Megamaser galaxy seen in Hubble image A galaxy about 370 million light-years away from Earth that researchers think holds a megamaser has been spotted by the Hubble Space Telescope. “A megamaser is a process where some components within a galaxy (like gas clouds) are in the right stimulated physical condition to radiate intense energy,” read […]
We live in a society permanently obsesed with the idea of youth. Therefore, it is not surprising to find supposedly miraculous potions, ointments and elixirs that offer precisely that. But the idea of permanent youth is not a new idea, it comes from way back, as does the notion that young blood would help rejuvenate […]
We live in a violent universe. The energy scales involved in many astrophysical processes are enough to stamp out our planet, not to talk about life as we know it. But, somehow, we have been living so far in a delicate equilibrium. Such equilibrium has been punctuated by relatively modest catastrophes that have possibly shaped […]
Ostrich-like dinosaur species lost teeth by age 3 A species of dinosaur similar to modern ostriches had teeth when it was young but lost them as it grew older, essentially causing it to become an herbivore after starting life as either an omnivore or carnivore. This discovery about Limusaurus inextricabilis, which lived about 160 million […]
So many times, I order my coffee while hesitantly eyeing the seductive pastries. This time I’ll resist these sweet beauties. Last night I came across a lecture from Einstein’s friend, Otto Heinrich Warburg (Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1931). It was 1966 and he was at the meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany: “ Cancer […]
A topological insulator is a material in which there is order associated to topology, i.e., the surface can conduct electricity but the bulk of the material is an insulator. In these last years topological insulators have received the attention of a large area of the scientific community thanks to their exotic properties. They are promising […]
The identification of previously unknown proteins is a difficult task and often requires to follow unconventional thinking. In my previous post, I have described how the TRPV1 ion channel (formerly known as the capsaicin receptor) was discovered by combining the construction of a cDNA library from primary afferent neurons (DRG neurons) and the functional selection […]
Researchers do not know what influences have the stereotypical images of scientists, if any, on children’s perception of science. The most common technique for assessing children’s perceptions of scientists is the Draw-a-Scientist Test (DAST). David Wade Chambers firstly proposed it in 1983 , and its main aim was to identify at what age the stereotypic […]
Researchers tweak aging process in mice Researchers have reprogrammed adult cells in mice, causing the cells to revert to an embryonic like state, effectively reversing the aging process. By activating four specific genes, scientists expanded the life span of a mouse with a rapid-aging disease and revitalized damaged muscles in a middle-aged mouse. Scientific American […]
Here is an oversimplified vision of immigration: a substantial number of foreign unskilled workers enter the job market, causing a shift of the labor supply curve to the right (workers are suppliers of work), and changing the current equilibrium to another one with lower wages. This is does not need to be the case. Immigrants […]