Category archives: Technology

Identified a new type of stone formed by plastic Discarded plastic has created a new type of stone, mixed with other materials, both natural and manufactured. The strange plastiglomerate formations were first discovered in 2006 on a polluted beach area in a remote part of Hawaii’s Big Island, but the significance of the find wasn’t […]

What is a radiation dosimeter? Why do we need one? To give you an interesting and short response I will remind you what the Japanese government officials offered to Fukushima evacuees after the 2011 nuclear disaster. Having failed to reach their original radiation decontamination target, the government proposed that evacuees could return to their homes […]

Handwriting is key for educational development Handwriting is starting to fade from the curriculum of many schools, but experts say the practice is important for educational development. The New York Times Superbugs use genetic material as cloak to avoid detection A deadly class of antibiotic-resistant bacteria called carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, carries genetic material that serves as […]

Orb-web spiders craft a unique disguise An orb-web spider hides itself from predators by disguising itself as bird droppings, according to researchers. The spiders have a silver colored body that, when combined with their white disc-shaped webs, gives the illusion of bird excrement that may deter predatory wasps. LiveScience Ants are organized searchers who gain […]

Study of extinct elephant bird leads researchers to surprising conclusion DNA studies of the massive, extinct elephant bird of Madagascar show that its closest modern relative is New Zealand’s tiny kiwi, rather than the ostrich, which it more closely resembles, leading researchers to speculate about how the flightless birds migrated, according to a study published […]

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 […]