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SPACE: Is Killer Ice Knocking Off Alien Life Forms?

ice - pixabay

There’s a new kind of ice. It forms at speeds of more than 1,000 mph (1,600 km/h), it lies deep beneath our feet, it could destroy hopes for alien life, and — finally — scientists understand how it works. Back in March, researchers writing in the journal Science revealed that they have found the first evidence for this ice, called “Ice VII.” Scientists had predicted its existence beforehand. Under the right conditions, it was believed, ice could form in a pool of water without a layer of heat at the leading edge of its growing surface. That — along with … Read more

SCIENCE: Space Shrinks Your Brain

astronaut brains - pixabay

Going to space does more than change the way you look at the world — it also changes your brain. In a new small study, published today (Oct. 24) as a Letter to the Editor in The New England Journal of Medicine, a team of researchers from Germany, Belgium and Russia detailed changes in the brains of 10 cosmonauts before and after long-term missions to space, finding “extensive” changes to the brain’s white and gray matter. What these changes mean for the cosmonauts is still an open question. “However, whether or not the extensive alterations shown in the gray and … Read more

SCIENCE: Making Mice With Two Dads

Mice - Pixabay

For the first time, researchers have directly created mice with two dads. The mice weren’t able to survive for more than a day or so after birth, but coaxing an embryo made from the DNA of two dads all the way through fetal development was no small feat. It was much harder, the researchers found, than making mice with two moms. The findings help explain why mammals can’t reproduce with only a single parent. They also may help explain why those animals that can reproduce alone, such as some amphibians, are almost always female. The barrier to single-sex reproduction, said … Read more

SCIENCE: The Real, Freaky Experiments That Inspired “Frankenstein”

Frankenstein experiments

On Jan. 17 1803, a young man named George Forster was hanged for murder at Newgate prison in London. After his execution, as often happened, his body was carried ceremoniously across the city to the Royal College of Surgeons, where it would be publicly dissected. What actually happened was rather more shocking than simple dissection though. Forster was going to be electrified. The experiments were to be carried out by the Italian natural philosopher Giovanni Aldini, the nephew of Luigi Galvani, who discovered “animal electricity” in 1780, and for whom the field of galvanism is named. With Forster on the … Read more

Will Superhumans Replace Us? Stephen Hawking Thought So

superhero - pixabay

Are we all going to be replaced? Stephen Hawking apparently thought so. In the grand tradition of famous physicists making claims about subjects beyond their scope of expertise, the great British theorist left behind a collection of essays in which he speculated about and predicted the human future. In one essay, published Oct. 14 in the Sunday Times, Hawking argued that humanity risks being replaced by genetically modified “superhumans.” Well-intentioned research designed to improve human health and human life, he wrote, will eventually be corrupted. People will start to modify humans to live longer, be smarter, or be more aggressive … Read more

SCIENCE: You Can Remember Up to 10,000 Faces

faces - pixabay

How many faces do you retain in your memory? If you add up your immediate and extended family, schoolmates, friends, co-workers, and celebrities that you know through movies, television and the internet, you might easily be able to list a few hundred faces that you’d recognize on sight. But the real number of faces stored in your brain may be much higher than that. For the first time, researchers have pinned down the number of faces that people remember; the findings come from a small study of 25 people ages 18 to 61 years old. The answer: 5,000 on average … Read more

SCIENCE: Climate Change May Ruin Beer

beer - pixabay

If the results of last week’s chilling U.N. climate report drove you to drink this weekend, first of all — we’re sorry. We don’t like it, either. Here’s a photo of a majestic elk sneezing to make you feel better. Secondly, we hate to say it, but we’ve got even more bad news for anyone hoping to drown their sorrows during that apocalyptic future. According to a new study in the journal Nature Plants, it looks like rising global temperatures are going to ruin beer for us too — and your next pity pint could soon cost you more than … Read more

FOR READERS: Whiz Bang Tech

Robotech Veritech

FOR READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Hank T. Cannon: What kind of sci-fi tech makes you go “OOOOOOOOOOOH!!!”? For a long time, for me it was transforming vehicles. The Veritech’s from “Robotech,” the cars from the short-lived “Pole Position” cartoon, and of course “M.A.S.K.” among others. I think, from a nostalgia perspective, “Mighty Orbots” is my favorite of them all, if only because of the specific mention of matter manipulation tech in the transformation and unity process. Writers: This is a reader chat – you are welcome to join it, but please do not reference your own works … Read more

SCIENCE: AI is Crossing the Uncanny Valley

Mica

The tech world’s latest virtual assistant looks so realistic, you might mistake her for an actual human. Apple has Siri, and Amazon has Alexa. But the lifelikeness of both are dwarfed by Mica: a prototype that Magic Leap, a highly regarded augmented-reality startup, unveiled at its conference Wednesday. Mica isn’t just a voice assistant. She’s something you can actually see if you wear the company’s augmented-reality glasses, called Magic Leap One. Mica looks and acts like a human — she makes eye contact and offers a warm smile, along with other human-like expressions. Experts say Mica is a breakthrough in … Read more

SCIENCE: Vampire Girl Burial Discovered in Italy

Vampire Child - Live Science

A 1,550-year-old “vampire burial” of a child with a rock stuffed into his or her mouth has been discovered in an ancient cemetery in Lugnano, Italy. Those who buried the child, who possibly died of malaria, may have used the rock to prevent him or her (the child’s sex isn’t known) from rising from the grave and spreading disease to other people, said a team of researchers in a statement released Oct. 12 by the University of Arizona. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s extremely eerie and weird,” said David Soren, an anthropology professor at the University of Arizona, … Read more