Snapzu Science: July 2015

Friday, 31 July 2015

A Skeptic's Guide to Health News and Diet Fads

A bogus study about chocolate and weight loss fooled several news outlets. Here, we present a thorough debunking of health news misreporting and bogus, celebrity-endorsed diet fads.
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World's best whisky is being sent to age in space

A Japanese distillery is sending some of its world-renowned whisky into outer space. Tokyo-based Suntory, a brewing and distillery company, announced today that it will send six samples of its whiskies and other alcohols to the International Space Station (ISS) next month, in order to observe the effects of zero-gravity on the aging process.
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Scientists develop creepy insect-like robot that can jump on water

As many a first-year chemistry student knows, walking on water isn’t actually physically impossible; chemistry teachers often use water strider insects as an example when teaching students about the surface tension of water molecules.
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How Drought's Lasting Effect on Trees Could Spell Danger for Carbon Levels

Shrinking tree rings point to a worrying future for forests and humans, a new study finds.
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Why Red Means Red in Almost Every Language

When Paul Kay, then an anthropology graduate student at Harvard University, arrived in Tahiti in 1959 to study island life, he expected to have a hard time learning the local words for colors. His field had long espoused a theory called linguistic relativity, which held that language shapes perception.
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The disgusting secrets of smelly feet

Cheesy feet aren’t just an embarrassment – understanding the stench could save lives. David Robson delves into the strange ecosystems between your toes.
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31st July 1964 - Ranger 7 Images the Moon

Ranger 7 approached the moon precisely on target and transmitted 4,316 images in the 15 minutes before it impacted the lunar surface on the northern rim of the Sea of Clouds. The images, which showed the lunar surface in stunning detail, were the harbinger of future human exploration of the moon.
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Meet the First New Canine Found in 150 Years

Golden jackals of Africa and Eurasia are actually two distantly related species—and one is a new species of wolf, a new study shows.
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Spitzer Confirms Closest Rocky Exoplanet - SpaceRef

Using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have confirmed the discovery of the nearest rocky planet outside our solar system, larger than Earth and a potential gold mine of science data.
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Here’s why scientists haven’t invented an impossible space engine – despite what you may have read

What if I told you that recent experiments have revealed a revolutionary new method of propulsion that threatens to overthrow the laws of physics as we know them? That its inventor claims it could allow us to travel to the Moon in four hours without the use of fuel? What if I then told you we cannot explain exactly how it works and, in fact, there are some very good reasons why it shouldn’t work at all? By Steven Thomson.
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How to Get to the Fourth Dimension

A new book offers mathematical puzzles, such as fitting a coin through a hole that seems too small to accommodate it. Colm Mulcahy reviews "Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension: A Mathematician's Journey through Narcissistic Numbers, Optimal Dating Algorithms, at Least Two Kinds of Infinity, and More," by Matt Parker. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
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How do we know that evolution is really happening?

The idea that species gradually change over many generations is the cornerstone of biology. This is how we know it's true.
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Why Red Means Red in Almost Every Language

Water-Running Robot Jumps 14 Times Its Height

The world's first robot that jumps from the surface of water has been developed by a team of Korean roboticists and engineers.
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Blue moon: how to see tonight’s 'rare' event

If it is clear tonight, step outside and marvel at the full moon. Its heavy, illuminated orb will trace a path right across the sky from horizon to horizon during the twilight and nighttime hours. It will be shining in the reflected light of the Sun, as normal, and will appear yellow/white, as normal, yet we call it a blue moon because, well … here’s where the story gets interesting.
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3D brain map reveals connections between cells in nano-scale

Researchers hope images will enable study of abnormal connections between cells present in neurological disorders such as schizophrenia and depression
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Watch what happens when a magnet is dropped through a copper pipe

This amazing video shows the effect of Lenz's Law - as the magnet falls it induces a current in the copper pipe.
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Scientists Discover New Structural Features of Human Hair

Human hair structure has been studied extensively for more than 70 years, but a complete picture of its local structure has proven elusive. “Human hair is primarily composed of keratin molecules arranged in hierarchical structure, where the fundamental building block is called an intermediated filament,” Dr Stanic said.
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Facebook Ready To Test Drones That Can Deliver Internet At 10 Gigabits A Second

The lightweight, carbon-fiber drones can provide coverage to a radius of 50 miles.
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A Renaissance painting reveals how breeding changed watermelons

"It's fun to go to art museums and see the still-life pictures, and see what our vegetables looked like 500 years ago," James Nienhuis told me. In many cases, it's our only chance to peer into the past, since we can't preserve vegetables for hundreds of years.
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What Happens To Your Body 60 Minutes After Drinking A Can Of Coke

You’ve seen Coca-Cola mixed with molten lead, dropped into liquid nitrogen and even consumed by a river of molten lava. But what happens to your body after you’ve drunk the sugar-laden beverage? After reading this, you may reconsider picking up a can.
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Official claims debris find won't narrow search for MH370

The discovery of debris has raised hopes the mystery of missing Flight MH370 may be solved but authorities warn this is unlikely and the search goes on.
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The First Humans to Live to the Age of 150 Are Already Alive

Human lifespans are now longer than ever. Currently, the average 65-year-old can expect to live an additional 19.3 years compared to just 1950, when their same-age counterpart would only live approximately 13 more years, according to the National Institute on Aging. And the population of adults 85 and older is projected to increase 351 percent by 2050. Think that’s astonishing? The first humans expected to live to age 150 are already alive, according to experts on aging and longevity.
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Earth's magnetic shield is much older than previously thought

Since 2010, the best estimate of the age of Earth's magnetic field has been 3.45 billion years. But now a researcher responsible for that finding has new data showing the magnetic field is far older.
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Thursday, 30 July 2015

ISS Virtual Tour 0.8

Take a tour of the International Space Station. Please enable Javascript!
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The Amazing Things We Just Learned About Philae's Comet

A trove of new data from the comet lander came out this afternoon, revealing the object in unprecedented detail.
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The sordid history of Australian heart transplants

The rigmarole of constant checks and consent forms in modern hospitals can be tiring, but as medical historian Dr John Carmody notes, it may be preferable to the alternative. He casts an eye back to the late ‘60s, where Australia's first heart transplants revealed the wild—and occasionally unethical—side of surgery.
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For Mark Zuckerberg, The Future is Immersive

In a conference call today to discuss the company’s latest earnings, Facebook cofounder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined the current state of the company along with COO Sheryl Sandberg and CFO David Wehner. While they emphasized video’s growing role on Facebook, and how video sharing is up in News Feed, Zuckerberg is already looking to the future. And that future includes virtual reality.
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The Physics Behind Traffic Jams

The Physics Behind Traffic Jams by William Beaty - This should be mandatory reading for anyone operating a motorized vehicle on the public way.
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World Population Pyramid

The World's best Population Pyramid covering 100 years of age and sex distribution for every country in the world.
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Researchers demonstrate the world's first white lasers

More luminous and energy efficient than LEDs, white lasers look to be the future in lighting and light-based wireless communication.
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Fruit Flies Show They May Be Self-Aware By Playing A Video Game

Scientists set up fruit flies to essentially play a virtual reality video game to test whether these insects are self-aware. Their results suggest that the flies were actually aware they were controlling the avatars on the screen.
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The molecular medley that gives bacon its rich flavour

It’s the chemistry of the meat, the chemistry of the smoking and the chemistry of the cooking that combine to make bacon smell and taste irresistible.
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Ten bacteria with real-life superpowers

They're too small to see with the naked eye, but these microbes have abilities that put superheroes to shame
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Suitcase found as experts race to verify whether wreckage found on Reunion Island is MH370

While aviation experts scramble to confirm if they have finally found evidence of MH370, authorities have stated the aircraft wing part that washed up on the coast of Reunion Island could be from other known crashes in the area.
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Watch this white-knuckle jumbo jet landing in tenacious Amsterdam wind storm

The Boeing 777 landed in Amsterdam on Saturday during the Netherlands' worst July storm on record.
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'Failed stars' host powerful auroral displays: Astronomers say brown dwarfs behave more like planets than stars

By observing a brown dwarf 20 light-years away using both radio and optical telescopes, astronomers have found that such so-called failed stars host powerful auroras near their magnetic poles -- additional evidence that brown dwarfs are more like giant planets than small stars.
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China sets up first unmanned factory; all processes are operated by robots

A Chinese firm specialising in precision technology has set up the first unmanned factory at Dongguan city where all the processes are operated by robots, regarded as futuristic solution to tide over China's looming demographic crisis and dependence on manual workers. In the plant, all the processes are operated by computer- controlled robots, computer numerical control machining equipment, unmanned transport trucks and automated warehouse equipment.
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Questions over Keystone XL dog Clinton on campaign trail

A seemingly exasperated Clinton refused for another day to stake out a position. By Timothy Cama.
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New computer model could explain how simple molecules took first step toward life

Nearly four billion years ago, the earliest precursors of life on Earth emerged. First small, simple molecules, or monomers, banded together to form larger, more complex molecules, or polymers. Then those polymers developed a mechanism that allowed them to self-replicate and pass their structure on to future generations...
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Teaching Students To Use Their Noodles

A summer program at Johns Hopkins University puts high schoolers' ingenuity to the test — building bridges out of nothing but spaghetti and glue.
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No Brainer

For decades now, I have been haunted by the grainy, black-and-white x-ray of a human skull. It is alive but empty, with a cavernous fluid-filled space where the brain should be. A thin layer of brain tissue lines that cavity like an amniotic sac... By Peter Watts.
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Divers Stumble Upon Bizarre, Car-Sized Ball Of Jelly

A group of divers swimming off the coast of Turkey this month encountered a strange, jelly-like globule in the waters. Getting nearer with a torch for a closer inspection, they saw that it was almost the size of a car. None of them realized what the oddity was but they filmed their find and uploaded it for the denizens of the internet to answer their questions.
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Wednesday, 29 July 2015

Extreme Weather 101: Heat

Heat explain.
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First Bilateral Hand Transplant in a Child: Zion's Story (2015 - 13 min)

The world’s first bilateral hand transplant in a child has taken place at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The surgery took more than 12 hours. The team, led by L. Scott Levin, M.D., and Benjamin Chang, M.D., included 12 surgeons, 8 nurses, 4 anesthesiologists and others. Levin and Chang direct the Hand Transplantation Program at CHOP. The recipient, Zion, 8, lost his hands and lower legs at the age of 2 as a result of a life-threatening infection.
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Women's immune system genes operate differently from men's, Stanford study finds

A new technology for studying the human body's vast system for toggling genes on and off reveals that genes associated with the immune system toggle more frequently, and those same genes operate differently in women and men.
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This Cold War Debate Shows the Role Scientists Should Play in Politics

On Feb. 20, 1958, in the midst of an escalating number of nuclear weapons tests worldwide—25 in 1955, 55 in 1957, nearly 120 in 1958—two scientists met in San Francisco for a live televised debate over nuclear weapons testing, fallout, and disarmament. In front of big block letters reading KQED, the call sign of the public television station, sat Linus Pauling, the 1954 Nobel laureate in chemistry and a compelling voice in the push for world peace through nuclear disarmament.
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