One book that has caused much stir in the past months is Catherine Nixey’s The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World . I confess I approached the book with some skepticism, for ‘the classical world’, I thought, was already considerably ‘destroyed’ by the time Christianism became the official, and soon the only […]
Very frequently, economic analysis must compare future and present magnitudes. Say that under policy A, the stream of payoffs for today and next year is (10, 10), while under policy B it is (13, 6). The total of payoff is higher under A, but policy B results in higher payoffs sooner. If later payoffs are […]
Tiny arms may have helped T. Rex manipulate prey The Tyrannosaurus rex‘s tiny arms were more useful than previously thought. Researchers used turkey and alligator elbows to simulate movements of a T. rex joint, finding that its ability to rotate its forearms and hands toward the chest may have made it easier to bring prey […]
The ability to examine the vibrational spectra of liquids with nanometer spatial resolution will greatly expand the potential to study liquids and liquid interfaces. After all, modern technology, including many manufacturing processes, and science depend on understanding the detailed interactions at such nanoscopic interfaces. Actually, a better comprehension of the fundamental properties of the commonest […]
Recent research by a collaborative research network including researchers in Spain and the UK has found 25 genes that seem to be responsible for making humans the primates with the longest life spans (sometimes going up to 120 years). These genes show parallel mutations in genes related to wound healing, blood coagulation and cardiovascular disorders […]
Naturalists and scientists have been collecting plants or plant parts during centuries to make collections and catalogues known as herbaria (sing. herbarium) that have been traditionally used for comparative taxonomy and systematics research. The first herbarium collections were compiled along with the foundation of botanical gardens during the first half of the 16th century. The […]
Hidden companion likely stole material from star A close celestial companion of some kind likely siphoned off the mass of a star before it exploded into an unusual supernova, ejecting very little material. “We call this an ultrastripped envelope supernova,” said Mansi Kasliwal of the California Institute of Technology, adding that the observation is “the […]
Condensed matter • Materials • Physics • Theoretical physics
Spacecraft components potentially exposed to different ionic projectiles in space, new materials used in new energy systems or healthy tissues exposed to cancer therapies are all instances where a full comprehension of how the energy of the incoming ions is dissipated by the matter in the target is of paramount importance. Besides, the dissipative processes […]
Science often advances through improvements in our ability to measure and observe. Just take the example of migrating storks. In the beginning, the Egyptians had a mystery: storks appeared in Africa during winter and disappeared in the summer. As explorers travelled the world, they saw the storks pop up in middle Europe during the summer […]
Maternal and paternal stress have been proved to be critical aspects of off-spring brain development. High levels of stress on pregnant mothers can alter both placental and embryonic gene expression patterns, misprogramming the brain of the newborn towards psychiatric disorders such as anxiety or depression. At the same level, paternal stress alters microRNAs and other […]