The imaginary friend is “an invisible character or personified object that takes part in children’s conversations or plays with them for a long period of time, at least several months”. The relationships are not identical; with personified objects the relationship is usually hierarchical, while with imaginary friends it is an egalitarian relationship. Peers tend to […]
Exoplanet’s atmosphere may contain water clouds The exoplanet TOI-1231 b, about 90 light-years away, may contain water clouds in its atmosphere. Researchers say the exoplanet’s relatively cool temperature hints at the water cloud possibility. CNN Humans may have arrived in Americas even earlier Animal remains dating as far back as 33,000 years ago found in […]
Common glass, used in windows or bottles, for example, is made by heating a mixture of calcium oxide (lime), sodium carbonate (soda), and silicon (IV) oxide (sand), resulting in a calcium silicate. This silicate is not a crystal but a solid in which atoms are random and have no long-range ordered pattern. These kind of […]
While U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken draws attention to climate change in the Arctic at meetings with other national officials recently in Iceland, an even greater threat looms on the other side of the planet. New research shows it is Antarctica that may force a reckoning between the choices countries make today about greenhouse […]
Gene editing could be the solution to progeria, a genetic disease, characterized by extremely fast ageing. Progeria causes fast ageing and premature death in people carrying a single-point mutation in the LMNA gene, which basically leads to the production of a toxic protein which slowly damages the cells, ageing the bodies. This simple misspelling of […]
The perplexing ancient shark die-off Sharks have experienced several mass extinctions over their 450 million years on Earth, but one that occurred about 19 million years ago was particularly devastating and scientists aren’t sure how or why it happened. Most sharks didn’t survive the event, causing the extinction of several species. Ars Technica Thick gold […]
A cement is any of various substances used for bonding or setting to a hard material. A popular one, Portland cement, is a mixture of calcium silicates and aluminates made by heating limestone (CaCO3) with clay (that contains aluminosilicates) in a kiln. The product is then ground to a fine powder. When Portland cement is […]
As more and more people around the world are getting vaccinated, one can almost hear the collective sigh of relief. But the next pandemic threat is likely already making its way through the population right now. My research as an infectious disease epidemiologist has found that there is a simple strategy to mitigate emerging outbreaks: […]
Depending on who we consult, we will hear quite a few opinions regarding what it is that motivates assassins. Let us sample some murder mystery writers. Agatha Christie mentions the passions of love, the lust for money, or the pursuit of some fixed idea. Erle Stanley Gardner, the author of the Perry Mason detective novels […]
Black hole may not be at galaxy’s center There may be a fuzzy clump of dark matter, not a supermassive black hole, in the center of the Milky Way. Researchers say the dark matter could be made of fermions known as darkinos, which would possess milder gravitational forces that allow gas clouds like G2 to […]