Category archives: Science

Carnivorous plants inspire novel liquid repellent surfaces

Carnivorous plants inspire novel liquid repellent surfaces

ChemistryMaterialsPhysics

By Mireia Altimira

Natural non-wetting structures, particularly lotus leaves (Fig. 1a), have inspired the development of synthetic liquid-repellent surfaces. These surfaces rely on the formation of a stable air–liquid interface, but present limited repellency to oils with high contact angle hysteresis, failure under pressure and inability to self-heal. The paper by Wong et al. presents a novel approach […]

The illusion of control: Cognitive bias or self-esteem problem?

The illusion of control: Cognitive bias or self-esteem problem?

Psychology

By Helena Matute

The illusion of control rests at the heart of superstitious and pseudoscientific beliefs. It is a belief that we are controlling events which are actually occurring independently of our behavior. This is a very common illusion that occurs in most people, particularly when desired events occur frequently though uncontrollably. Examples abound not only in real […]

Melodies of proteins

Melodies of proteins

BiochemistryMaterials

By Silvia Román

The way in which nature manages to create functional diversity in matter is probably the wisest guide for biomaterials engineers, who are always looking for new creative processes to come up with new materials. The conventional way of designing complex materials with new functionalities is explained by the so-called top-down approach , in which a […]

MI weekly selection #45

MI weekly selection #45

Humanities & Social SciencesScienceTechnologyWeekly Selection

By César Tomé

How science goes wrong Scientific research has changed the world. Now it needs to change itself The Economist Astronomers find a “tilted” solar system Scientists have discovered a “tilted” solar system, according to a report in Science. While looking at Kepler-56, a star about 2,800 light-years away, they were surprised to find that the plane […]

The quest for the elementary motion detector in the fly

The quest for the elementary motion detector in the fly

Neurobiology

By Francisco J Hernández

Cajal famously described the fly visual system as “stupendous, indeed disconcerting, and with no precedent in other animals”. By comparison, the vertebrate retina seemed “gross and deplorably simple”. Now we know that this simplicity is only apparent, but we can use the more clearly structured fly retina to help us study basic problems in visual […]

The theory on how to ride your bike

The theory on how to ride your bike

Physics

By Carlos Casanueva

Bikes are becoming a much more interesting mean of transport in urban areas due to the local policies to minimize traffic impact on the daily city life. City councils are building bike lanes, converting streets to mixed pedestrian-bike traffic, and similar solutions for encouraging the use of this clean mean of transport. However, this comes […]

MI weekly selection #44

MI weekly selection #44

Humanities & Social SciencesScienceTechnologyWeekly Selection

By César Tomé

Images catch molecules moving in glass The movement of molecules in the world’s thinnest glass has been captured in images and may help researchers better understand how the substance bends and breaks. Live Science Remains of water-filled asteroid found around white dwarf A white dwarf about 170 light-years from Earth holds evidence of a water-bearing […]

Inside a cell, no one can hear you turn into an infective zygote

Inside a cell, no one can hear you turn into an infective zygote

BiomedicineMicrobiology

By Carlos Romá-Mateo

It is common to think that sci-fi writers are extremely creative and smart when they depict alien creatures with weird (and usually disgusting) ways of reproducing, generally using for this purpose the bodies of incautious and often naïve human characters. And they truly are that creative and imaginative, I’m not going to take that credit […]