Neolithic burial site poses mystery of missing bones Missing skulls and thigh bones have sparked questions about burial practices in early Neolithic Sweden, where archaeologists have revisited one of Scandinavia’s oldest stone burial chambers from around 3500 BCE. The site, called a dolmen, holds the remains of 12 or more people of varying ages, and […]
Collisions of high energy particles produce “jets” – quarks, antiquarks, or gluons moving through the quantum vacuum. Due to the confinement property of strong interactions, quarks are never directly detected but instead fragment into many secondary particles. Scientists have long expected that as jets propagate through the confining quantum vacuum, they will modify that vacuum […]
Invasive ants disrupt hunting by lions in Kenya Invasive ants have disrupted interspecies patterns in Kenya, triggering a drop in the number of zebras killed by lions. As big-headed ants spread in East Africa, they kill native acacia ants, which leads to the destruction of whistling-thorn trees that lions use as cover when hunting. Full […]
Researchers link reaction inside moon to unique rocks A reaction between magma and solids that occurred beneath the lunar surface 3.5 billion years ago may have created unique rocks now sitting on the moon. The rocks contain high levels of titanium, say researchers, who combined high-temperature molten-rock laboratory experiments with a close review of basalts […]
New archaeology method could confirm Bible event Thermal demagnetization, a new method used on mud bricks that are thousands of years old, may help archaeologists understand information preserved in burned material. The technique could reveal how building materials were made, and the authors of the study say in this case it corroborates the Bible’s description […]
Condensed matter • Materials • Nanotechnology • Quantum physics
Sensors are essential tools for detecting and analysing trace molecules in a variety of fields, including environmental monitoring, food safety, and public health. However, developing sensors with high enough sensitivity to detect these tiny amounts of molecules remains a challenge. One promising approach is surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA), which uses plasmonic nanostructures to amplify the […]
Octopus DNA helps scientists resolve geological mystery Scientists analyzed the genetic history of an octopus species living in the Antarctic to confirm a theory about when the West Antarctic ice sheet last collapsed. The Turquet’s octopus has different populations separated by the West Antarctic ice shelves today, but the creature’s family tree indicates that the […]
When plants are infected by pathogens, suffer from a lack of water or have to react to other external stimuli, the first thing they do is increase the proton and calcium concentration in the affected cells. The protons and calcium ions then act like messenger substances that trigger further reactions in the cell. The interactions […]
Morning people may have inherited Neanderthal genes People’s predisposition to wake up early may be linked to inherited genetic variants from Neanderthals, who lived at high latitudes in Europe and Asia and evolved to cope with seasonal variation in daylight. Full Story: CNN Lights attract migrating birds into cities at night Light pollution draws migratory […]
Human beings first disturbed moon dust on Sept. 13, 1959, when the USSR’s unmanned spacecraft Luna 2 alighted on the lunar surface. In the following decades, more than a hundred other spacecraft have touched the moon — both crewed and uncrewed, sometimes landing and sometimes crashing. The most famous of these were NASA’s Apollo Lunar […]