Building Support for Locally Relevant Climate Tech
Climate Innovation Centers can promote clean technologies but need backing with a coordinated effort
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Titan Holds Clue to Faint Young Sun Paradox
Earth should have been an ice cube in the very early days of our solar system, when the sun was cooler than today. Yet the primordial Earth was a watery sphere. This “faint young sun” paradox has puzzled researchers for decades, but now a look at the atmosphere of one of Saturn’s moons suggests a…
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A Suggestion to Help Phase Out All-Male Panels at Tech Conferences
Dear Men, Have you noticed that a lot of the time it just seems like, gosh, there are a lot of dudes speaking at this conference? Perhaps you’ve been on a panel and you’ve looked around and seen man after man after man. Maybe you’ve thought, it’s too bad the organizers didn’t think to balance…
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Studying a Seemingly Immortal Species
Most people barely notice lichens, but Dr. Anne Pringle, a mycologist at Harvard, believes they may help answer one of science’s greatest questions: Is immortality biologically possible? For eight years, Dr. Pringle has been measuring, sketching and scrutinizing lichens, which belong to the genus Xanthoparmelia. She wants to know whether they deteriorate with the passage…
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Quantum Gas Temperature Drops Below Absolute Zero
Physicists have created a quantum gas capable of reaching temperatures below absolute zero and paving the way for future quantum inventions. The chilly substance was composed of potassium atoms which were held in a lattice arrangement using a combination of lasers and magnetic fields. According to a news report in the journal Nature, by tweaking…
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The Kyoto Scorecard
The Kyoto Protocol on climate change used to be a big deal. So big that the future of humanity was said to hinge on its implementation. Did you know it expired on New Year’s Day? We’re guessing you didn’t, but don’t worry. It’s no big deal. Adopted in 1997 and in force since 2005, the…
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NASA Considers Dragging Asteroid Into Orbit Around the Moon
Asteroids hold a great deal of scientific potential, but with our limitations on space travel, it’s exceedingly difficult to reach them and complete the necessary research. What’s a rocket scientist to do? There’s one surprisingly sensible solution: if NASA can’t get to the mountain, bring the mountain to NASA. Or more specifically, drag it into…
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Dinosaurs Shook Their Tail Feathers
Some dinosaurs danced and literally shook their tail feathers to attract potential mates, researchers say. It’s long been theorized that at least some feathered dinosaurs used their plumage for courtship. A new study, published in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, strengthens that belief. The dancing, prancing dinosaurs were oviraptors — two legged, plant-eating dinos, related…
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Bonobos May Prefer Sharing Food With Strangers Over Groupmates
Bonobos will break bread with strangers just to make their acquaintance – and may even be more generous with strangers than with their peers, new research on captive primates at a Congolese sanctuary shows. They’ll sometimes help strangers out even with no chance of meeting them — though that generosity has its limits. The research,…
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Guppies Reveal the Evolutionary Cost of Big Brains
There’s a lot to be said for smarts—at least we humans, with some of the biggest brains in relation to our bodies in the animal kingdom, certainly seem to think so. The size of animal brains is extravagantly well-studied, as scientists have long sought to understand why our ancestors developed such complex and energetically costly…