In an open letter to the faculty of Harvard University sent in April 2012, the Library’s Faculty Advisory Council warned that the library of the most world famous university, the richest university, and for many the best university, faced a severe crisis. It was a subscription crisis caused, according to this library council, «by efforts […]
Al13 − is one of the most attractive of the so-called magic clusters. It has a perfect icosahedral symmetry with an aluminum atom at the center, a closed-shell electronic configuration (40 electrons), and a large highest occupied molecular orbital−lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (HOMO− LUMO) gap. These features result in an unusual stability and chemical inertness […]
It is said of philosophers that they are ever less willing to recognise a mistake than the ordinary intellect… sorry, man on the street. Actually, an old joke tells about a university rector saying to other that his favourite department is that of mathematics, for mathematicians only ask for paper, pencils and paper bins; “oh […]
Laboratory mice are one of the most valuable tools scientists rely on to understand how pathologies work. In order to find a cure for a disease, we need to have comprehensive knowledge of the physiological processes which are impaired. For instance, we can manipulate mice genetically to assess the effect of either the deletion, overexpression […]
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Unusual underwater structures are geological, not ancient city Uniquely shaped structures found underwater near the Greek island of Zakynthos are naturally occurring geological forms and not the ruins of an ancient city lost to the sea. The circular structures reminiscent of columns, floors and courtyards likely formed about 5 million years ago during the Pliocene […]
The nose is one of the strangest structures of human anatomy. It is much more different from our closest relatives than other parts of the body, it is sexually dimorphic, being on average larger in males than in females, and it is different among different hominin species and among different ethnic groups. Size and shape […]
The idea that the solution of Schrödinger’s equation is a wave that represents, not a physical wave, but the probability of finding the associated particle in some specific condition of motion has had great success. In fact, every experiment devised so far to test this interpretation has confirmed these results. Yet many scientists still find […]
If you feel stuck for words every once in a while, the most straightforward answer is that there is nothing wrong with you. Fifty years ago, Roger Brown and David McNeill at Harvard University showed that it is possible to trigger “a state in which one cannot quite recall a familiar word but can recall […]
There is a theory in criminology that says that if a broken window in a building is left unrepaired, that building will soon have all its other windows broken. The rationale behind it is that signs of urban disorder and untended public spaces elicit antisocial behaviour. The idea is reminiscent of the concept of “criticality” […]
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Ancient Phoenician’s genome sequenced A Phoenician who lived 2,500 years ago near Carthage had European ancestors, according to researchers who sequenced his mitochondrial genome after collecting DNA from his remains. The Phoenician’s ancestry was traced back to the European haplogroup U5b2cl, connected to the North Mediterranean and possibly the Iberian Peninsula. Seeker Protein linked to […]