Harvard Evolutionary Biologist Asks: Are There Hidden Benefits to Superstitions?
Superstitions have long been a part of human culture. From the extreme ones, like never crossing a black cat, shattering a mirror, or walking under a ladder, to the minor ones, like my necessity to wear my special beanie when I need help writing. There are superstitions for everything. But could superstition be linked to Charles Darwin’s famous theory of natural selection? Could there be a hidden benefit to superstition?
Deaf people feel their way to speech - health - 14 September 2008 - New Scientist
"One of the real mysteries of human language is that people who become deaf as adults remain capable of producing intelligible speech for years in the complete absence of any auditory input," says David Ostry, a neuroscientist at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, who led the new study along with colleague Sazzad Nasir.
Faux Superconductors Pass a Key Milestone -- Cho 2008 (912): 1 -- ScienceNOW
Twenty-two years ago, physicists discovered that certain materials containing copper and oxygen could carry electricity without any resistance at inexplicably high temperatures--well above absolute zero although still far colder than winter in Fargo, North Dakota. Such "high-temperature superconductivity" remains the biggest mystery in the physics of materials, and some scientists are trying to solve it in an unusual way, by simulating the crystals with patterns of laser light and puffs of ultracold atoms. Now, a team in Switzerland has taken a key step in that effort by replicating the basic starting point from which the superconductivity is thought to emerge--a sort of traffic jam in which nothing moves.
Physicists Harness Effects Of Disorder In Magnetic Sensors
University of Chicago scientists have discovered how to make magnetic sensors capable of operating at the high temperatures that ceramic engines in cars and aircraft of the future will require.
Accurate Speedometer For Astronomy: Determining Velocities Of Stars And Other Celestial Bodies
Events on a cosmic scale are often barely discernable on Earth. This explains why astronomers are currently not able to prove directly that the universe is expanding at an ever increasing rate, nor can they search for planets that are roughly the same size as Earth and revolve around a sun-like star.
Seeing Through The Skin: Optic-less Imaging Technology Could Beat Lens-based Imaging Devices
Skin vision is not uncommon in nature. Plants orient themselves to light, and some animals -- such as pit vipers, who use infrared vision, and reptiles, who possess skin sensors -- can “see” without the use of eyes. Skin vision in humans is likely a natural atavistic ability involving light-sensitive cells in our skin connected to neuro-machinery in the body and in the brain, explains Prof. Yaroslavsky.
1843 Eta Carinae Stellar Show Could Have Been Mini-Supernova
... University of California, Berkeley, astronomer Nathan Smith puts forth a new idea; that Eta Carinae did in fact explode, but managed to survive.
BBC NEWS : UK : Education : Call for creationism in science
"Some of my comments about the teaching of creationism have been misinterpreted as suggesting that creationism should be taught in science classes. Creationism has no scientific basis. However, when young people ask questions about creationism in science classes, teachers need to be able to explain to them why evolution and the Big Bang are scientific theories but they should also take the time to explain how science works and why creationism has no scientific basis. I have referred to science teachers discussing creationism as a worldview'; this is not the same as lending it any scientific credibility."
The premier of a SoladieselTM powered vehicle at the Sundance Film
Soladiesel exceeds both the requirements of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) biodiesel standard D6751 and EN 14214, the European standard, which ensures that biodiesel can safely run any existing diesel engine.
Hawking vs Higgs: Heavyweight Bout at CERN's LHC
Professor Hawking's comments are entirely valid from a scientific point of view - the true mission of science is not to be right, but to find out what we don't know. Discovering a lack of Higgs boson will be just as exciting as its presence - solid information about a previously untapped region and further evidence for theories. Just different theories from the ones currently favored.
The Way S/he Moves -- Zelkowitz 2008 (909): 1 -- ScienceNOW
How someone walks can reveal their feelings.
Mammoths: Made in America -- Gibbons 2008 (904): 2 -- ScienceNOW
mammoths sorted into three main groups: one that was exclusively Asian, one that was exclusively American, and one that lived in both places.
Jet fuel from algae passes first test: Scientific American Blog
Solazyme—the mavericks who make their algal oil in the dark—have produced a jet fuel that passes the ASTM's standards for "Aviation Turbine Fuel," otherwise known as jet fuel.
Upper Mass Limit For Black Holes?
even the biggest of these gravitational monsters can't keep growing forever. Instead, they appear to curb their own growth - once they accumulate about 10 billion times the mass of the Sun.
[0808.3268] Minimal Energy Transfer of Solid Material Between Planetary Systems
The exchange of meteorites among the terrestrial planets of our Solar System is a well established phenomenon that has triggered discussion of lithopanspermia within the Solar System. Similarly, could solid material be transferred across planetary systems?
NASA - NASA to Explore "Secret Layer" of the Sun
"Early next year, we're going to launch an experimental telescope that can measure vector magnetic fields in the transition region," explains Jonathan Cirtain of the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Previous studies have measured these fields above and below the transition region—but never inside it. "We hope to be the first."
UK digs deep for secrets of cosmos : Science : The Observer
At the bottom of Britain's deepest mine, scientists are putting their finishing touches to a device that could solve one of astronomy's most baffling mysteries: the location of the universe's missing matter. If they succeed, the group will snatch some of the glory from one of the most prestigious scientific projects undertaken in recent years: the ?3.5bn Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which is to be opened officially in Geneva this week.
Interstellar 'slowball' could have carried seeds of life - space - 04 September 2008 - New Scientist
Now Edward Belbruno and colleagues at Princeton University have shown that planetary systems in young, densely packed star clusters could throw out rocks at a slower pace. They showed that for rocks in certain orbital positions, the gravitational pull of the central star is equal to the pull of other stars in the cluster. This sends the rocks into chaotic orbits that eventually allow them to wander off at about 0.1 kilometres per second - slow enough for other stars to catch them
ET could 'tickle' stars to create galactic internet - space - 08 September 2008 - New Scientist
"But I'm inclined to think that positing the Cepheid scheme is like someone in Marconi's time predicting future radio broadcasters will use giant spark-gap transmitters to reach audiences in large cities," he says. "Better technology means higher efficiency, so using an entire star as the 'carrier' seems unlikely to me."
'Water bears' are first animal to survive vacuum of space - space - 08 September 2008 - New
Tiny invertebrates called 'water bears' can survive in the vacuum of space, a European Space Agency experiment has shown. They are the first animals known to be able to survive the harsh combination of low pressure and intense radiation found in space.
Did we out-breed slow-maturing Neanderthals? - being-human - 08 September 2008 - New Scientist
Neanderthal women had just as much trouble in childbirth as modern women – and their kids took just as long to grow up.
Melting Swiss Glacier Yields Neolithic Trove
Some 5,000 years ago, a prehistoric person trod high up in what is now the Swiss Alps, wearing goat leather pants, leather shoes and armed with a bow and arrows.
Hubble Mission Faces Higher Risk From Space Debris : Discovery News
Next month's shuttle flight to the Hubble Space Telescope faces an increased risk of getting hit by space junk because it will be in a higher, more littered orbit than usual, NASA said Monday.
Giant sleeping Buddha found in Afghanistan - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Archaeologists in Afghanistan have discovered a giant Buddha statue buried near the site where the world-famous Bamiyan Buddhas were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.
Cool philosophies : Article : Nature
For the LHC, some of these foundational issues are raised by the role of aesthetics as a guide to physical theory, in particular arguments based on symmetry. At the pragmatic level, symmetry has been an immensely fertile tool, and it underpins the notion of a Higgs mechanism for mass. But there is no rigorous justification for relying on it, and it is possible that the LHC might point the way to a new physics that discards it as a ruling principle.
BBC NEWS : Science/Nature : Ancient trees recorded in mines
The forests grew just a few million years apart some 300 million years ago; and are now stacked one on top of another. It appears the ancient land experienced repeated periods of subsidence and flooding which buried the forests in a vertical sequence.
Russian archaeologists find long-lost Jewish capital - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting
Russian archaeologists say they have found the long-lost capital of the Khazar kingdom in southern Russia, a breakthrough for research on the ancient Jewish state.
BBC NEWS : Science/Nature : Rosetta probe makes asteroid pass
The Rosetta space probe has made a close pass of asteroid Steins.
Saturn Moons Sport Rings, Too : Discovery News
New findings from the Cassini science probe confirm ring arcs ahead and behind the small moons Anthe and Methone, a discovery that is giving physicists new insights into the sculpting prowess of gravity.
On Mars, Does Fire Plus Ice Equal Life? : Discovery News
"It's possible that volcanic activity on Mars is much more widespread and recent than people on the whole thought," Hovius said. "This is a flood bigger than anything we've seen on Earth."
Protective Skin Could Herald in Tiny Satellite Fleet : Discovery News
In what could be a big breakthrough for tiny satellites, a team of researchers has created a thin plastic-like coating that can switch from cooling to warming with a quick pulse of electricity.
Incoming MIT Freshman Creates New Vehicle: Scientific American Podcast
Next Stop: The Fourth Dimension, With Large Hadron Collider Experiments
Is "ElectroSmog" Destroying the Planet's Bee Population?
Mobile phones, Wi-Fi networks, electric power lines are sources of "electrosmog" disrupting nature on an unprecedented, massive scale causing birds and bees to lose their bearings, fail to reproduce and die
Lunar Location Scout: Why Finding a Parking Spot on the Moon is not Easy
great big rocks, lots of them, and if you bounce your lunar lander off one of those on your way down you'll lose more than your no claims bonus.
Tiny Gold Clusters Are Top-notch Catalysts
exploiting gold's exceptional ability to catalyze a wide variety of chemical reactions, including the oxidation of poisonous carbon monoxide (CO) into harmless carbon dioxide at room temperatures.
Chauvinists less unnerving than ambiguous men - being-human - 07 September 2008 - New Scientist
CHAUVINISTIC men can be petty and infuriating, but that might be as far as it goes. Women are more unnerved by not knowing a man's views than by overt sexism - so much so that they perform worse in exams.
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