Predicting the human genome using evolution
The alternative, which is the basis of our approach, is to compile all genome data from other species and predict what the human sequence reference should be. By observing evolution’...
On the frontiers of cyborg science
We can make it really look and behave like smart, soft biological material, and integrate it with cells and cellular networks at the whole-tissue level. Rapid-fire cell signaling con...
New analysis links tree height to climate
Our study talks about the kind of constraints that could limit maximum tree height, and how those constraints and maximum height vary with climate. In Tasmania, an especially rainy p...
NASA carbon counter reaches final orbit, returns data
NASA’s OCO-2 spacecraft collected first light data Aug. 6 over New Guinea. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/NASA GSFC (Phys.org) —Just over a month after launch, the Orbiting Carbon Observa...
Geckos use toe hairs to turn stickiness on/off
Geckos’ feet are nonsticky by default, but they can activate ‘stickiness’ through application of a small shear force, according to research from Oregon State University. These extrao...
Explainer: How do satellites orbit the Earth?
Our moon orbits the Earth in the same way satellites do. Because the moon is in orbit. The cannon ball would follow the curvature of the Earth, being pulled towards the Earth by grav...
ESA image: Saturn’s moon Rhea, Epimetheus transiting
The other 55 small satellites whizzing around Saturn make up the tiny remainder along with the gas giant’s famous rings. One of the subjects of this Cassini image, Rhea, belongs to t...
Coming soon: Genetically edited fruit?
Recent advances that allow the precise editing of genomes now raise the possibility that fruit and other crops might be genetically improved without the need to introduce foreign gen...
Bats bolster brain hypothesis, maybe technology, too
These harmonic pairs reflect off of objects and back to the bat’s ears, triggering a response from neurons in its brain. Objects that reflect these harmonic pairs back in perfect syn...
ALMA confirms comets forge organic molecules in their dusty atmospheres
ALMA’s high-resolution observations provided a tantalizing 3D perspective of the distribution of the molecules within these two cometary atmospheres, or comas. Similar maps revealed ...
Without humans, the whole world could look like Serengeti
In this follow-up study, they investigate what the natural worldwide diversity patterns of mammals would be like in the absence of past and present human impacts, based on estimates ...
When highest perceptual ability occurs in a day?
Many previous chronobiological studies have reported on detection of circadian fluctuation in performing simple motor tasks, fine skilled movement, and anaerobic exercise. Therefore,...
Wave-particle interaction in atmosphere
The findings are important because relativistic electrons can lead to ozone depletion and threaten orbital satellites, spacecraft and astronauts, and understanding the evolution of E...
Tiny chip mimics brain, delivers supercomputer speed
It accomplishes this task by using a huge network of neurons and synapses, similar to how the human brain functions by using information gathered from the body’s sensory organs. Sens...
Technical troubleshooting at the CERN Control Centre
Credit: Stephanie Hills If a technical alert goes off at CERN, it will almost certainly show up on one of Chris Wetton’s 15 screens in the CERN Control Centre. Wetton is a member of...
Still hot inside the Moon: Tidal heating in the deepest part of the lunar mantle
However, models of the internal structure of the Moon as derived from past research could not account for the deformation precisely observed by the above lunar exploration programs. ...
Rotation of planets influences habitability
In astronomy, a habitable zone is a region of space around a star where conditions are favorable for life as it may be found on Earth. Air circulation and rotation rates The radiati...
Researchers tracking the epic Serengeti migration reveal that humans have greater impact than food or predators
The group’s findings suggest that although wildebeest and zebra migrate together, they move for very different reasons: wildebeest are constantly looking for fresh grazing, whereas z...
Photon hunting in the twilight zone: Visual features of bioluminescent sharks
The eye of a velvet belly lanternshark. Credit: Dr. J. Mallefet (FNRS/UCL) The eyes of deep-sea bioluminescent sharks have a higher rod density when compared to non-bioluminescent s...
Nordic Seas cooled 500,000 years before global oceans
The cooling of the Nordic Seas towards modern temperatures started in the early Pliocene, half a million years before the global oceans cooled. The cooling of the oceans toward the m...
Nearest ancestor of living bears discovered from Gansu, China
While establishing a new genus, Agriarctos, based on some isolated lower cheek teeth from the latest Miocene deposits in Hungary, Kretzoi (1942) transferred the type specimen of Ursa...
NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft’s 10 years in space
We have operated successfully in orbit for more than three Earth years and more than 14 Mercury years as we celebrate this amazing 10th anniversary milestone, said MESSENGER Mission ...
Klekowskii penguin takes size title away from emperor
The researchers reckoned that this penguin was over six feet (2 meters) and weighed over 250 pounds (115 kilograms).The species is known as Palaeeudyptes klekowskii. Detailing Acosta...
Humans leaving a permanent mark on deep Earth
Human forays deep underground, such as boreholes, mines and nuclear bomb tests, are leaving a mark on the planet’s geology that will last for hundreds of millions of years, say scien...
How spiders spin silk
In new research publishing in the open access journal PLOS Biology on August 5, Anna Rising and Jan Johansson show how the silk formation process is regulated. These changes are trig...