Although pretty much unknown for the public audience, Supergravity theories play an important role in modern Theoretical Physics, specially for the particle physics and (Super)String Theory communities . Loosely speaking, Supergravity is a theory that describes gravity along with other fundamental particles and interactions in such a way that the whole structure is symmetric under […]
The Rosetta mission from the European Space Agency is arguably one of the most successful highlights of 2014. Even though the Philae lander did not have the placid flight we all would like it to have, the team managed to fulfill most of its scientific goals before the batteries get exhausted and there is still […]
Humanities & Social Sciences • Science • Technology • Weekly Selection
Researchers develop memory system with 900+ neurons, 165K synapses Researchers at IBM’s Almaden Research Center and South Korea’s Pohang University of Science and Technology have developed a phase-change memory chip with more than 900 neurons and 165,000 synapses that can emulate how the human brain functions, promising to advance image-recognition technology and other areas of […]
Diabetes is becoming a huge problem in our society, affecting nowadays one in every 20 people in this planet. Although some people don’t know, diabetes is a very serious disease that can cause damage in the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys and nerves, producing different neuropathies, kidney failures, blindness and increasing in the risk of […]
Humanities & Social Sciences • Science • Statistics • Technology
Last week we knew the ten most read articles during 2014. Using the number of hits a post receives is an objective way of pinpointing some of the outstanding publications of the year. But it could be argued that some excellent, quality posts would not appear in this short list, and this is precisely true […]
Human primordial germ cells created in a lab Scientists have found a way to create human primordial germ cells, or PGCs, in a lab. The research stresses they are significantly different than those of mice, calling into question the efficacy of mouse experiments as related to human cell development. Scientists reprogrammed human embryonic stem cells […]
As a professor in Statistics, reports on sexual activity provide a wide source of ideas to make proposals for students in which they have to apply statistical knowledge. Moreover, since the interpretations can be very funny and interesting, my hope is that they will never forget what they have learned. Here is a very simple […]
At this time of the year it seems appropiate to look back and check whatever has been achieved. 2014 has been a good year for MI, with contributors located in 3 continents and 36 different academic institutions (ranging, alphabetically, from Cornell University in United States to Waseda University in Japan), publishing 153 articles. Thank you […]
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What ‘hok’ and ‘krak’ mean to monkeys The structure of monkey calls is surprisingly sophisticated: The same species of monkeys—located in separate geographic regions—use their alarm calls differently to warn of approaching predators. Futurity.org Life would drastically change if all bacteria disappeared Living for a time without bacteria is possible, but probably not very pleasant […]
Listeria monocytogenes is a food-borne Gram positive bacteria that causes the infection listeriosis. It is responsible for serious clinical manifestations including gastroenteritis, and meningitis and encephalitis in newborns, with 20 to 30 % of clinical infections resulting in death. It is a facultative intracellular pathogen that can invade and move within eukaryotic cells by polymerization […]