines. Hurricane Harvey inundates Texas. Hurricane Irma plows through the Caribbean and the U.S. south, and Jose is hot on its heels. A deadly 8.1-magnitude earthquake rocks Mexico. Wildfires blanket the western United States in choking smoke. While...
Ravens have passed what may be their toughest tests yet of powers that, at least on a good day, let people and other apes plan ahead. Lab-dwelling common ravens (Corvuscorax) in Sweden at least matched the performance of nonhuman apes and young children in peculiar tests of advanced planning ability. The birds...
It’s very handy to have files synchronised with online services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Apple iCloud, Flickr or whatever. You should be able to retrieve most or all of your photos if your smartphone or laptop breaks or is lost or stolen. However, you can never assume that...
Under right conditions, photosynthesis-respiration cycle stems accelerating rise of atmospheric gas Plants temporarily halted the acceleration of rising carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, new research suggests. From 2002 through 2014, CO2 levels measured over the oceans climbed from around 372 parts per million to 397 parts per million. But the average...
With a smartphone, you can look up facts, stream videos, check out Facebook, read tweets and listen to music. But all of those data aren’t stored on your phone. They are kept somewhere else, perhaps half a world away. For now, companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook store those data...
Air pollution is bad for our lungs. It may not be great for our waistlines either, a new study in rats finds. China’s capital city of Beijing has some of the worst air pollution in the world. On really bad days, its air can host more than 10 times as...
Nano bits of eggshells let two biodegradable plastics work better together. An old proverb says you’ve got to crack a few eggs to make an omelet. Most people then toss those eggshells out. Indeed, a lot of eggshells end up in landfills, observes Boniface Tiimob. He’s a materials scientist and...
The solar system may host a ninth planet that is about 10 times bigger than Earth and orbiting far beyond Neptune, according to a research published recently. Computer simulations show that the mystery planet, if it exists, would orbit between about 200 and 1,000 times farther from the sun than...
Scientists find that many of the fungi killing bananas around the world are clones of one another The fight to save the banana just got more challenging. A fungus that threatens the world’s most popular fruit is spreading, according to a new study. And it’s doing so despite massive efforts to stop...
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