Blue whales perform underwater acrobatics to attack their prey from below, scientists have found. The massive mammals are known for lunge-feeding; gulping up to 100 tonnes of krill-filled water in less than 10 seconds. Using suction cup tags, researchers in Washington state have recorded the surprising manoeuvrability of the giants. They found that the whales…
The question of how life began on a molecular level has been a longstanding problem in science. However, recent mathematical research sheds light on a possible mechanism by which life may have gotten a foothold in the chemical soup that existed on the early Earth. Researchers have proposed several competing theories for how life on…
The persistent economic problems facing higher education these days make it evident that the financial models of most institutions are not sustainable. That challenge alone would be bad enough, but traditional educational models are also in trouble, as online learning upends the nature of higher education itself. But more serious than either the economic or…
For a second time in as many months, U.S. House Republicans will try to win approval of legislation to issue up to 55,000 so-called STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) visas to students who earn advanced degrees at U.S. universities. A vote may come by the end of November. The STEM visa bill has a…
Researchers from NASA and the Department of Energy have demonstrated a nuclear reactor that could power spaceflight. It’s nowhere near as powerful as NASA’s conceptual antimatter engine–the Demonstration Using Flattop Fissions (DUFF) experiment produces just 24 watts of electricity. The researchers used a heat pipe to cool a small nuclear reactor and power a Stirling…
The race is on to blame everything related to ecological change on human footprints – even the past can be re-framed as anthropocenic climate change and University of Massachusetts Amherst geoscientists have shown how to do just that, by using a biomarker from human feces in a completely new way to establish the first human…
Thawing permafrost covering almost a quarter of the northern hemisphere could “significantly amplify global warming” at a time when the world is already struggling to reign in rising greenhouse gases, a U.N. report said. Permafrost usually thaws on the surface during summertime, but now scientists say thaws reach up to 10 feet deep due to…
This fall, science writers have made sport of yet another instance of bad neuroscience. The culprit this time is Naomi Wolf; her new book, “Vagina,” has been roundly drubbed for misrepresenting the brain and neurochemicals like dopamine and oxytocin. Earlier in the year, Chris Mooney raised similar ire with the book “The Republican Brain,” which…
Could computers become cleverer than humans and take over the world? Or is that just the stuff of science fiction? Philosophers and scientists at Britain’s Cambridge University think the question deserves serious study. A proposed Center for the Study of Existential Risk will bring together experts to consider the ways in which super intelligent technology,…
Using an artificial intelligence technique inspired by theories about how the brain recognizes patterns, technology companies are reporting startling gains in fields as diverse as computer vision, speech recognition and the identification of promising new molecules for designing drugs. The advances have led to widespread enthusiasm among researchers who design software to perform human activities…