Ginger molecules may boost growth of beneficial gut bacteria Molecules found in ginger may help beneficial gut bacteria grow. An increase in such bacteria was observed in mice fed ginger-derived nanoparticles. The Scientist Curiosity’s accelerometers help measure Mount Sharp’s density Accelerometers aboard the Mars rover Curiosity that are used to collect data about the machine […]
Experiments performed in 1909 by Geiger and Marsden, also called Rutherford gold foil experiment because Rutherford was their supervisor, led to the discovery of nuclear structure in the atom: the nucleus of the atom is its central core and contains most of its mass and the nucleus is positively charged. Further research during the next […]
Recently, the journal Science showed in its cover an amazing image of a close up into the fly brain. This is the result of the combined effort of two research groups working on imaging. The first one (Boyden’s) had developed a way to increase the size of preserved samples, like a brain slice, up to […]
The term “innovation” has been ubiquitous for decades in many areas of European society. Since Lisbon 2000—and even earlier—the European Union has promoted policies to drive innovation with the intention of restoring to Europe the economic leadership it has undoubtedly lost. Two decades later, we are close to Horizon 2020—at least chronologically speaking. Within the […]
Brain responds to rocking during sleep with improved memory A rocking motion may help people sleep better and improve their memory by influencing their brains’ sleep oscillations. “Our volunteers — even if they were all good sleepers — fell asleep more rapidly when rocked and had longer periods of deeper sleep associated with fewer arousals […]
Quantum computing is the future. Or the present, if you believe that some real quantum computers are commercially available already. Because it is hard to admit that any computer system whose design and theoretical basis depend on quantum effects for their operation may be on the market today, even though IBM says otherwise. The trick […]
The heart is a muscular organ with four chambers designed to work efficiently, reliably, and continuously over a lifetime. The muscular walls of each chamber contract in a regulated sequence, pumping blood as required by the body while expending as little energy as possible during each heartbeat. Contraction of the muscle fibres in the heart […]
T here are two major impossibility theorems in social choice: Arrow’s theorem (1951) : the only system to aggregate individual preferences into social preferences (e.g., a voting mechanism) that satisfies the properties of transitivity, monotonicity and independence of irrelevant alternatives for all possible individual preferences is the dictatorial system. Gibbard–Satterthwaite’ theorem (1973) : any voting […]
3rd fungus found in lichen Researchers have discovered a third fungus in lichen. In addition to an ascomycete and basidiomycete yeast, scientists have detected another basidiomycete, but they aren’t yet sure if this fungus has a symbiotic relationship with the lichen. The Scientist Microbes found hidden in deep-sea dolomite crystals near Japan Microbes have been […]
I remember very well my physics professor during my first year at university. She stressed the importance of having clear intuitions of what physical terms mean before any mathematics was invoked. ‘Imagine someone drops an 100-gram apple 1 metre above your head’, she would say; ‘the pain you feel is the equivalent of a joule […]