Home 2018
Yearly Archives: 2018
Unknown treasure trove of planets found hiding in dust
"Super-Earths" and Neptune-sized planets could be forming around young stars in much greater numbers than scientists thought, new research by an international team of...
Dracula ants possess fastest known animal appendage: The snap-jaw
Move over, trap-jaw ants and mantis shrimp: There's a faster appendage in town. According to a new study, the Dracula ant, Mystrium camillae, can...
Study suggests shamans acted as the first professional class in human society
The names may vary—medicine man, witch doctor, holy man, prophet—but the notion of the shaman, someone who uses trance to commune with the supernatural...
Stop sterilizing your dust—Antimicrobial chemical tied to antibiotic resistance genes in dust
Most people have heard about antibiotic-resistant germs. But how about antibiotic-resistant dust?
A new Northwestern University study has found that an antimicrobial chemical called triclosan...
Researchers consider whether supernovae killed off large ocean animals at dawn of Pleistocene
About 2.6 million years ago, an oddly bright light arrived in the prehistoric sky and lingered there for weeks or months. It was a...
A glimpse into future oceans
Something peculiar is happening in the azure waters off the rocky cliffs of Ischia, Italy. There, streams of gas-filled volcanic bubbles rising up to...
Switching to a home battery won’t help save the world from climate change
Home energy storage systems might save you money, but under current policies, they would also often increase carbon emissions. That is the conclusion reached...
Novel laser technology for microchip-size chemical sensors
Most lasers emit photons of exactly the same wavelength, producing a single color. However, there are also lasers that consist of many frequencies, with...
Terahertz laser for sensing and imaging outperforms its predecessors
A terahertz laser designed by MIT researchers is the first to reach three key performance goals at once—high constant power, tight beam pattern, and...
Answering the mystery of what atoms do when liquids and gases meet
How atoms arrange themselves at the smallest scale was thought to follow a 'drum-skin' rule, but mathematicians have now found a simpler solution.
Atomic arrangements...
A glimmer of hope for the world’s coral reefs
The future of the world's coral reefs is uncertain, as the impact of global heating continues to escalate. However, according to a study published...
