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Yearly Archives: 2019
Need for social skills helped shape modern human face
As large-brained, short-faced hominins, our faces are different from other, now extinct hominins (such as the Neanderthals) and our closest living relatives (bonobos and chimpanzees), but...
Tiny fragment of a comet found inside a meteorite
A tiny piece of the building blocks from which comets formed has been discovered inside a primitive meteorite. The discovery by a Carnegie Institution...
To protect stem cells, plants have diverse genetic backup plans
Despite evolution driving a wide variety of differences, many plants function the same way. Now a new study has revealed the different genetic strategies...
The discrete-time physics hiding inside our continuous-time world
Scientists believe that time is continuous, not discrete—roughly speaking, they believe that it does not progress in "chunks," but rather "flows," smoothly and continuously....
Breezing through the space environment of Barnard’s Star b
The closest exoplanet to us, if we include only single stars like the Sun, is the planet around Barnard's Star, Barnard's Star-b ("BSb"). (The...
Travel through wormholes is possible, but slow
A Harvard physicist has shown that wormholes can exist: tunnels in curved space-time, connecting two distant places, through which travel is possible.
But don't pack...
DIY gravitational waves with ‘BlackHoles@Home’
Researchers hoping to better interpret data from the detection of gravitational waves generated by the collision of binary black holes are turning to the...
We now know how insects and bacteria control ice
Contrary to what you may have been taught, water doesn't always freeze to ice at 32 degrees F (zero degrees C). Knowing, or controlling,...
Electric vehicle adoption improves air quality and climate outlook
If you have ever wondered how much electric vehicle (EV) adoption actually matters for the environment, a new study provides evidence that making this...
Quantum simulation more stable than expected
A localization phenomenon boosts the accuracy of solving quantum many-body problems with quantum computers. These problems are otherwise challenging for conventional computers. This brings...
SLAC develops novel compact antenna for communicating where radios fail
A new type of pocket-sized antenna, developed at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, could enable mobile communication in situations where conventional...
