Jet powered dumplings you need to meet, not eat

If dumbo and a hovercraft made out, this is what you’d get. We admit we have a pretty warped sense of humour. But when you sit back and look at it, the Dumpling Squid does kinda look like a potential 'love-child' of the two don't you think?

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Sleeping While Awake

During microsleep, the entire brain nods off so briefly that we often don’t notice it. Now research shows that individual neurons in the brain can slumber, too, especially when we are sleep-deprived.

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Bloody Amazing Facts About Vampire Bats

It appears at night, sneaks up behind its prey, and sucks its blood! Is it a vampire? No, it’s a vampire bat! Here are some bloody amazing facts about them for Halloween!

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12 Observations About Artificial Intelligence From The O'Reilly AI Conference

At the inaugural O’Reilly AI conference, 66 artificial intelligence practitioners and researchers from 39 organizations presented the current state-of-AI: From chatbots and deep learning to self-driving cars and emotion recognition to automating jobs and obstacles to AI progress to saving lives and new business opportunities. There is no better place to imbibe the most up-to-date tech zeitgeist than at an O’Reilly Media event as has been proven again and again ever since the company put together the first Web-related meeting (WWW Wizards Workshop in July 1993).

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The Amazing Garage Where Robots Do the Parking

Parking sucks. Looking for a space, driving round and round, trying not to hit a pillar. Fear not, the robots have it covered.

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How a mathematician dissects a coincidence

Can you unknot a twist of fate with logic? Vox's Phil Edwards asked mathematician Joseph Mazur about his book, Fluke, and one of its most incredible stories.

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Insects Are Scary Because Your Brain Confuses Disgust With Fear

How can something so small and harmless be so terrifying?

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Jeff Bezos dismisses idea of a backup plan, says we must protect Earth

During the last year Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has begun to open up about the scale of his ambitions with the rocket company, Blue Origin, explaining that he envisions millions of people living and working in space. Additionally, Bezos has talked about moving heavy industry off of planet Earth to create a garden paradise on our home planet. In this view Bezos' philosophy differs significantly from the other titan of the new space industry, Elon Musk of SpaceX. Both men agree that reusable spaceflight is essential to lowering the cost of access to space...

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Aboriginal Australians, Pacific Islanders carry DNA of unknown human species, research analysis suggests

The analysis suggests the DNA is unlikely to come from Neanderthals or Denisovans, but from a third extinct hominid, previously unknown to archaeologists. Statistical geneticist Ryan Bohlender and his team investigated the percentages of extinct hominid DNA in modern humans. They found discrepancies in previous analyses and found that interbreeding between Neanderthals and Denisovans was not the whole story to our ancestors' genetic makeup.

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The secret of how life on Earth began

Today life has conquered every square inch of Earth, but when the planet formed it was a dead rock. How did life get started?

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The Dark Energy of a Theoretical Physicist

For Lisa Randall, science is the best way to deal with the foolishness of everyday life. By Nell Freudenberger.

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The Iconoclast

Jim Allison has always gone his own way—as a small-town-Texas kid who preferred books to football, and as a young scientist who believed the immune system could treat tumors when few others did. And that irreverence led him to find a potential cure for cancer. By Eric Benson.

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Giant Genetic Map Shows Life’s Hidden Links

In a monumental set of experiments, spread out over nearly two decades, biologists removed genes two at a time to uncover the secret workings of the cell. By Veronique Greenwood.

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The Tragedy of the Commons: How Elinor Ostrom Solved One of Life’s Greatest Dilemmas

The design principles for solving the tragedy of the commons can be applied to all groups. By David S. Wilson.

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Self-healing thread changes from firm to flexible with just a bit of voltage

With a bit of voltage, a new fiber can go from firm to flexible in just a few seconds. The thread may not seem like much as first glance, but its versatility make it a promising new component for a number of applications, from rehabilitation to robotics. Developed by researchers at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), the thread consists of a metal core encased in a silicon pipe. Heat causes the core to melt and the thread assumes the properties of the silicon layer, bending and flexing as needed within about 10 seconds. When the thread is cooled again, the metal core solidifies and holds its new shape.

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7 New Species Discovered in Cities

Scientists are discovering new species at the bottom of the ocean and deep in the rainforest, but there are also plenty of new animals being discovered in cities around the world!

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Emerald Ash Borer May Become a Problem for Olive Growers

In October 2014, researchers at Wright State University discovered that an invasive insect called the emerald ash borer (EAB) was attacking white fringetrees (Chionanthus virginicus) in addition to ash trees. This was big news at the time. The EAB had already killed tens of millions of ash trees, and the fact that it could harm another species made it even more devastating. Now the same researchers have found that the EAB can also successfully complete development on olive trees.

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The Real Story Of Apollo 17... And Why We Never Went Back To The Moon

On December 11, 1972, Apollo 17 touched down on the Moon. This was not only our final Moon landing, but the last time we left low Earth orbit.

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NASA Scientists Suggest We’ve Been Underestimating Sea Level Rise

Sea level rise has been underestimated by up to 28 percent in some areas. By Sarah Emerson.

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Research helps explain formation of ringed crater on the moon

Using data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, scientists have shed new light on the formation of a huge bull's-eye-shaped impact feature on the Moon. The findings, described in two papers published in the journal Science, could help scientists better understand how these kinds of giant impacts influenced the early evolution of the Moon, Mars and Earth.

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The Strange Inevitability of Evolution

Good solutions to biology’s problems are astonishingly plentiful. By Phillip Ball.

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Beautiful Chemical Reactions

Eight types of beautiful chemical reactions are presented in this short video.

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Scientists call for breaching dams to save Puget Sound orcas

Researchers who track the endangered population of orcas that frequent Washington state waters said Friday that three whales are missing or believed dead since summer. The most recent death of a 23-year-old female known as J28 and likely her 10-month-old calf drops the current population to 80, among the lowest in decadesBy Phuong Le.

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Researchers Invent ‘Perfect’ Soap Molecule That is Better For the Environment

This soap molecule is made from natural products, like soybeans, coconut, and corn rather than fossil fuels, making it ten times better for the Earth.

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‘The stuff of nightmares’: US primate research centers investigated for abuses

Animal welfare campaigners have decried incidents of monkeys dying from strangulation, water deprivation, poor handling by staff and attempted escapes. By Oliver Milman.

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Even 1 tree adds biodiversity to in-between areas

On a gradient from pristine wilderness to a parking lot, most species live in the middle. After extensive observations, mapping, and analysis, researchers from Stanford University have now generated a method of estimating biodiversity based on tree cover. The analysis showed adding a single tree to pasture could boost, for example, the number of bird species from near zero to 80.

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Brazil mutant mosquitoes to breed out diseases

Scientists in Brazil are preparing to release millions of factory-bred mosquitoes in an attempt to wipe out their distant cousins that carry tropical diseases. The insects' method: have sex and then die.

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These are Tesla’s stunning new solar roof tiles for homes

Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk wasn’t kidding when he said that the new Tesla solar roof product was better looking than an ordinary roof: the roofing replacement with solar energy gathering powers does indeed look great. It’s a far cry from the obvious and somewhat weird aftermarket panels you see applied to roofs after the fact today. The solar roofing comes in four distinct styles that Tesla presented at the event, including “Textured Glass Tile,” “Slate Glass Tile,” “Tuscan Glass Tile, and “Smooth Glass Tile.”

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Eternal Storage: Scientists Have Found a Way to Store Data Within Diamonds

Though it might be the first place you think to look, jewelry is not the only place where diamonds can be found. They are used in industrial drills and in medical equipment, and soon diamonds could be found inside computers as well. Siddharth Dhomkar and his team of scientists from the City College of New York have found a way to store data inside artificially grown diamonds using small defects inside the gems. To do this, they targeted diamonds whose crystalline structures had small gaps called nitrogen vacancy centers where carbon atoms should be. The gaps are so named because nitrogen atoms are located around them.

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This Map of the World Just Won Japan’s Prestigious Design Award

The 2016 Good Design Award results were announced recently with awards going to over 1000 entries in several different categories. But the coveted Grand Award of Japan's most well-known design award, given to just 1 entry, was announced today.

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Doubts About the Promised Bounty of Genetically Modified Crops

Higher yields with less pesticides was the sales pitch for genetically modified seeds. But that has not proved to be the outcome in the United States.

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Why the high-tech ideas of ‘Bucky’ Fuller are back in vogue

He’s a forgotten hippie idol, a sage of 1960s counterculture. What can we learn from Bucky Fuller’s faith in technology? By Samanth Subramanian.

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See Through Batteries

In order to better understand efficiency-reducing dendrites, the metal wire forming phenomenon that consumes electrolytes while new generation lithium metal batteries are charging, researchers have developed a visualization cell as a “window” to look inside the potentially explosive process.

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Starfish are dying out in the Pacific – and no-one is quite sure why

Starfish are dying out on the Pacific Coast from Mexico to Alaska – and no-one is quite sure why. The problem has been documented among starfish, or sea stars as they are also known, that live along the Pacific shore before. But a new study has found species which live below the low tide mark are also being severely affected.

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What’s A Woggin? A Bird, a Word, and a Linguistic Mystery

Whalers wrote about woggins all the time. What in the world were they?

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Cannabis may enhance night vision

New research shows that the drug makes cells in the retina more sensitive to light.

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Placebo sweet spot for pain relief found in brain

Scientists have identified for the first time the region in the brain responsible for the "placebo effect" in pain relief, when a fake treatment actually results in substantial reduction of pain, according to new research...

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The plight of young scientists

A special issue explores how the research enterprise keeps early-career scientists from pursuing the most important work, and what can be done to help.

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This Natural Disaster Assistance Law Is Why Other States Are Policing Dakota Access Pipeline Protests

Almost exactly 20 years ago, President Bill Clinton signed into law a bill creating an interstate agreement for emergency management. That inconspicuous law has opened the door for the current flood of out-of-state law enforcement agents present at the continuing protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline... By Steve Horn.

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Virtual reality headsets could help reduce the pain of vaccines, tattoos, cancer therapy, period pain & more

A new virtual reality app, already being used in clinics in Sweden, is designed to distract patients with a peaceful, interactive environment while they undergo painful procedures such as vaccinations.

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Ireland could join CERN by 2018

The Director General of the European particle physics centre, CERN, has said Ireland could become an associate member of the organisation by around 2018. Dr Fabiola Gianotti was speaking following a meeting in Dublin with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation around progressing options for Ireland's membership of the body.

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First Known Dinosaur Brain Fossil Discovered

An unassuming lump found on a Sussex beach in 2004 contains the first known fossilized brain tissue from a dinosaur. The 133-million-year-old fossil belongs to a relative of Iguanodon, an iconic herbivorous dinosaur that lived during the early Cretaceous. The fossil mostly consists of an endocast—a sediment cast of the skull cavity where the dinosaur’s brain resided.

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Why Margarita Can Purr but Can’t Roar

Some cats can purr. Others can't. Why? By Brian Switek.

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How Is A 1,600-Year-Old Tree Weathering California's Drought?

It's been a brutal forest fire season in California. But there's actually a greater threat to California's trees — the state's record-setting drought. The lack of water has killed at least 60 million trees in the past four years. Scientists are struggling to understand which trees are most vulnerable to drought and how to keep the survivors alive. To that end, they're sending human climbers and flying drones into the treetops, in a novel biological experiment.

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Men and women differ in how they imagine an opposite-sex friend

A new study has found that men and women’s actual day-to-day experience with opposite-sex friends differs from what comes to mind when they think of an opposite-sex friend. The study in Evolutionary Psychological Science found that men were more likely to think of an opposite-sex friend as “a member of the opposite sex to whom I am attracted and would pursue given the opportunity” while women were more likely to think of them as simply “a friend of the opposite sex.”

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10 words that don't mean what they used to: when meerkats were monkeys and bimbos were boys

Did you know that alcohol originally meant eyeshadow, clouds were rocks or that a moment once lasted precisely 90 seconds? Read on, girls and bimbos …

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Whaling watchdog shrinks loophole allowing Japan's 'scientific' hunts

Resolution imposes stricter reviews of whales killed under the scientific programme which Japan’s critics say it abuses to hunt for meat

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Dish to listen for ET around strange star

A $100m initiative to listen for signals from alien life is targeting a star with an unusual dimming pattern. The Breakthrough Listen project, backed by Prof Stephen Hawking, will train a US radio telescope on a target called Tabby's Star. Tabby's Star has been a subject of attention and controversy over its irregular dimming pattern.

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Ocean algae blooms earlier, with potential ripple effects to come

Warmer oceans are acting like a catalyst for one of the world's most abundant species of plankton, triggering earlier blooms of blue-green algae in the waters of the North Atlantic. Because of plankton's fundamental role in the marine ecosystem, researchers expect this shift to have far-reaching impacts throughout the world's oceans. The study, published in the journal Science, focused on Synechococcus, a type of blue-green algae that is one of the most abundant phytoplankton in the ocean. The authors drew on 13 years worth of data to measure the spring blooms that cover the North Atlantic in a carpet of green each year.

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No, Astronomers Haven't Decided Dark Energy Is Nonexistent

You might have read otherwise in some headlines lately, but don't be misled. By Dan Scolnic and Adam G. Riess.

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