Human foot not as unique as originally thought
Research at the University of Liverpool has shown that the mechanisms of the human foot are not as unique as originally thought and have much more in common with the flexible feet of other great apes.
View ArticleHoneyguide birds destroy own species' eggs to eliminate competition
Like cuckoos, honeyguides are parasitic birds that lay their eggs in other birds' nests and dupe them into raising their young. Now scientists reveal that, unlike in cuckoos, the resemblance between...
View ArticleNew technology protects against password theft and phishing attacks
New technology launched today by Royal Holloway University, will help protect people from the cyber attack known as "phishing," believed to have affected 37.3 million of us last year, and from online...
View ArticleTech experts debate the smarts of the 'smartwatch'
News that Samsung will unveil a "smartwatch" next month has sent rumour mills into overdrive within the tech community as it second guesses what the much-hyped gadget will offer.
View ArticleHuman activity is 'almost certainly' driving climate change, IPCC leaked...
Human activity is almost certainly the cause of climate change and global sea levels could rise by several feet by the end of the century, according to an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change...
View ArticleJumpy caterpillar shies the Sun (w/ Video)
The larva of a Vietnamese moth has devised a unique form of transport—constructing a leaf cone and thrashing about inside to make it jump, a study showed Wednesday.
View ArticleDynamically reconfiguring images with flexible OLED FlexCam (w/ Video)
(Phys.org) —Thanks to a team from the Human Media Lab at Queens University in Ontario, a prototype could show the way to easier, faster, and more accurate ways to shoot panoramic shots. Their step up...
View ArticlePlants can change greenhouse gas emissions after warming
(Phys.org) —Different moorland plants, particularly heather and cotton grass, can strongly influence climate warming effects on greenhouse gas emissions, researchers from Lancaster University, The...
View ArticleDogs could act as effective early warning system for patients with diabetes
(Phys.org) —Dogs that are trained to respond to their owners' hypoglycaemia could offer a very effective way to alert diabetic patients of impending lowered blood sugars. The findings, published in the...
View ArticleTeleportation just got easier—but not for you, unfortunately
Thanks to two studies published in Nature last Thursday, the chance of successful teleportation has considerably increased. Which is a good thing, right?
View ArticleE-paper display powered by NFC from smartphone (w/ Video)
(Phys.org) —Researchers from Intel, the University of Massachusetts and the University of Washington have teamed up to build an e-paper display that can be powered by the Near Field Communication (NFC)...
View ArticleInvestigation reveals birds on roads adapt to speed limits
(Phys.org) —Two biologists from Canada working in France have found that birds that land on roads adapt to average highway speeds—the higher the speed limit, the sooner they take flight when a car...
View ArticleHue of barn swallow breast feathers can influence their health, says study
A new study conducted at the University of Colorado Boulder and involving Cornell University shows the outward appearance of female barn swallows, specifically the hue of their chestnut-colored breast...
View ArticleMiniature pump: Polymer gel continuously responds to fleeting stimuli
(Phys.org) —Miniaturization is constantly on the march. For example, we now have entire analytical and diagnostic systems that can take place on a chip. These systems require miniaturized versions of...
View ArticleTriple point: Physicists pinpoint key property of material that both conducts...
It is well known to scientists that the three common phases of water – ice, liquid and vapor – can exist stably together only at a particular temperature and pressure, called the triple point.
View ArticleTeam finds new way to use X-rays to probe properties of solid materials
Without the currently available plethora of X-ray methods, basic research in the physical sciences would be unthinkable. The methods are used in solid state physics, in the analysis of biological...
View ArticleA brighter method to determine surface gravity of distant stars
Astronomers have found a clever new way to slice and dice the flickering light from a distant star in a way that reveals the strength of gravity at its surface.
View ArticleResearchers decode the hamster genome
Genome researchers from Bielefeld University's Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec) headed by Professor Dr. Alfred Pühler have succeeded in sequencing the genome of the Chinese hamster. The Chinese...
View ArticleLab-made complexes are 'sun sponges'
In diagrams it looks like a confection of self-curling ribbon with bits of bling hung off the ribbon here and there. In fact it is a carefully designed ring of proteins with attached pigments that...
View ArticleNew results from Daya Bay neutrino experiment announced
The international Daya Bay Collaboration has announced new results about the transformations of neutrinos - elusive, ghostlike particles that carry invaluable clues about the makeup of the early...
View Article