How Do You Make or Maintain Friends? Put in the Time.

Friendship takes time to develop. The more time two people spend together, the more likely they are to be friends. On the other hand, there are people we see regularly but don’t consider friends. So just how many hours of togetherness does it take for an acquaintance to become a friend? Or for a friend rise to the level of best friend? And does it matter what you spend all that time doing? For the first time, there are answers: 50 hours, more than 200 hours, and yes, it does matter.

Continue reading...

Twilight in a Western Sky

: A slender crescent Moon and inner planets Venus and Mercury never wander far from the Sun in planet Earth's skies,taken March 18,2018.

Continue reading...

Clues to aging found in stem cells' genomes

Little hints of immortality are lurking in the stem cells of fruit flies. Stem cells that produce sperm use a genetic trick to stay perpetually young across generations, researchers at the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute have discovered. Certain sections of the fruit fly genome get shorter with age. But remarkably, some reproductive cells can repair the shrinkage, the researchers report in the journal eLife.

Continue reading...

Psychologists have profiled the kind of person who is willing to confront anti-social behaviour

“Lower your music, you’re upsetting other passengers.” Without social sanction, society frays at the edges. But what drives someone to intervene against bad behaviour? One cynical view is that it appeals to those who want to feel better about themselves through scolding others. But research putting this to the test in British Journal of Social Psychology has found that interveners are rather different in character.

Continue reading...

A pill that staves off aging? It's on the horizon

Scientists have long known that restricting calories can fend off physiological signs of aging, with studies in fruit flies, roundworms, rodents and even people showing that chronically slashing intake by about a third can reap myriad health benefits and, in some cases, extend lifespan. From a public health perspective, that advice would be impractical for many and dangerous for some.

Continue reading...

Artificial enzyme: Protein designed entirely from scratch functions in cells as a life-sustaining catalyst

A dawning field of research, artificial biology, is working toward creating a genuinely new organism. At Princeton, chemistry professor Michael Hecht and the researchers in his lab are designing and building proteins that can fold and mimic the chemical processes that sustain life. Their artificial proteins, encoded by synthetic genes, are approximately 100 amino acids long, using an endlessly varying arrangement of 20 amino acids.

Continue reading...

They moved home plate! How baseball’s geography has evolved with the U.S.

Brookings Metro Rubenstein Fellow Jenny Scheutz and Cecile Murray examine how the geography of major league baseballs teams has been mirrored in the demographic and social trends of the US since 1950

Continue reading...

Historic hull of 18th century ship washes ashore in Florida

The fascinating remains of a historic 18th century ship have washed ashore on a Florida beach. The 48-foot wooden hull of a gigantic shipwreck was discovered by Julie Turner and her son Patrick, eight, on Ponte Vedra Beach around 8am Tuesday. Little did the pair realize that the wreck was centuries old and has been hailed as the 'holy grail' of shipwrecks.

Continue reading...

What If A Drug Could Make Your Blood Deadly To Mosquitoes?

A pesky mosquito sips some of your blood. Hours later, the blood-sucker drops dead, poisoned by the very blood it just slurped down. That may sound too good to be true, but it's a tantalizing possibility, according to research published this week in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The study points to a potential new tool to fight malaria: the medication ivermectin. Studies conducted in the 2000s, including one in 2010, show that malaria-carrying mosquitoes die after feeding on individuals who have ingested the drug.

Continue reading...

This is the environmental impact of your Easter egg

Those concerned about the rampant consumerism of religious holidays now have another thing to consider – the environmental impact of Easter eggs. Not only has Easter egg packaging been deemed excessive in a new report, analysis by a team of scientists at the University of Manchester has revealed the huge carbon footprint associated with chocolate production.

Continue reading...

IBM sees quantum computing going mainstream within five years

Quantum computing going mainstream. It may sound impossible, but IBM thinks it might be the future in the next five years. That is one of the five technological innovations that IBM predicts will change lives everywhere. The computers sold today, also known as classical computers, are limited in their capabilities to solve certain issues, generally when it comes to large-scale computations.

Continue reading...

Viruses thrive in big families, in sickness and in health

The BIG LoVE (Utah Better Identification of Germs-Longitudinal Viral Epidemiology) study, led by scientists at the University of Utah School of Medicine, finds that each bundle of joy puts the entire household at increased risk for infection with viruses that cause colds, flu, and other respiratory illnesses.

Continue reading...

Wind and solar make more electricity than nuclear for first time in UK

Windfarms and solar panels produced more electricity than the UK’s eight nuclear power stations for the first time at the end of last year, official figures show. Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions also continued to fall, dropping 3% in 2017, as coal use fell and the use of renewables climbed. Energy experienced the biggest drop in emissions of any UK sector, of 8%, while pollution from transport and businesses stayed flat.

Continue reading...

Are We All Quantum Computers? Scientists Are Conducting Tests to Find Out

It's possible that our own human brains are capable of performing advanced quantum computing calculations - and now scientists are conducting a series of detailed experiments to try and find out for sure.

Continue reading...

FCC authorizes Elon Musk's SpaceX to provide broadband satellite services

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday approved an application by Elon Musk's SpaceX, allowing the aerospace company to provide broadband services using satellites in the U.S. and worldwide. "With this action, the Commission takes another step to increase high-speed broadband availability and competition in the United States," the FCC said in a statement.

Continue reading...

​SpaceX's Starlink takes a big step forward in delivering internet from the sky

The Federal Communications Commission has approved Elon Musk's SpaceX application to deliver broadband services from its Starlink Low Earth Orbit satellites.

Continue reading...

Behind the Scenes: Chevrolet 'The Human Race' Short Film

Continue reading...

Digital Therapy Reduces Social Anxiety, Study Finds

Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy appears to be an effective treatment for patients with social anxiety disorder, according to new study findings. Researchers at the University of British Columbia wanted to see if a web-based program called Overcome Social Anxiety could successfully reduce social anxiety in patients. They constructed a study of 65 college-aged students (72% of whom were women), in which 30 enrollees were given access to Overcome Social Anxiety, and the other 35 were told they were placed in a control group.

Continue reading...

The Hidden Healing Power of Sugar

Doctors are finding one way that sugar can benefit your health: it may help heal wounds resistant to antibiotics.

Continue reading...

Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop Just Raised Gobs of Money to Peddle Pseudoscience

There is good money in pseudoscience.

Continue reading...

Rubber ducks may be haven for nasty germs

Scientists have the dirt on the rubber ducky: Those cute yellow bath-time toys are — as some parents have long suspected — a haven for nasty bugs. Swiss and American researchers counted the microbes swimming inside the toys and say the murky liquid released when ducks were squeezed contained "potentially pathogenic bacteria" in four out of the five toys studied.

Continue reading...

Our Idea of Intelligence Is Broken. This Is How We Can Fix It.

Intelligence is one of those terms that causes quite the turmoil within society but also within ourselves. From a very young age, each person is raised to perceive intelligence as probably the most critical factor that will determine his or her well-being. The truth, however, is that the way intelligence is portrayed and eventually interpreted leads to a myriad of issues that every generation needs to face.

Continue reading...

Cannabinoids are easier on the brain than booze, study finds

Marijuana may not be as damaging to the brain as previously thought, according to new research from the University of Colorado Boulder and the CU Change Lab.

Continue reading...

This Galaxy Has Almost No Dark Matter—And Scientists Are Baffled

If astronomers really have found an "undark" galaxy, it’s a strong clue that dark matter is real.

Continue reading...

NASA receives response from Voyager 1 spacecraft 13 billion miles away after 37 years of inactivity | Technology Startups News | Tech News

The thrusters aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft just did what we thought was impossible. After 37 years of inactivity, NASA just received response from spacecraft 13 billion miles away, NASA said in a statement on its website. Voyager 1 is NASA’s farthest and fastest spacecraft. It was launched on September 5, 1977. Having operated for 40 years, 6 months and 14 days as of March 19, 2018, the spacecraft relies on small devices called thrusters to orient itself so it can communicate with Earth.

Continue reading...

This 1999 tech magazine column predicted the rise of smartphones with scary accuracy (AND their effect on privacy)

David Gerrold eerily predicted the rise of the smartphone in a 1999 tech column.

Continue reading...

Why Did a Venomous Fish Evolve a Glowing Eye Spike?

A newly discovered “lachrymal saber” could illuminate relationships between an order of deadly fishes

Continue reading...

Mars One Is a "Money Grab" Where Everyone Loses

A three month investigation into the biggest scam in the universe.

Continue reading...

A Mathematical Proof That The Universe Could Have Formed Spontaneously From Nothing

One of the great theories of modern cosmology is that the universe began in a Big Bang. This is not just an idea but a scientific theory backed up by numerous lines of evidence. For a start, there is the cosmic microwave background, which is a kind of echo of the big bang; then there is the ongoing expansion of the cosmos, which when imagined backwards, hints at a Big Bang-type origin; and the abundance of the primordial elements, such as helium-4, helium-3, deuterium and so on, can all be calculated using the theory.

Continue reading...

IBM solar collector magnifies sun by 2,000x (without cooking itself), costs 3x less than similar systems

Concentrating the sun’s ray onto solar photovoltaic (PV) modules requires walking the fine line between optimizing power output and not literally melting your very expensive super-high-efficiency solar cells. A team led by IBM Research seems to have found a way to push back the line. They have created a High Concentration PhotoVoltaic Thermal (HCPVT) system that is capable of concentrating the power of 2,000 suns onto hundreds of triple junction photovoltaic chips measuring a single square centimeter each (they even claim to be able to keep temperatures safe up to 5,000x).

Continue reading...

Be a Flight Director: NASA Accepting Applications for Mission Control

How would you like to sit at the helm of human spaceflight, responsible for the success of missions and the highly trained teams of engineers and scientists that make them possible? NASA is hiring new flight directors for just this job at its mission control at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Continue reading...

Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and the new race for space

The pace of technological progress has been a little underwhelming in recent decades. Let's be honest: Checking your Facebook feed in the bathroom isn't something to be proud of. Not in the way we were proud of putting a man on the moon. Or breaking the sound barrier. Or democratizing air travel.

Continue reading...

American Airlines pilot reports UFO with 'big reflection' over Arizona

Pilots on two separate aircraft reported an unidentified flying object high over southern Arizona last month. One of them, a commercial pilot flying a passenger jet for American Airlines, said the object was above 40,000 feet and "had a big reflection." The Feb. 24th incident began when the pilot of a Learjet reported an object to Albuquerque Center air traffic control while flying over the desert in southeastern Arizona.

Continue reading...

Bricklayers Think They’re Safe From Robots. Decide for Yourself.

Automation vs. artisanship: Why bricklayers aren't worried about robot overlords, for now.

Continue reading...

Amazon lands patent for delivery drones that can be waved down by customers

​If Amazon's delivery drones do actually enter our lives, what will they look like and how might they move around? If the latest patient issued to the company is anything to go by, perhaps they will be waved down by customers awaiting deliveries.

Continue reading...

Cool-Season Tornadoes are Becoming More Common, Especially in “Dixie Alley”

A new study finds that the months of November to February are seeing an increase in average tornado activity, with a shift away from the Southern Plains and a ramp-up over the favored terrain of “Dixie Alley,” including Arkansas, Louisiana,...

Continue reading...

A Deserted, Pristine Stretch of the Amazon was Home to a Million Humans

At twice the size of India, the Amazon is massive. But although it constitutes the world’s largest remaining tropical rainforest and hosts 10 percent of the world’s biodiversity and over 30 million humans, 95 percent of it remains unexplored. The terre firme is uncharted, and, according to a new paper, it hides many archaeological secrets.

Continue reading...

NASA’s Webb Observatory Requires More Time for Testing and Evaluation

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope currently is undergoing final integration and test phases that will require more time to ensure a successful mission. After an independent assessment of remaining tasks for the highly complex space observatory, Webb’s previously revised 2019 launch window now is targeted for approximately May 2020.

Continue reading...

Chemotherapy-free ‘cancer vaccine’ moves from mice to human trials at Stanford

A recent Stanford cancer study that cured 97 percent of mice from tumors has now moved on to soliciting human volunteers for a new cutting-edge medical trial. The trial is part of a gathering wave of research into immunotherapy, a type of treatment that fights cancer by using the body's immune system to attack tumors. "Getting the immune system to fight cancer is one of the most recent developments in cancer," Dr. Ronald Levy, a Stanford oncology professor who is leading the study, told SFGATE.

Continue reading...

Why you might want to rethink chocolate eggs this Easter

There's another reason you might feel guilty about your Easter egg binge — more water is used to produce chocolate than any other food product, a university expert is warning.

Continue reading...

Researchers charge ahead to develop better batteries

Batteries die at the most inconvenient times. Cellphones go dark during important conversations because a battery hasn't been recharged. Or the automotive industry revs up with excitement for a new battery-powered vehicle, but it needs frequent recharging. Or yardwork is delayed because the battery for your string trimmer is dead.

Continue reading...

Lockheed Martin Now Has a Patent For Its Potentially World Changing Fusion Reactor

Lockheed Martin has quietly obtained a patent associated with its design for a potentially revolutionary compact fusion reactor, or CFR. If this project has been progressing on schedule, the company could debut a prototype system that size of shipping container, but capable of powering a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier or 80,000 homes, sometime in the next year or so.

Continue reading...

Newly-discovered human organ may help explain how cancer spreads

A newly discovered network of fluid-filled channels in the human body may be a previously-unknown organ, and it seems to help move cancer cells around the body

Continue reading...

US-based start-up is building AI technology using human intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a considerably important matter of discussion in recent times and now a start-up in USA s building AI technology which is based on collective human intelligence. The predominant concept of AI has remained quite basic in the past as people were taking it as an ultra-intelligent robot that performs an enormous amount of data within seconds that otherwise human will take months of laborious hard work.

Continue reading...

A star has been seen exploding faster than any other on record

The quickest supernova we’ve ever seen went from invisible to extraordinarily bright in only 2.2 days. It is the first of these speedy stellar explosions that’s been observed thoroughly enough to help us figure out exactly how they work. Supernovae are massive explosions that happen when a star burns out. They usually take weeks or months after the death of the star to reach maximum brightness, and even longer to fade away.

Continue reading...

The Time a B-52 Landed Without a Tail Fin

A midair accident meant the crew had to learn to fly without a tail fin—and fast.

Continue reading...

The Caribou and the Mosquito

The impacts of climate change ripple through ecosystems in unexpected ways.

Continue reading...

China’s Space Station May Crash to Earth on April Fools’ Day

Experts predict the abandoned space station, Tiangong-1, will fall back to Earth around this weekend. But the risk to anyone on the ground is almost nil.

Continue reading...

Six Reasons Gun Control Will Not Solve Mass Killings

Here are the facts. By John G. Malcolm, Amy Swearer.

Continue reading...

UN moves towards recognising human right to a healthy environment

Formal recognition would help protect those who increasingly risk their lives to defend the land, water, forests and wildlife, says the UN special rapporteur on human rights and the environment.

Continue reading...