Article archives

MI weekly selection #220

MI weekly selection #220

Weekly Selection

By César Tomé

Signs of organic material spotted on Ceres Evidence of the building blocks of life has been found on the dwarf planet Ceres. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has detected signs of organic molecules around the Ernutet crater. Los Angeles Times Radio receivers around the world linking up to see black hole Astronomers think they’re very close to […]

MI weekly selection #219

MI weekly selection #219

Weekly Selection

By César Tomé

Thickness of Mercury’s mysterious water ice deposits measured Water ice on Mercury is about 50 meters thick on average, but there is some flexibility in that number and exactly where that water came from remains a mystery. Researchers used data from the MESSENGER spacecraft’s Mercury Laser Altimeter instrument to reach their estimate. Seeker Parasite adds […]

Carotenoids, I see your true colours

Carotenoids, I see your true colours

BiochemistryChemistryPlant biology

By Estíbaliz Urarte

When autumn arrives to temperate climate forests, deciduous trees lose their characteristic green tonalities and start showing a wide spectrum of new colours: yellow, brown, orange, red… Chlorophyll reabsorption takes place in the leaves and carotenoids, present in a lower concentration, are exposed. These pigments are produced in all photosynthetic organisms, fungi and non-photosynthetic bacteria […]

Bilinguals and the theory of mind

Bilinguals and the theory of mind

NeurosciencePhilosophy of sciencePsychology

By José Ramón Alonso

Theory of mind is the ability to attribute mental states—beliefs, intents, desires, knowledge, etc.— to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires, intentions, and perspectives that may be different to ourselves. Attributing thoughts to others allows one to predict or explain their actions, and to posit their intentions. It enables one […]

MI weekly selection #218

MI weekly selection #218

Weekly Selection

By César Tomé

New species of ghost shark with buckteeth found A new species of bucktoothed ghost shark has been described in Zootaxa. Hydrolagus erithacus is dark-colored, has a large head with big teeth and measures about 3 feet, or about 1 meter, long. Live Science Magnetic fields of stars close to our galaxy’s black hole amplified Stars […]