The 2012 presidential election will be won by the candidate who can convince voters that he has the vision to lift the nation out of the economic doldrums. The economy is the right topic, but the discussion neglects the true driver of the country’s prosperity: scientific and technological enterprise. Half of the U.S. economic growth…
It’s long been theorized that the moon was created when a Mars-sized proto-planet slammed into the Earth. Unfortunately, though, the chemistry of the two bodies has stubbornly failed to bear this out. Now, though, two very different models of such a collision have been developed, both explaining satisfactorily – but incompatibly – how the Earth-moon…
Every historian knows about the Rosetta Stone, which had an ancient Egyptian text carved on it in three different scripts, two of which had long resisted translation. The ability to cross-correlate the scripts—to calibrate their alphabets—opened up a huge body of knowledge to scholars. Climate researchers, as well as archaeologists and geologists, look for similar…
Using the European X-ray astronomy satellite XMM-Newton, researchers have discovered a new source of cosmic rays. In the vicinity of the remarkable Arches cluster, near the center of the Milky Way, these particles are accelerated in the shock wave generated by tens of thousands of young stars moving at a speed of around 700,000 km/h….
Researchers at the University of Manchester say they have discovered a 16 million-year-old springtail hitchhiking on the wings of mayflies. Researchers say that a CT scan of amber has revealed the very first evidence of any creature hitchhiking on the wings of an adult mayfly. Tiny springtails are likely using mayflies for transportation today, researchers…
Scientists from the United States have learned that dolphins are able to stay alert and active for 15 days or more at a time by sleeping only one-half of their brain. The experts believe that this ability to stay alert by using only half of their brain is a key to the survival of sea…
A recent article, in the London tabloid Daily Mail, reports: “The world stopped getting warmer almost 16 years ago, according to new data released last week. The figures, which have triggered debate among climate scientists, reveal that from the beginning of 1997 until August 2012, there was no discernible rise in aggregate global temperatures ……
Researchers announced they have found that a starvation hormone markedly extends life span in mice without the need for calorie restriction. “Restricting food intake has been shown to extend lifespan in several different kinds of animals. In our study, we found transgenic mice that produced more of the hormone fibroblast growth factor-21 (FGF21) got the…
The following is from a guest post to the Chronicle’s WorldWise blog, written by John D. Holm, the former director of the Office of International Education and Partnerships at the University of Botswana and director of international programs at Cleveland State University: International-development experts have expressed much concern about the brain drain of African scholars…
Astronomers have taken their first 3D look at a gigantic filament of dark matter, an invisible cosmic structure that can only be detected by its gravitational effects it has on its surroundings. The universe is thought to be structured like a tangled web, with long strings of mostly dark matter intersecting at giant galaxy clusters….