Chemists Work on Synthetic Cell Creation
Chemists Neal Devaraj and Itay Budin are working on the creation of a “synthetic cell.” Their goal is to create a living organism from non-living…
Ubehebe Crater in Death Valley Could Have Future Eruption
Using isotopes in rocks blown out of the Ubehebe Crater, Scientist have discovered that this prehistoric volcanic explosion occurred far more recently than previously thought….
33,000 Year Old Domesticated Dog Skull Found in Siberian Cave
An ancient domesticated do skull was found in a Razboinichya cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia. Using an accelerator mass spectrometry and radiocarbon dating,…
Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Measures the Universe’s Expansion and Dark Energy
One of nature’s biggest mysteries, dark energy, is being explored thanks to a deceptively simple tool that David Schlegel came up with. 2,200 aluminum plates,…
Superconducting Detectors Could Help Find Gravitational Waves and Extrasolar Planets
Microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs), which can simultaneously count photons, measure their energy, and record each one’s time of arrival, could eventually replace charge-coupled devices…
Boxwood Fungus Blight Invades North America After Taking Europe and New Zealand by Storm
A boxwood blight, caused by an aggressive fungus disease, has started to invade the North American continent, after it had spread throughout Europe and New…
Researchers Develop Magnetic Soap to Clean Up Oil Spills
Scientists from the University of Bristol have developed a new kind of soap, composed of iron rich salts that were dissolved in water, that responds…
NASA’s Opportunity Rover Continues Research at Greeley Haven
NASA’s Opportunity exploration rover continues to send images and explore new regions on the Mars. Now in its eighth year on the planet, Opportunity has…
Researchers Discover That Group Settings Can Lower Expressions of IQ
Researchers have found that group settings can alter the expression of IQ in certain people. The researchers gathered test subjects with similar baseline IQ scores…
Smithsonian Ecologists Study the Realtionship Between Fungi-Filled Forests and Endangered Orchids
Smithsonian ecologists are publishing new research that shows how an orchid’s survival depends on fungi and the age of the forest that it is growing…
Neuroscientists Study Cortical Areas Specialized in Processing Visual Inputs in Mice
Neuroscientists found that mice, like humans, have distinct processing streams in visual cortical areas and plan to use this to explore more deeply the neurological…
Researchers Study the Effects of Psilocybin in Magic Mushrooms on Brain Activity
A recent study shows how psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, effects brain activity. 30 healthy volunteers underwent MRIs while having psilocybin in their…
Sandia Chemists Use MOFs to Remove Radioactive Gas from Nuclear Fuel
A research team, comprised of Sandia chemists, is researching ways to make nuclear fuel reprocessing cleaner and to reduce the volume of high-level wastes. By…
Researchers Use Genetic Programming to Figure out What Tastes Good
Givaudan, a Swiss flavor company, turned to MIT researchers to help them analyze their taste-test results. Since testers tend to suffer from “smell fatigue” and…
Optogenetics Allows Light to Control Brains
In order to search for better cures for neurological and psychiatric diseases, researchers have had to tackle the mammalian brain and its intricate complexity of…
Relative Refutation of the Claim of Arsenic-Based Life
A controversial study from 2010 was relatively refuted by a group of scientists, trying to duplicate the findings that were published in Science. Researchers have…
Psychadelic Chemicals Subdue Brain Activity Instead of Expanding It
While it’s colloquially believed that psychedelic drugs, such as magic mushrooms, have the capacity to expand the minds of its users, researchers have actually shown…
The Algorithmic Approach to the Mathematics of Cramming
Students tend to take far from optimal ways to assimilate information, especially when it comes to exams. Scientists Tim Novikoff, Jon Kleinbert, and Steve Strogatz…