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Science

Science Explains Fairy Circles

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Flowe Fairy - Deposit Photos

Fairy circles might finally make sense. These regular barren patches that pop up in grasslands in Australia and Namibia have long created controversy, with some researchers arguing that they might be the result of underground termite activity. But now, the most detailed monitoring effort ever shows that fairy circles are engineered by the grasses themselves. The research, published Sept. 21 in the Journal of Ecology, reveals how harsh, dry conditions in Australia, punctuated by occasional heavy rainstorms, create a hostile crust of clay that makes up the barren part of the fairy circles. But water runs off this crust, creating … Read more

Building a Better Wormhole

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Wormhole - Pixabay

Wormholes, or tunnels in the fabric of space-time, are ferociously unstable. As soon as even a single photon slips down the tunnel, the wormhole closes in a flash.  But what if the problem was that our imagined wormholes weren’t quite weird enough?  A new study suggests that the secret to a stable wormhole is making them funny looking. By shaping the wormhole so that it’s not a perfect sphere, we might be able to hold that tunnel open for long enough to travel through. The only catch is that said wormhole would have to be incomprehensibly tiny. Down the hatch Wormholes, … Read more

Some Tardigrades Have Light Shields!

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Tardigrade Light Shield

Scientists have discovered yet another reason to be impressed with tardigrades; some of these microscopic, nearly indestructible creatures wear a glowing “shield” that protects them from ultraviolet radiation. Tubby tardigrades — also called moss piglets or water bears — are known for their toughness, able to withstand extreme heat, cold and pressure, as well as the vacuum of space. They can also survive exposure to levels of radiation that would kill many other life-forms. Now, scientists have uncovered new clues about tardigrades’ radiation resistance. Experiments with tardigrades in the Paramacrobiotus genus revealed that fluorescence protects them like a layer of … Read more

Meet the Zeptosecond

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zeptosecond - University of Frankfurt

Scientists have measured the shortest unit of time ever: the time it takes a light particle to cross a hydrogen molecule. That time, for the record, is 247 zeptoseconds. A zeptosecond is a trillionth of a billionth of a second, or a decimal point followed by 21 zeroes and a 1. Previously, researchers had dipped into the realm of zeptoseconds; in 2016, researchers reporting in the journal Nature Physics used lasers to measure time in increments down to 850 zeptoseconds. This accuracy is a huge leap from the 1999 Nobel Prize-winning work that first measured time in femtoseconds, which are … Read more

SCIENCE: Penis Transplant Surgery Could Soon Become a reality

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man crotch - deposit photos

The doctor that has pioneered penis transplant surgery believes that soon it will become possible to operate a successful transplant. “This would be a quantum leap if you were able to transplant a real penile structure. It’s certainly pushing the boundaries,” plastic surgeon Curtis Cetrulo, M.D. told MedPage Today. “We’re ready to do it, and we could do it pretty soon if we get it approved,” the Boston doctor claimed. Cetrulo, who works at Massachusetts General Hospital, was the first to complete a successful penis surgery in 2016. Now he has to convince the medical community and hospital administration that it … Read more

“Zombie” Parasite From Cats Can Make You Take More Risks

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cat - pixabay

There’s a single-celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii, and it can turn a normally risk-averse mouse into a bold, cat-seeking rodent. Cats that devour such mice can then pass the parasite onto humans. But once humans are infected, what happens to them? Do they become Toxoplasma gondii zombies, acting however the parasite deems fit? The answer is complex; studies show that people who test positive for this condition are more likely to take certain kinds of risks than those who don’t have toxoplasmosis, but it’s not yet clear how this happens. Toxoplasma gondii can live in most mammals, but its life … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Stellar

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Two white dwarf stars orbiting each other in space.

White dwarf star remnants – because they aren’t actually stars, I found out – are the meat and potatoes of our cosmic stew. These guys are everywhere and they’re telling us so much about our reality. Even the weird ones give us more than any other universal body. I first ran into these interesting little bodies while on the hunt for a star that might host life beyond the type our Sun is. Cool bodies that don’t put off a lot of light, or bright tiny balls of heat looking to suck material from other stars, these husks give a … Read more

Scientists Can Now Insert Ideas Into Your Dreams

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dream - pixabay

MIT scientists have figured out how to manipulate your dreams by combining an app with a sleep-tracking device called Dormio. In their new study, the researchers were able to insert certain topics into a person’s dreams, with some pretty bizarre outcomes. To do so, the researchers at MIT Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces — a group that develops wearable systems and interfaces to enhance cognitive skills — used a technique called targeted dream incubation (TDI). Prior studies have shown that during a rare dream state known lucid dreaming, in which a sleeper is aware that a dream is taking place, dreamers … Read more

Scientists Just Discovered a 100 Million Year Old Sperm. I Kid You Not.

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sperm - pixabay

The oldest known sperm in the world has been discovered, locked in a piece of amber that solidified when behemoths like Spinosaurus dominated the Earth. The giant sperm comes from a much more miniscule creature than the toothy Spinosaurus: an ostracod, a crustacean that looks like a shrimp dressing up as a clam for Halloween. Known colloquially as “seed shrimp,” ostracods typically grow just a few tenths of an inch long. Their bodies are protected by a bivalve shell, from which tiny, crab-like appendages sometimes protrude. There are thousands of ostracod species alive today, and many boast giant sperm cells, … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Venom

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Three bees tending to a honeycomb section.

Despite the fact this year has been cursed, and yes I really believe that, we’re lucky a few rays of blissful sunlight have shown through. We, as a society, are figuring out new and exciting ways to connect to each other. Many are taking the lock-downs as a great opportunity to create or hone things they’ve wanted more time on. And yet more are taking that staycation they’ve needed for years. It’s been difficult, stressful, even heart-wrenching at times this year, but we’re managing. Here’s one of those little rays of sunshine to get your writing brain thinking. Bees. Yes, … Read more