The Cretaceous Period of Earth history ended with a mass extinction that wiped out numerous species, most famously the dinosaurs. A new study now finds that the structure of North American ecosystems made the extinction worse than it might have been. Researchers published their findings online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The…
Opsins, the light-sensitive proteins key to vision, may have evolved earlier and undergone fewer genetic changes than previously believed, according to a new study from the National University of Ireland Maynooth and the University of Bristol recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.The study, which used computer modelling to provide a detailed…
This just in — green roofs and walls are big business. Or they will be, at least, by 2017, when the market for them is set to hit the $7.7 billion mark worldwide, according to a new study from to Lux Research. The study takes a look at the drivers as well as barriers for…
Here’s a dark secret about the earth’s changing climate that many scientists believe, but few seem eager to discuss: It’s too late to stop global warming. Greenhouse gasses pumped into the planet’s atmosphere will continue to grow even if the industrialized nations cut their emissions down to the bone. Furthermore, the severe measures that would…
Physicists have proposed an experiment that could force us to make a choice between extremes to describe the behavior of the Universe. The proposal comes from an international team of researchers from Switzerland, Belgium, Spain and Singapore, and is published in Nature Physics. It is based on what the researchers call a ‘hidden influence inequality.’…
After having launched the space rover Curiosity to Mars, researchers at NASA are now planning to send people to the red planet. Work has begun at Michoud Assembly Facility to find ways by which Mars could be made a reachable planet. It has been reported that the Boeing engineers have been given the responsibility to…
How is the absence of discussion about global warming going to affect our ability to do something about it? Climate change and the federal government’s role in addressing it are conspicuously missing from the presidential campaign trail and the halls of Congress. A broad range of environmental groups and other experts have called on the…
Katrina Lantos Swett contributes a post for On Faith’s Guest Voices: Across the globe, religion and belief continue to matter deeply in the lives of people and their cultures. From worship to prayer, births to funerals, weddings to holy days, almsgiving to thanksgiving, religion is a central source of identity, meaning, and purpose for billions…
The European Union will spend about 700 million euros ($900 million) to build the world’s most powerful lasers, technology that could destroy nuclear waste and provide new cancer treatments. The Extreme Light Infrastructure project has obtained funding for two lasers to be built in the Czech Republic and Romania, Shirin Wheeler, spokeswoman for the European…
Primates’ brains see the world through triangular grids, according to a new study published online in the journal Nature. Scientists at Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, have identified grid cells, neurons that fire in repeating triangular patterns as the eyes explore visual scenes, in the brains of rhesus monkeys. The finding has implications…