Flowers are the reproductive organs of angiosperms (flowering plants) and flowering is therefore the phenomenon by which the undifferentiated cells from the meristems (similar to animal stem cells) differentiate into a floral meristem that will then produce the different components of the flower (sepals, petals, stamens and carpels). This transition from a plant vegetative to […]
Quantum computers are one of the most promising technologies under development, and all their promises are completely justified. Quantum systems are extremely expensive to compute, where “expensiveness” can be measured either by the memory or the computational time required in classical computers. But it should be much cheaper if the computer uses quantum mechanics rules […]
Humanities & Social Sciences • Science • Technology • Weekly Selection
Our metastable universe Under the simplest assumptions, the measured mass of the Higgs could mean the universe is eventually unstable and destined to fall apart. Scientific American Could flow batteries back up electric grids? To power flow batteries, two aqueous electrolytes held in different tanks are pumped through a membrane into a separate chamber, causing […]
The lungs of birds move air in only one direction during both inspiration and expiration through a set of tubular gas-exchanging bronchi called parabronchi. On the other hand, in the lungs of mammals and other vertebrates, air moves tidally into and out of terminal gas-exchange structures, called alveoli (Figure 1). The work carried out by […]
The genome is the text of life. Its ink is the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), a heteropolimer of four nucleotides (guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine). It encodes the instructions to make work all known living organisms (and viruses). It was isolated at first in 1869 for Friedrich Miescher and at the early 50s of the 20 […]
You’re sitting in a room with an all-southern view. Suddenly, a bear walks by the window. What color is the bear? Young Sherlock Holmes. Barry Levinson (1985) The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is one of the most unmistakable mammals of the planet. Its white fur is maybe the most straightforward reason for this distinctiveness, but […]
News on global warming and sea-level rise flood our daily life. Even a modest decimeter increase of the current sea level will affect millions of people . Despite this gloomy scenario, we lack precise models to predict sea level changes during glacial and interglacial periods, such as the one in which we now live. As […]
Humanities & Social Sciences • Science • Technology • Weekly Selection
Bat-eating spiders are more common than you think Bat-eating spiders are more common in the world than once believed. These spiders are found on all continents except Antarctica. Almost 90% of the web-building spider and tarantula species live in warmer climates, and can capture bats both with and without a web. LiveScience Nyffeler M, Knörnschild […]
Scientific experiments using animals frequently involve the marking of animals that artificially changes their phenotype. For instance, penguins with flipper bands have been used to study climate change. However, as Saraux et al. show, this banding reduces penguins’ survival rate. Consequently the study may mix up the effects of banding with other changes in penguin […]
Many animals —including mammals, birds and fishes— acquire from others knowledge and skills which may develop into behavioural traditions. Outside of humans, it is in the primates —specially chimpanzees— where socially transmitted behaviour patterns, such as tool use and social conventions, reach their summit. In recent years researchers mainly in the field of comparative psychology […]