In Birds’ Songs, Brains and Genes, He Finds Clues to Speech

The neuroscientist Erich Jarvis found that songbirds’ vocal skills and humans’ spoken language are both rooted in neural pathways for controlling learned movements. By Jordana Cepelewicz.

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This technology can shape future of electronics design

Researchers demonstrated a new memristor technology that can store up to 128 discernible memory states per switch, almost four times more than previously reported.

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Rare 'Super Blue Blood Moon' Eclipse | Pictures

A lunar eclipse over Oceanside, California.

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Remarkable Image Captures Surface Details of a Dying Star Located 530 Light-Years Away

By combining the power of four telescopes, an international team of astronomers has captured the most detailed image yet of a distant star—an observation that’s meshing well with pre-existing theories about the physical characteristics of giant stars.

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Regulator Wants 80 Percent Clean Energy In Arizona By 2050

A state regulator wants the majority of Arizona’s electricity to come from clean energy sources by 2050.On Tuesday, Arizona Corporation Commissioner Andy Tobin released a plan that would give Arizona one of the most aggressive renewable energy goals in the country: 80 percent by 2050. The state’s current target is 15 percent by 2025.The proposal encourages more battery storage, biomas-related fuels, energy efficiency and new infrastructure for electric vehicles. It also aims to better align Arizona’s renewable energy mix with demand.

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Death by Dining: An Unbalanced Day’s Breakfast

“Your diet is a bank account. Good food choices are good investments” – Bethenny Frankel. By Aaron Dabbah.

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The Shallowness of Google Translate

The program uses state-of-the-art AI techniques, but simple tests show that it's a long way from real understanding.

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BP becomes latest oil giant to invest in electric vehicle charging

BP, the British oil company, announced today an investment in a US-based electric vehicle charging station manufacturer in order to trial charging technology at its own retail sites by the end of the year. Oil companies have been increasingly interested in electric vehicle charging as they start to see electric vehicles slowly taking over the car industry.

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How Responsible are Killers with Brain Damage?

Cases of criminal behavior after brain injury raise profound questions about the neuroscience of free will. 

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Ten top science minds tell what strange new body part they’d like to have

Evolution is hard to control — but what if you had a magic wand? By David Freeman.

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Orcas can imitate human speech, research reveals

Killer whales able to copy words such as “hello” and “bye bye” as well as sounds from other orcas, study shows

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Five Psychological Experiments That Prove Humanity is Doomed

A number of psychological experiments over the years have yielded terrifying conclusions about the subjects. By Alexandra Gedrose. (May 06, 2008)

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Why backpacker parasite makes you so ill

Giardia parasites mimic human cells to help bacteria feed off nutrients in the gut, a study says.

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The World’s most Nutritious Foods

After analysing more than 1,000 raw foods, researchers ranked the ingredients that provide the best balance of your daily nutritional requirements – and they found a few surprises.

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Meet the Terror Bird, a Bone-Smashing Beast That Once Roamed the Americas

The prehistoric avians weren't able to fly, but they were able to kill.

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What's behind rich people pretending to be self-made?

Americans reflexively link hard work with reward, but what happens as the two become ever more disconnected?

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This 40 Year Old Antibiotic Could Fight Back Against The Worst Superbugs

As scientists look for new ways to tackle the growing problem of drug-resistant bacteria that evolve to resist our strongest medicines, they've hit upon a new strategy: using modern-day drug analysis to re-evaluate antibiotics overlooked in the past.

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China Plans to Build the World's Largest Steerable Radio Telescope

The Xinjiang Qitai 110-meter Radio Telescope — QTT, for short — could help advance research on dark matter, gravitational waves, and extraterrestrial intelligence.

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Why is loneliness so toxic? Scientists are exploring what it does to the human body

Studies show loneliness is bad for our health, raising the risk of premature death and a wide range of illnesses. Scientists are exploring what it does to the human body

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The Overlooked Danger of Delirium in Hospitals

The condition, once known as “ICU psychosis,” disproportionately affects seniors and those who have been heavily sedated—and the delusions can last long after they’re discharged.

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France will invest a total of 2 billion euros in renewable energy in Africa

France will invest a total of 2 billion euros in renewable energy in Africa in 2016-20, a 50% increase in comparison with the last five years. French President François Hollande made the announcement alongside UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the Défi climatique, solutions africaines (Climate Challenge, African Solutions) summit on Tuesday at the COP 21 climate change conference in Paris. Programmes will encourage the use of solar energy, wind power, hydroelectricity or geothermal energy, depending on the potential of each country.

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Chemical sunshade to slow warming may not be feasible: U.N. draft

The idea of spraying a haze of sun-dimming chemicals high above the Earth as a quick way to slow global warming faces so many obstacles that it may not be feasible, a leaked draft U.N. report says. By Alister Doyle.

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Darwin on Endless Trial

Morten Høi Jensen weighs two takes on Darwin’s legacy.

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Fukushima heroes still fighting effects of radiation, stress and guilt

Following the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami of 2011, selfless Japanese workers battled nuclear-reactor meltdown, and thousands of US troops provided disaster relief. Today, many are counting the cost to their mental and physical health. By Rob Gilhooly.

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Australian raptors start fires to flush out prey

In the first recorded instance of fire being used by animals other than humans, three Australian birds of prey species have been seen carrying burning twigs to set new blazes. John Pickrell reports. 

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Seeing Earth from Outer Space

A visual history of satellites.

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Hunting for the ancient lost farms of North America

2,000 years ago, people domesticated these plants. Now they’re wild weeds. What happened? By Annalee Newitz.

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Rise of the Machines Images

Android robots are seen at the reception desk of Henn na Hotel Tokyo Ginza in Tokyo, Japan.

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The Astronaut Who Might Actually Get Us to Mars

As an eighteen-year-old immigrant to the U.S., Franklin Chang Díaz dreamed of becoming an astronaut. Now, decades after tying the record for most spaceflights, he might be the best bet to get us to Mars.

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The next camera revolution could let us see through walls and deep inside the brain

You might be really pleased with the camera technology in your latest smartphone, which can recognise your face and take slow-mo video in ultra-high definition. But these technological feats are just the start of a larger revolution that is underway.

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How and where to see the super blue blood moon of 2018

The last time this happened over the Americas was more than 150 years ago.

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Wanna Go to Mars? Get Ready for the Poop-and-Bacteria Diet

The process could be an efficient way to recycle waste during long space missions.

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This Tiny Robot Walks, Crawls, Jumps and Swims. But It Is Not Alive.

Researchers have created a tiny robot, small enough to navigate a stomach or urinary system, that one day may be used to deliver drugs inside the body.

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Floods, Record Warmth, High Winds: It’s the Winter of 2018

When it comes to extreme weather, Europe—typically more placid than North America—has been giving its western counterpart a run for its money over the past month.

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Are you sleepwalking now? What we know about mind-wandering

Given how little control we have of our wandering minds, how can we cultivate real mental autonomy? By Thomas Metzinger.

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Labeling Women Witches Remains a Powerful Tool for Social Stigmatization

Witch-labeling — accusing others of harmful supernatural abilities — has a long history and may share underlying causes with contemporary political attacks. By Jen Viegas. (Jan. 8, 2018)

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Naked mole rats defy the biological law of aging

New study suggests that death rates don't rise with age, as they do for most animals

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'Space graffiti': astronomers angry over launch of fake star into sky

Astronomers across the world have criticised a privately owned, New Zealand-based space company after it secretively put a satellite likened to a giant disco ball into orbit. Last week the space exploration startup Rocket Lab launched a rocket from a remote sheep and cattle farm on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand.

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It's a lunar trifecta. A rare 'super blue blood moon' will soon light up the sky

Set your alarms, space fans -- if you can drag yourself out of bed next Wednesday, you're in for a treat. The pre-dawn hours of January 31 will play host to an incredibly rare celestial convergence -- a "super blue blood moon." To prepare you for the lunar triple whammy, here's your all-you-need-to-know guide.

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Alcoholics Who Use Cannabis Are Less Likely To Suffer Liver Disease

Medical cannabis patients have been reaping the healing benefits of pot for some time now, despite a lag or relative absence of high-quality research. A striking study released last week adds to the growing body of evidence supporting the medicinal benefits of marijuana, covering the potent anti-inflammatory benefits of cannabis use for patients suffering from alcohol-abuse related conditions.

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United Airlines removed woman from flight to dying mother's bedside after ticketing glitch: "nobody flies for free"

Minutes before departure, already buckled into her seat, she was ordered to leave the plane. The gate agent told her that her reservation had been canceled. Traveler Help Desk, the online agency that sold the ticket, had rescinded it because the landlord made a change directly through United — even though United had assured the landlord that it was not a problem to do so.

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Scientists have discovered the origins of the most mysterious particles in the universe

In the field of particle physics, one of the biggest unresolved mysteries of recent times has been the origin of three different types of so-called "cosmic messenger particles" – some of the highest energy particles in the known universe. While these particles – known as ultrahigh energy cosmic rays, very high energy neutrinos and high energy gamma rays – share common traits, they are distinctly different, meaning scientists have been trying to determine their origins individually.

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Can Free Public Transit Fix South Korea's Nasty Smog Problem?

When it comes to air pollution, China gets most of the attention as one of Asia’s worst offenders (and rightly so). But South Korea has a massive pollution problem all its own, earning the unenviable title of worst air quality among OECD nations—and experts predict the problem will only get worse over the next five years. So when a thick layer of yellow dust settled over the city last week, local leaders took a drastic step to confront it: declaring an air quality emergency and, for the first time ever, giving commuters free rides on public transit.

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Pangea Supercontinent With Modern Countries Labeled

This is a map of the Pangea supercontinent created by digital artist Massimo Pietrobon with all the modern countries labeled.

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Test of ‘God Helmet’ at Music Fest Yields Strange Results

Attendees at a Dutch music festival volunteer to be tested while wearing something called a 'God helmet' and some of the results were surprising. By Paul Seaburn.

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George Soros Goes Full “1984” in Anti-Tech Tirade

Davos 2018 has emerged as a bastion for anti-Silicon Valley sentiment. The 2016 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, took place in a more innocent age. Donald Trump had not yet assumed control of the White House, and Silicon Valley was still considered a protagonist in the American landscape, beloved of users and lawmakers alike. The year’s theme was “the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” and the soiree centered on emerging technologies, which seemed to presage an era of unprecedented possibility.

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Your Sloppy Bitcoin Drug Deals Will Haunt You for Years

Scouring the blockchain, researchers found years-old evidence tying Silk Road transaction to users' public accounts.

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Artificial Intelligence Isn't Killing Jobs; It's Killing Business Models

Believe it or not, AI is more than just automation. Artificial Intelligence is real and it is here. But successfully putting AI into action isn't exactly a walk in the park -- it requires a fundamental rethinking of the business. The pressure is on -- 53 percent of executives responding to a recent survey said their industry has "already experienced disruption" due to AI. An example that applies to potential AI-driven disruption in the retail sector is Amazon's Go store in Seattle, which employs AI to operate with no checkout clerks or lines -- purchases are tracked as shoppers remove items from the shelves.

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The Startling Link Between Sugar and Alzheimer's

A high-carb diet, and the attendant high blood sugar, are associated with cognitive decline.

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Ford aims to patent an autonomous police car that can ticket you

Welcome to hell, everyone.

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