Category archives: Science

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 […]

Research funding: big vs. little science

Research funding: big vs. little science

EconomicsSociology

By Jorge Mejías

With the delicate economical situation that many developed countries are experiencing in the last years, a significant number of questions and concerns have been risen about how to properly assign and distribute funding to scientific institutions and research group leaders. In particular, a relevant question for science funding could be how to optimize the scientific […]

MI weekly selection #43

MI weekly selection #43

Humanities & Social SciencesScienceTechnologyWeekly Selection

By César Tomé

Ocean health imperiled thrice over Climate change and increases in oxygen-free “dead zones” and acidification each pose health concerns for the world’s oceans, with immediate action required, says a report from the International Programme on the State of the Ocean. BBC Bulk of Earth’s xenon concealed in planet’s core Earth’s atmosphere appears to have only […]

Progress checking Zarankiewicz’s conjecture on the brick factory problem

Progress checking Zarankiewicz’s conjecture on the brick factory problem

Mathematics

By David Orden

A previous post presented the fascinating history of the brick factory problem, which wonders about the smallest possible number of rail crossings when connecting kilns and storage yards, which is mathematically modeled by the crossing number of the complete bipartite graph . Proposed by Paul Turán after the Second World War, the first advances on […]

MI weekly selection #42

MI weekly selection #42

Humanities & Social SciencesScienceTechnologyWeekly Selection

By César Tomé

19 elements to have atomic weights adjusted Aluminum, cadmium, gold and arsenic are among 19 elements that are having their atomic weights adjusted by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. More precise measurements are now available leading to the new weight calculations, which happens rarely. The atomic weight of nonmetal selenium hasn’t been […]

Quantum mechanics in biological systems (III): Magnetoception

Quantum mechanics in biological systems (III): Magnetoception

BiologyPhysics

By Daniel Moreno Andrés

Magnetoception, the fantastic ability to perceive magnetic fields. A skill though impossible for long. It was difficult to assume that a 0.5 Gauss Earth’s magnetic field (your fridge has one with 100 Gauss) could have some effect on living things. However, the magnetic field perception was supported since the very beginning by experimental observation and […]

The strong arm of a starfish

The strong arm of a starfish

Biology

By Rafael Medina

Symmetry is a major trait in the architecture of the vast majority of animals: if we exclude sponges, a typical animal body plan will show one or more planes of symmetry. Radial symmetry is considered the ancestral state for the Eumetazoa, with body plans such as the polyps and jellyfishes within the Cnidarians, usually with […]