Category archives: Technology

Plant that consumes nickel found in the Philippines A plant that thrives in nickel-rich dirt has been discovered in the Philippines. Rinorea niccolifera can absorb large amounts of nickel through its leaves. UPI Regrown bone in monkeys using pluripotent stem cells It could be possible to grow new bone in humans using induced pluripotent stem […]

Of all the advances made in theoretical physics in the last twenty years, I still have no doubt that the most impressive one is the so called Maldacena’s conjecture, the guess that the physics involved in some models of quantum gravity living in a very concrete 5-dimensional spacetime has a one-to-one correspondence with the physics […]

Turtles more closely related to crocodiles and birds than snakes and lizards The murky evolutionary history of the turtle has been made a little clearer by researchers using new microRNA data which link the shelled reptiles more closely with birds and crocodiles than to lizards and snakes. Yale University Universe’s evolution recreated in computer simulation […]

Wet sand may have helped ancient Egyptians move massive stones Ancient Egyptians dampened the sand to move the 2.5-ton stones used to build the pyramids to prevent berming and halve the amount of force needed to drag the sled, researchers say. The wet sand reduced the friction, making the sledge easier to move. Scientists at […]

Bicycles are usually regarded as the most sustainable mean of transport for urban environments. Now, when talking about sustainability, there are usually two different discussions: on the one hand, there is energy sustainability, as the fossil fuels won’t last forever and their secondary products are quite unhealthy. Bikes, being powered by people, fully comply with […]

Coral can change physiology to survive warming seas When oceans become warmer or acidic, coral reef apparently have the ability to change their physiology to survive, researchers have discovered. Studying coral off Ofu Island in American Samoa, researchers found that the coral can use their genes to turn on heat-resistant proteins. Nature News Y chromosome […]

The most widely used metaphors for nuclear fusion reactors are the recreation of the Sun on Earth and the controlled explosion of a hydrogen bomb. In both cases, the first thing that comes to mind is the need for high-performance radiation-resistant materials to contain the fusion reaction. The selection and design of new materials that […]

Slow shaking under Tokyo could mean a giant earthquake Slow-motion earthquakes beneath Tokyo are becoming more common, raising concerns of another megaquake like the one in 2011. GPS sensors are being used to track the slow shifts, which are unreadable by seismographs, and scientists have found that the shifts are coming more frequently but seismologists […]

Fruit flies can make sudden turns similar to fighter jets Fruit flies are capable of sharp turns, like those of fighter pilots, according to researchers studying the ways the insects evade predators. When sensing a threat, the Drosophila hydei flies can execute banked turns at speeds five times faster than when turning normally. Los Angeles […]

Localization, or knowing “where am I” is a central topic of research in mobile robotics today, and it has been like that for more than 30 years. One cannot conceive ordering a futuristic personal assistant robot “go to the coffee machine and bring me a large one” if the robot is unable to know where […]