We Timed Every Game. World Cup Stoppage Time Is Wildly Inaccurate.

The second half of Iran and Morocco’s tightly contested group match contained nothing too out of the ordinary by World Cup standards. Each side used all three s…

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Self-heating, fast-charging battery makes electric vehicles climate-immune

Californians do not purchase electric vehicles because they are cool, they buy EVs because they live in a warm climate. Conventional lithium-ion batteries cannot be rapidly charged at temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, but now a team of Penn State engineers has created a battery that can self-heat, allowing rapid charging regardless of the outside chill.

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More Clues That Earth-Like Exoplanets Are Indeed Earth-Like

A new study from the Georgia Institute of Technology provides new clues indicating that an exoplanet 500 light-years away is much like Earth. Kepler-186f is the first identified Earth-sized planet outside the solar system orbiting a star in the habitable zone. This means it’s the proper distance from its host star for liquid water to pool on the surface.

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The Milky Way’s supermassive black hole may have a dozen nomadic sibl

At the center of the Milky Way sits a dark and dangerous beast: Sagittarius A*. Located about 26,000 light-years from Earth, our galaxy’s only known supermassive black hole is roughly 4 million times as massive as the Sun, and its immense gravitational pull can nonchalantly annihilate any object that strays too close. Fortunately for us, Sagittarius A* is like a troll under a bridge — it does not leave its post.

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Genetic ancestry test users ‘cherry-pick’ which races to identify with

Genetic ancestry tests are often advertised as a tool to uncover new connections to diverse cultures and ancestries, but new research from the University of British Columbia has found people tend to pick and choose which races they identify with based on preconceived biases. Ancestry testing is part of a rapidly growing, billion-dollar industry that claims to use DNA to tell people about the parts of the world from which their ancestors originated.

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Alternatives to Heterosexual Pairings, Brought to You By Non-Human Animals

No one quite has this sex thing figured out, but these non-binary animals have some good ideas

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UV Bacteria-Killing Robot Cleans Hospital Rooms far Better than Humans

New UV Disinfection Robots have the ability to sanitize healthcare facilities fare better than humans - and they are already sanitizing hospitals around the world.

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Can the Kids Wait? Today's Youngsters May Be Able to Delay Gratification Longer Than Those of the 1960's

Some 50 years since the original “marshmallow test” in which most preschoolers gobbled up one treat immediately rather than wait several minutes to get two, today’s youngsters may be able to delay gratification significantly longer to get that extra reward. This was the key finding of a new study published by the American Psychological Association.

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India’s quest to find a trillion-dollar nuclear fuel on the south side of the moon

India’s space program wants to go where no nation has gone before -– to the south side of the moon. And once it gets there, it will study the potential for mining a source of waste-free nuclear energy that could be worth trillions of dollars. The nation’s equivalent of NASA will launch a rover in October to explore virgin territory on the lunar surface and analyze crust samples for signs of water and helium-3. That isotope is limited on Earth yet so abundant on the moon that it theoretically could meet global energy demands for 250 years if harnessed.

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Deepwater Horizon disaster altered building blocks of ocean life

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster may have had a lasting impact upon even the smallest organisms in the Gulf of Mexico, scientists have found – amid warnings that the oceans around America are also under fresh assault as a result of environmental policies under Donald Trump. Lingering oil residues have altered the basic building blocks of life in the ocean by reducing biodiversity in sites closest to the spill, which occurred when a BP drilling rig exploded in April 2010, killing 11 workers and spewing about 4m barrels of oil into the Gulf.

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Birdbrainy: New Caledonian crows make tools using mental images

New Caledonian crows use mental pictures to twist twigs into hooks and make other tools, according to a provocative study that suggests the notoriously clever birds pass on successful designs to future generations, a hallmark of culture. “We find evidence for a specific type of emulation we call mental template matching,” co-author Alex Taylor, director of the Language, Cognition and Culture Lab at the University of Auckland, told AFP. “Put simply, crows can reverse engineer tool designs using only a mental image of that tool.”

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Mars' 2018 dust storm intensifies

The martian dust storm that put the Opportunity rover to sleep in early June has by now intensified into a Planet-Encircling Dust Event, or PEDE, that would cover both North America and Russia completely if it were on Earth. Though its current location is nowhere near Opportunity’s, the Curiosity rover (currently studying Gale Crater) captured the growing impacts of the storm in a selfie snapped June 15.

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Rewriting history in the People's Republic of Amnesia and beyond

The French historian Ernest Renan said: "Forgetting … is a crucial factor in the creation of the nation." In contemporary China, it’s put into practice with surgical skill. Specific memories of events deemed sensitive by the state are not just forgotten, they are winnowed out and selectively deleted. The Communist Party has succeeded in hacking the collective memory.

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Scientists call for a Paris-style agreement to save life on Earth

Let’s be honest, the global community’s response to the rising evidence of mass extinction and ecological degradation has been largely to throw crumbs at it. Where we have acted it’s been in a mostly haphazard and modest way — a protected area here, a conservation program there, a few new laws, and a pinch of funding. The problem is such actions — while laudable and important — in no way match the scope and size of the problem where all markers indicate that life on Earth continues to slide into the dustbin.

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Countries Suffering Less Corruption in Elected Officials Have This One Thing in Common

The study, which was published in April, reveals that in countries with more women in political office, corruption is significantly lower. Let's be clear: this does not mean that women are more trustworthy or less likely to take a bribe than men. It also doesn't mean that they make better politicians.

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the 28-year-old who defeated a powerful House Democrat, has an asteroid named after her — here's why

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic Socialist born and raised in the Bronx, defeated longtime incumbent Joseph Crowley in a primary race for New York’s 14th District on Tuesday.

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DARPA has autonomous driving technology that makes Uber's look stupid

The race for autonomous vehicles has had its share of bumps and setbacks. Whether it be difficulties in obtaining testing permits, or safety drivers not doing their jobs, the industry has a rough road ahead to becoming an accepted form of transportation. However, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been working on similar technologies and has invested in some pretty incredible systems that can perform tasks that Uber or Tesla wouldn’t dare.

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The unlikely home of the world’s smallest desert

Although scientists dispute its legend, the minuscule Carcross Desert in Canada is a world wonder by any measure.

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DNA on napkin leads to charges in 32-year-old cold case

Gary Hartman was charged with first degree murder and first degree rape in the death of Michella Welch, who was babysitting her siblings when she went missing on March 26, 1986. Investigators made the arrest after collecting his DNA from a napkin he used at a restaurant.

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Trump's 'Space Force' could fuel a new $1 trillion economy, Morgan Stanley says

If President Donald Trump successfully organizes his so-called Space Force, it could speed up investment in what Morgan Stanley sees as the next trillion-dollar economy. In a note to clients Friday, the bank doubled down on its intergalactic thesis from last October, saying the Space Force "could address critical vulnerabilities in national security, raising investor awareness in the formation of what we see as the next trillion-dollar economy."

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Lust Is Complicated, But Studies Show These 19 Things Make Men More Attractive to Women

Romantic attraction is a complicated thing that scientists still don't completely understand.

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Researchers find a tiny moon around a large unnamed dwarf planet

2007 OR is the largest body in the solar system with no common name. And now, the no-name dwarf planet with a diameter between 800 and 950 miles (1,290–1,528km) has been discovered to have a moon.

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Researchers Want to Find Biomarkers for Violent Criminals. But What About White-Collar Offenders?

Done right, this research could help us vet those vying for the most powerful, and therefore potentially most dangerous, positions in society. Back in 2000, a man known only as Mr. Oft began to grapple with an unwanted realization: He was becoming a pedophile. In fact, it wasn’t long before he was charged with child molestation. But the day before his prison sentence, his head felt like it was about to burst, and a few brain scans later, an egg-size tumor was found burrowing through his brain.

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Strong sibling bond protects against negative effects of fighting parents

In a 3-year study, psychologists found children with strong sibling relationships experience less distress in response to future fighting between parents. Generally, children who experience recurrent destructive conflicts between their parents are at a higher risk of later developing mental health problems. However, a new longitudinal study published in Child Development finds that strong sibling bonds can offset the negative effects of parental strife.

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The City of London will be powered with 100% renewable energy by October 2018

The City of London, the historic “Square Mile” central district of London, will soon switch to clean energy in a big way. Starting in October 2018, the City of London will source 100 percent of its power needs from renewable energy sources by installing solar panels on local buildings, investing in larger solar and wind projects and purchasing clean energy from the grid. Though no longer a square mile, closer now to 1.12 square miles, the City of London is a major financial center within the city and the world. Its green energy transformation sends a clear message that London intends to take strong action against climate change.

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When a Mars Simulation Goes Wrong

The drive to the little white dome on the northern slope of Mauna Loa is a bumpy one. Mauna Loa, the “Long Mountain,” is a colossal volcano that covers half of the island of Hawaii. The rocky terrain, rusty brown and deep red, crunches beneath car tires and jostles passengers. Up there, more than 8,000 feet above sea level and many miles away from the sounds of civilization, it doesn’t feel like Earth. It feels like another planet. Like Mars.

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Study: Majority Of Chronic Pain Patients Replace Opioids With Cannabis

More than two-thirds of chronic pain patients registered to legally access medical cannabis products substitute marijuana for prescription opioids, according to data published in The Journal of Headache and Pain. Investigators from the United States and Canada assessed the use of medical cannabis and prescription drugs in a cohort of over 2,000 Canadian patients licensed to access marijuana products. Among those patients with a primary diagnosis of chronic pain, 73 percent reported substituting cannabis in place of opioids.

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SpaceX's massive Falcon Heavy rocket lands $130 million military launch contract

The most powerful rocket in operation just landed another launch contract. The US Air Force said Thursday that it has picked SpaceX to fly a secretive military satellite atop its Falcon Heavy, the towering machine that took flight for the first time in February. The satellite, called AFSPC-52, is slated to launch in the summer or fall of 2020, according to an Air Force statement.

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How one man died so a whale might live

Humans have spent more than 10 centuries emptying the ocean of some of its most extraordinary animals. Today, a coalition of scientists and fishermen are trying to turn the tide – and learning that conservation is much harder than destruction

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There's a Weird Method Doctors Can Use to Tell if You Need More Vegetables

It looks like there's a really simple way for doctors to diagnose whether young Caucasian men are getting enough vegetables: it's detectable in the colour of their skin.

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Laser bursts generate electricity faster than any other method

Take a glass thread a thousand times thinner than a human hair. Use it as a wire between two metals. Hit it with a laser pulse that lasts a millionth of a billionth of a second. Remarkable things happen. The glass-like material is transformed ever so briefly into something akin to a metal. And the laser generates a burst of electrical current across this tiny electrical circuit. It does so far faster than any traditional way of producing electricity and in the absence of an applied voltage.

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The Mysterious ‘Jumping Gene’ That Appears 500,000 Times in Human DNA

Its segments make up 17 percent of our genome, but scientists are only just starting to understand what it does.

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People are recycling too much garbage, experts say — and it's threatening the economics of the industry

The economics of recycling have shifted drastically over the past year, threatening the viability of single-stream curbside collection in Maryland and across the United States.

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Ecological “law” turns out to just be the result of us fishing

Mature fish are found deep not because of age, climate, or prey, but because of us.

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Ex-Nasa scientist: 30 years on, world is failing 'miserably’ to address climate change

Thirty years after a former Nasa scientist sounded the alarm for the general public about climate change and human activity, the expert issued a fresh warning that the world is failing “miserably” to deal with the worsening dangers.

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Back To Nature

Nightmares On Wax

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The Untold Good News Story of America Today

A grassroots movement getting few headlines could yet herald a new American age of change.

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Study finds less corruption in countries where more women are in government

A greater representation of women in the government is bad news for corruption, according to a new study published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization by researchers Chandan Jha of Le Moyne College and Sudipta Sarangi of Virginia Tech. In a cross-country analysis of over 125 countries, this study finds that corruption is lower in countries where a greater share of parliamentarians are women. The study further finds that women’s representation in local politics is important too – the likelihood of having to bribe is lower in regions with a greater representation of women in local-level politics in Europe.

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Women who identify as ‘early birds’ are less likely to get depressed, study claims

Women who describe themselves as “early risers” are less likely to develop depression, new research claims. A study of more than 32,000 women published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research found that those who are naturally inclined to wake up early are at a lower risk of the mental illness due to greater daylight exposure. Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston examined...

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This concrete can trap CO2 emissions forever

Concrete is the most abundant man-made material on earth. There's a good chance you're standing on it right now, and it's holding up the buildings around you. But concrete has an emissions problem. Its essential ingredient, cement, has a huge carbon footprint.

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The most likely cradles for life inside our solar system

Scientists still believe it possible that extraterrestrial life could flourish in our own neighbourhood. This week, Nasa’s veteran Curiosity rover discovered complex organic matter that had been buried and preserved for more than 3bn years in sediments forming a lake bed. This means that if microbial life did land on Mars, it would be nourished.

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Antarctica is melting faster than anyone thought, and we're not ready for the sea level rise that's coming

The melting rate of Antarctic ice has tripled in recent years. If the acceleration of ice melt were to continue, it could potentially cascade.

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Your brain values chocolate over cheese

Humans place a high premium on foods that contain both fats and sugars.

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A 'spillover' effect found in consensually nonmonogamous relationships

New research on consensually non-monogamous relationships indicates that having one partner who meets your sexual needs is linked to increased satisfaction not only in that relationship, but also in a concurrent relationship. The study was recently published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. “Generally I am interested in how having partners who are motivated to be responsive to your needs is associated with satisfaction,” said Amy Muise, an assistant professor at York University and corresponding author of the study.

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Was that script written by a human or an AI? Here’s how to spot the difference.

Olive Garden commercials are way too complex for artificial intelligence to recreate.

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Brain matures faster due to childhood stress

Stress in early childhood leads to faster maturation of certain brain regions during adolescence. In contrast, stress experienced later in life leads to slower maturation of the adolescent brain. This is the outcome of a long-term study conducted in which 37 subjects have been monitored for almost 20 years.

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£720m Large Hadron Collider upgrade 'could upend particle physics'

A massive project to supercharge the world’s largest particle collider launched on Friday in the hope that the beefed-up machine will reveal fresh insights into the nature of the universe. The 950m Swiss franc (£720m) mission will see heavy equipment, new buildings, access shafts and service tunnels installed, constructed and excavated at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Cern, the particle physics laboratory on the edge of Geneva.

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Flexible nanotubes pack a punch

Since they are flexible, high-aspect-ratio nanostructures store elastic energy. When released, this energy could be used to destroy bacteria by physically stretching and rupturing their cell membranes. This technique was inspired by the bactericidal nature of insect wings and destroys both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria at extremely high rates. The nanostructures could make for a new type of highly efficient mechano-responsive antibacterial surface.

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New type of photosynthesis discovered

The discovery changes our understanding of the basic mechanism of photosynthesis and should rewrite the textbooks. It will also tailor the way we hunt for alien life and provide insights into how we could engineer more efficient crops that take advantage of longer wavelengths of light.

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A surprise find: 99-million-year-old frog encased in amber

The specimens, the oldest known, were excavated from northern Myanmar.

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