Wasps use ancient aggression genes to create social groups
Aggression-causing genes appeared early in animal evolution and have maintained their roles for millions of years and across many species, even though animal aggression today varies widely from...
View ArticleIs height important in matters of the heart? New study says yes
Is height important in matters of the heart? According to new research from Rice University and the University of North Texas, the height of a potential partner matters more to women than men, and...
View ArticleTwo independent teams build heat cloaking device
(Phys.org) —Two teams, both in Singapore have created two different types of thermal cloaking devices. In their papers, both published in Physical Review Letters, the teams describe how they went about...
View ArticleStudy reveals the give and take of urban temperature mitigating technologies
Life in a warming world is going to require human ingenuity to adapt to the new realities of Earth. Greenhouse-gas induced warming and megapolitan expansion are both significant drivers of our warming...
View ArticleMathematicians calculate that there are 177,147 ways to knot a tie
(Phys.org) —A small team of mathematicians, led by Mikael Vejdemo-Johansson of the of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, has uploaded a paper to the preprint server arXiv describing a...
View ArticleStudy suggests ways to improve common furniture fire test
The bench-scale test widely used to evaluate whether a burning cigarette will ignite upholstered furniture may underestimate the tendency of component materials to smolder when these materials are used...
View ArticleHow do polar bears stay warm? Research finds an answer in their genes
(Phys.org) —In the winter, brown and black bears go into hibernation to conserve energy and keep warm.
View ArticleRecycling of 'chauffeur protein' helps regulate fat production
Studying a cycle of protein interactions needed to make fat, Johns Hopkins researchers say they have discovered a biological switch that regulates a protein that causes fatty liver disease in mice....
View ArticleNew live-cell printing technology works like ancient Chinese woodblocking
With a nod to 3rd century Chinese woodblock printing and children's rubber stamp toys, researchers in Houston have developed a way to print living cells onto any surface, in virtually any shape. Unlike...
View ArticleEnd-Permian extinction happened in 60,000 years—much faster than earlier...
The largest mass extinction in the history of animal life occurred some 252 million years ago, wiping out more than 96 percent of marine species and 70 percent of life on land—including the largest...
View ArticleTeam builds nonflammable lithium ion battery
In studying a material that prevents marine life from sticking to the bottom of ships, researchers led by chemist Joseph DeSimone at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have identified a...
View ArticleFlowing water on Mars appears likely but hard to prove
(Phys.org) —Martian experts have known since 2011 that mysterious, possibly water-related streaks appear and disappear on the planet's surface. Georgia Institute of Technology Ph.D. candidate Lujendra...
View ArticleCMOS technology provides new insights into how biofilms form
In a study published today in Nature Communications, a research team led by Ken Shepard, professor of electrical engineering and biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering, and Lars Dietrich,...
View ArticleWith their amazing necks, ants don't need 'high hopes' to do heavy lifting
High hopes may help move a rubber tree plant (as the old song goes), but the real secret to the ant's legendary strength may lie in its tiny neck joint.
View ArticleGoogle becomes number two in market value
Google overtook US oil giant ExxonMobil on Monday to become the world's number two company when rated by market value, behind its high-tech rival Apple.
View ArticleEspionage malware may be state-sponsored, researchers say
Security researchers said Monday they discovered cyber-espionage malware which has hit governments and companies in 31 countries and is likely state-sponsored.
View ArticleCourt backs Apple e-book monitor, within limits (Update)
A US appeals court on Monday shot down Apple's bid to derail a court-ordered monitor in its e-book price-fixing case.
View ArticleBedrock influences forests more than previously believed
(Phys.org) —Bedrock influences forests and landscape evolution much more than was previously thought, according to a study by University of Wyoming scientists published this week in the Proceedings of...
View ArticleCould future spaceships be built with artificial 'bone'?
How do you make a light, low-density material without compromising its strength? It's a conundrum that has plagued engineers and builders looking for tough, durable materials that don't weigh them down.
View ArticleResearchers discover 'epic' new Burgess Shale site in Canada's Kootenay...
Yoho National Park's 505-million-year-old Burgess Shale – home to some of the planet's earliest animals, including a very primitive human relative – is one of the world's most important fossil sites....
View Article