You are where? antibiotics and obesity, SHC, acupuncture on the cheap
You are where? (Science Daily)Your mind is in your brain, right? But which bits, exactly? Neurologists thought they knew which brain structures were necessary for consciousness: the insular cortex,...
View ArticleArmstrong, sweet home Anatolia, bears, fracking, smooth spacetime, mutant dad
Armstrong (Science Daily, BBC)I regret to announce what you have probably already heard: the death of Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon. He died last Saturday, at the age of 82, or heart...
View ArticleOn to Ceres, two suns - two planets, dark field, no junk DNA, more
On to Ceres (BBC, Nature)NASA's Dawn probe has been hanging about the asteroid Vesta, making observations, for some months. Now, it's setting course for Ceres, the largest asteroid. It will get there...
View ArticleMartian riverbed, hope for progeria, clear mud, panspermia again
Martian riverbed (Nature)Whether Mars ever had surface water is a long-standing interest of astronomers. We've spotted lots of geological features that suggest water, but this time we have a close-up....
View ArticlePhysics Nobel, tangling time, stemmed mice, cute little fangs, beta bloopers
Physics Nobel (NPR, Science News, Scientific American)Serge Haroche of France and David Wineland of the US are sharing the Nobel Prize for physics, for developing methods of measuring small quantum...
View ArticleDiamond planet, halal net, old bug brain
Diamond planet (Science Daily)55 Cancri e is a "super-earth" – a planet eight times as big as ours, one of five orbiting a star 40 light-years away, discovered last year. It's...
View ArticleSpacediver, the cost of brains, stem cells vs neural disease, Mayan astronomy
Spacediver (BBC, New Scientist, Science Daily)As is now international news, Felix Baumgartner of Austria has skydived from 24 miles up, effectively in space, passing the speed of sound on the way...
View ArticleOne planet - four suns, Ariel's ocean, mini-system
One planet - four suns (CNN, ScienceNOW, BBC)A group of amateur astronomers, combing through NASA data, have found a planet about the size of Neptune orbiting two suns — the sixth example of that...
View ArticleCentaurian Earth, genius and madness, quantities of consciousness
Centaurian Earth (ScienceNOW, BBC, Science News)Alpha Centauri is the nearest star to our solar system. It's a triple system, with two sun-like stars ("A" and "B") orbiting each other and...
View ArticleNeanderthal model, whale voice, hind wings, cold fusion or something
Neanderthal model (BBC)A team of international experts has put together the most up-to-date model yet of a Neanderthal. He's short, stocky, and very strong-looking. Give him a bushier beard (which he...
View ArticleCommon ground, cancer surprises, more Earths, fewer stars
Common ground (Science Daily)This past election was so contentious, it made political polarization into an object of scientific study, in Canada. The University of British Columbia looked into the...
View Article"Vegetative" answers, electric car, rogue planet, ultrapede, carnivous sponge
"Vegetative" answers (Nature)Many people diagnosed as being in a vegetative state are able to answer questions by means of brain-scanning techniques. They're asked to think one thing for yes and...
View Article"Vegetative" answers, electric car, rogue planet, ultrapede, carnivous sponge
"Vegetative" answers (Nature)Many people diagnosed as being in a vegetative state are able to answer questions by means of brain-scanning techniques. They're asked to think one thing for yes and...
View ArticleImpermafrost, years of spears, a white smell, and more
Impermafrost (Science Daily)Due to global warming, a lot of permafrost is thawing. That means the frozen vegetable matter in it will finally start rotting, giving off carbon dioxide and methane,...
View ArticleDiabetes bypass, embryos, used chlorophyll, expressive elbows, moon factory
Diabetes bypass (Discover Magazine, Science Daily)People who are obese are liable to come down with type-2 diabetes. A drastic fix for the obesity is gastric bypass surgery, reducing the size of the...
View ArticleTauCeti, Lunar crash, twelve particles, youth protein, European fisheries
Ho for Tau Ceti (ScienceNOW, BBC)Tau Ceti is a very Sun-like star, a bit dimmer, only 12 light-years from Earth. It is famed in science fiction, being the setting for Surface Tension by James Blish...
View ArticleMoon river, spider puppeteer, cancer under pressure, ancient accuracy, gun data
Moon river (Discover Magazine)The indefatigable Cassini probe, which earlier spotted seas on Saturn's moon Titan, has now spotted a river. This is the first river to be found off Earth. Granted, it is...
View ArticlePlenty of Earths, double suns & double weather, crime and lead, paying to slave
Plenty of Earths (ScienceNow, Discover Magazine)The Kepler orbital telescope was designed to find planets around other stars, and it's doing a great job. The past week, astronomers announced another...
View ArticleDark force, Apophis, a pause in global warming
Dark force (New Scientist)Dark matter is the unseen stuff that sculpts galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Its existence is inferred from its gravitational effects only, and it is "dark" not only in...
View ArticleInternational mercury limits, brilliant voids, wolf vs dog, my fair ape - not
International mercury limits (Science Insider, Nature)Over 140 nations have signed on to a treaty limiting the use of mercury. This includes the use of mercury in coal-fired power plants, gold mines,...
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