As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Science

SPACE: Don’t Snort the Moon Dust

by
Moon Dust - NASA

In space, they say, no one can hear you sneeze. But Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt was doing a lot of that inside the Challenger command module when he visited the moon in 1972. One day, after a lunar walk, Schmitt accidentally breathed in some of the abundant moon dust that he and his commander had tracked back in to the Challenger living quarters. For a full day, Schmitt suffered from what he described as “lunar hay fever.” His eyes watered, his throat throbbed, and he broke into a sneezing fit. No, Schmitt wasn’t allergic to the moon. NASA scientists … Read more

SCIENCE: Flies With Frickin’ Laser Beams

by
Robotic Fly

A new type of flying robot is so tiny and lightweight — it weighs about as much as a toothpick — it can perch on your finger. The little flitter is also capable of untethered flight and is powered by lasers. This is a big leap forward in the design of diminutive airborne bots, which are usually too small to support a power source and must trail a lifeline to a distant battery in order to fly, engineers who built the new robot announced in a statement. Their insect-inspired creation is dubbed RoboFly, and like its animal namesake, it sports … Read more

WEIRD NEWS: Hairy Beast Washes Ashore in the Philippines

by
hairy sea monster

It came from the depths of the ocean and has since mystified onlookers: the decaying, truck-size body of a hairy sea monster. What it is, no one can yet say. But the beast, which washed ashore on a beach in the Philippine province of Oriental Mindoro on May 11, is likely the remains of a whale, fishery law enforcement officer Vox Krusada told The Sun. However, DNA testing is needed to pinpoint the exact species, Krusada said. [13 Bizarre Things That Washed Up on Beaches] Until the species is officially identified, people are calling the 20-foot-long (6 meters), grayish and … Read more

SCIENCE: Aliens in the Multiverse?

by
multiverse - pixabay

Should the search for alien life in our universe come up empty-handed, it might be worth checking in on a neighboring universe instead. According to a new pair of studies in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, there’s a decent chance that life-fostering planets could exist in a parallel universe — even if that universe were being torn apart by dark energy. The idea that our universe is just one of many, perhaps infinite, other universes is known as the multiverse theory. Scientists have previously thought that such parallel universes, if they exist, would have to meet … Read more

TECH: Want a Computer That’s a Million Times Faster?

by
laser beam

A billion operations per second isn’t cool. Know what’s cool? A million billion operations per second. That’s the promise of a new computing technique that uses laser-light pulses to make a prototype of the fundamental unit of computing, called a bit, that could switch between its on and off, or “1” and “0” states, 1 quadrillion times per second. That’s about 1 million times faster than the bits in modern computers. Conventional computers (everything from your calculator to the smartphone or laptop you’re using to read this) think in terms of 1s and 0s. Everything they do, from solving math … Read more

SCIENCE: Transferring Memory

by

A new study strongly suggests that at least some memories are stored in genetic code, and that genetic code can act like memory soup. Suck it out of one animal and stick the code in a second animal, and that second animal can remember things that only the first animal knew. That might sound like science fiction or remind some readers of debunked ideas from decades past. But it’s serious science: In a new study, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) extracted RNA, a genetic messenger molecule, from one snail and implanted it in another snail. Then, … Read more

SCIENCE: What If the Earth Started Spinning Backward

by
earth - pixabay

For billions of years, Earth has rotated in the same direction as the sun — but what if that direction were reversed? Deserts would cover North America, arid sand dunes would replace expanses of the Amazon rainforest in South America, and lush, green landscapes would flourish from central Africa to the Middle East, according to a computer simulation presented earlier this month at the annual European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2018 in Austria. In the simulation, not only did deserts vanish from some continents and appear in others, but freezing winters plagued western Europe. Cyanobacteria, a group of bacteria that … Read more

SCIENCE: Scientists Transplant One Guy’s Junk to Another for the First Time

by
junk - pixabay

Doctors at Johns Hopkins Medicine performed the world’s first complete penis-and-scrotum transplant. The 14-hour operation, which took place on March 26, involved a team of nine plastic surgeons and two urological surgeons, according to a statement from Johns Hopkins Medicine. The surgeons transplanted the entire penis, scrotum (without the testicles) and a part of the abdominal wall from a deceased donor to the recipient, a veteran who was wounded in Afghanistan. The transplant was the result of more than five years of research, Dr. Richard Redett, clinical director of the genitourinary transplant program at Johns Hopkins, said today (April 23) … Read more

SCIENCE: Was There Intelligent Life Here Before?

by
When Dinosaurs Roamed the Earth

Reptilian menaces called Silurians evolved on Earth before humankind — at least in the “Doctor Who” rendition of the universe. But science fiction aside, how would we know if some advanced civilization existed on our home planet millions of years before brainy humans showed up? This is a serious question, and serious scientists are speculating about what traces these potential predecessors might have left behind. And they’re calling this possibility the Silurian hypothesis. When it comes to the hunt for advanced extraterrestrial civilizations that might exist across the cosmos, one must reckon with the knowledge that the universe is about … Read more

SCIENCE: Trans Kids’ Brains Resemble Their Gender Identity

by
brain - pixabay

A new study led by a Belgian neurologist found that brain activity in transgender people resembles that found in cisgender people of their gender more than their sex assigned at birth. Julie Bakker of the University of Liege led the research, which involved MRI scans of 160 transgender people diagnosed with gender dysphoria who were children and teenagers. The scans also measures brain microstructures using a technique called diffusion tensor imaging. Their brain scans were compared to people of comparable age who were not diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The study found that transgender boys’ brain activity resembled cisgender boys’, and … Read more