42 million km saved Earth from dry, Venus-like fate, study reports
Similar in size and often referred to as twin planets, Earth and Venus evolved from common origins into two contrasting worlds - one dry and inhospitable, the other wet and teeming with life.
View ArticleScience keeps its eye on the (foot) ball
Science has entered the debate into the use of goal-line technology in football, with an article in a respected journal on Wednesday stressing it could not be foolproof.
View ArticleBird ancestor reclaims its branch on tree of life
Venerated for 150 years as the forebear of all birds until being relegated two years ago to the common class of winged dinosaurs, the Archaeopteryx was restored to its hallowed branch on the tree of...
View ArticleTeam finds gene that helps honey bees find flowers (and get back home)
(Phys.org) —Honey bees don't start out knowing how to find flowers or even how to get around outside the hive. Before they can forage, they must learn how to navigate a changing landscape and orient...
View ArticleNew light-controlled gel makes big strides in soft robotics (w/ Video)
(Phys.org) —Inspired by the way plants grow toward light sources, a phenomenon known as phototropism, bioengineers from the University of California, Berkeley have created a hydrogel that could be...
View ArticleHigh-efficiency zinc-air battery developed
Stanford University scientists have developed an advanced zinc-air battery with higher catalytic activity and durability than similar batteries made with costly platinum and iridium catalysts. The...
View ArticleMore precision from less predictability: A new quantum trade-off
An important advance in the quantitative understanding and experimental verification of complementarity; arguably the most important foundational principle of quantum mechanics.
View Article20 million year-old dwarf koala named after Dick Smith
(Phys.org) —A newly discovered extinct species of koala that lived in the rainforest canopies of northern Australia about 20 million years ago has been named after a famous Australian – Dick Smith.
View ArticleBig feet preference in rural Indonesia defies one-size-fits-all theory of...
People in most cultures view women with small feet as attractive. Like smooth skin or an hourglass figure, petite feet signal a potential mate's youth and fertility.
View ArticleCassini finds hints of activity at Saturn moon Dione
(Phys.org) —From a distance, most of the Saturnian moon Dione resembles a bland cueball. Thanks to close-up images of a 500-mile-long (800-kilometer-long) mountain on the moon from NASA's Cassini...
View ArticleWISE mission finds lost asteroid family members
(Phys.org) —Data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) have led to a new and improved family tree for asteroids in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter.
View ArticleCaterpillar will install no-doze system for mining trucks
(Phys.org) —Construction and mining equipment company Caterpillar, in a deal with an Australia based technology company, will use fatigue-fighting alert systems in mining vehicles. The technology...
View ArticleNew visualization reveals virus particles have more individuality than thought
(Phys.org) —Virus particles of the same type had been thought to have identical structures, like a mass-produced toy, but a new visualization technique developed by a Purdue University researcher...
View ArticleAn electrical switch for magnetism (w/ Video)
Researchers at MIT have developed a new way of controlling the motion of magnetic domains—the key technology in magnetic memory systems, such as a computer's hard disk. The new approach requires little...
View ArticleMigration patterns reveal much about US population, research finds
(Phys.org) —The drop of Detroit's population is well documented, but a Michigan Technological University researcher says there is a surprising kernel of information in the decline.
View ArticleA new kind of chemical 'glue'
Over the past three decades, researchers have found various applications of a method for attaching molecules to gold; the approach uses chemicals called thiols to bind the materials together. But while...
View ArticleGenome offers clues to amphibian-killing fungus
A fungus that has decimated amphibians globally is much older than previously thought, but may have recently spread through the global wildlife trade to new locations where amphibians have no immunity,...
View ArticleMeta-transmitarray offers unprecedented control of light on subwavelength scales
(Phys.org) —The ability to guide, bend and focus light at the nanoscale is a highly sought-after goal in the field of nano-optics. Precise and efficient light control has direct applications in solar...
View ArticleResearchers build two versions of new most accurate clock ever
(Phys.org) —Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder Colorado have succeeded in building a record breaking clock—one that has an instability of just one part in...
View ArticleResearchers find similarities in the way birds and babies learn to 'talk'
(Phys.org) —A team of researchers from Japan, Israel and the U.S. has found evidence that suggests birds and human infants learn to string syllables together in roughly the same way: through stepwise...
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