Why do zebras have stripes? It’s what they do with them that counts. Jamie Carter Why is the sky blue? Check. What makes a rainbow? Check. Why do zebras have stripes? Errr … that last one has scientists stumped. Still. In fact, since Charles Darwin first espoused his theories about evolution in the nineteenth century,
Before any medical product or procedure is adopted, it must undergo clinical trials to evaluate its effectiveness. In a randomized clinical trial, subjects are assigned to two or more groups with some receiving the treatment and others receiving none, or a placebo. By comparing outcomes between the two groups, we should be able to see
WASHINGTON — Small launch vehicle Vector has hired a new chief financial officer who previously held similar positions at Blue Origin and Sierra Nevada Corporation. Vector announced June 12 Stephanie Koster as its new CFO, leading the company’s finance and business operations. Koster joined the company in March, according to her LinkedIn profile. Koster previously
Illustration of the Skylight mission concept, a 2019 NIAC Phase III. William Whittaker, Carnegie Mellon University NASA has expressed plans to return to the moon in the next decade and this time we might be there to stay. The space agency is looking to have a more permanent presence in space and possibly on the
A new superconducting magnet has briefly sustained an astonishing 45.5 tesla magnetic field intensity. For comparison, your flimsy fridge magnets have about 1 percent of a single tesla. The measurement, achieved by researchers at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab) at Florida State University resets the bar on what’s possible in direct current magnetic
Breast feeding can be difficult for many new mums, but it could be argued that a 29-year-old in Austria had it much worse. It wasn’t just her breasts that were swelling, sore, and producing milk – it was also her vulva. The doctors at the Obstetrics and Gynecologic Endocrinology section of the Kepler University Hospital
Despite being grown and consumed for over two decades, there’s still a huge amount of misinformation and confusion that surrounds genetically modified (GM) foods. Researchers tell us to ignore the myths about GM foods, given the overwhelming scientific consensus that GM crops are safe to eat and deliver huge benefits in farming. While the evidence
HELSINKI — Six experiments have been granted a place aboard to the future Chinese Space Station through a joint international cooperation initiative, with three more receiving conditional acceptance. The results of the selection process were announced jointly Wednesday by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA)
Wolfgang Paul (right, with glasses) in characteristic form outside the Council Chamber at CERN during a Scientific Policy Committee meeting in 1977. He was chair of the committee at the time (1975–1978) and a delegate to Council. CERN If you ever take a visit to the physical site of CERN, where the Large Hadron Collider
It’s really not uncommon for human babies to be born with extra fingers or toes. The mutation is called polydactyly, and around one in 500 babies has it. These extra digits are considered useless, and usually amputated not long after birth – but as new research has shown, they may not be quite so bad
As rain deluged the Midwest this spring, commercial fisherman Ryan Bradley knew it was only a matter of time before the disaster reached him. All that water falling on all that fertilizer-enriched farmland would soon wend its way through streams and rivers into Bradley’s fishing grounds in the Gulf of Mexico, off the Mississippi coast.
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – The head of Hungary’s oldest scientific institute said it was considering taking legal action to challenge government moves to take more control over research work and budgets. FILE PHOTO: People gather outside the Hungarian Academy of Sciences to protest against government plans to weaken the institution in Budapest, Hungary, February 12, 2019.
The job of the principal assistant to the secretary of the Air Force for space would be changed to a Senate-confirmed post titled principal assistant to the secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration. WASHINGTON — In proposed legislation that establishes a U.S. Space Force, the Senate Armed Services Committee includes several
Share to facebook Share to twitter Share to linkedin Solar Eclipse with the moon covering the sun creating a Wedding Ring with clouds Getty As I write this, the Moon is shining brightly outside my window. It’s in the first quarter phase at the moment, where you can see half of its surface iluminated by
In the beginning, life was simple. Then, about half a billion years ago, biology got complicated. Identical cells shrugged off the shackles of conformity and divided up the chores between them, evolving into the first members of the animal kingdom. Exactly what this animal prototype looked like has long been the subject of debate. A
We know humans have been using cannabis for various purposes for thousands of years, but its history as a drug has been a little harder to pin down. Now have a new point of reference: Around 2,500 years ago, the people of Central Asia were smoking psychoactive cannabis at funerals. Specifically, archaeologists have found traces
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Marijuana chemical residue has been found in incense burners apparently used during funerary rites at a mountainous site in western China in about 500 BC, providing what may be the oldest evidence of smoking cannabis for its mind-altering properties. Wooden braziers and a skeleton found in the tomb M12 as they were
ST. LOUIS — NASA plans to adjust operations of an airborne astronomical observatory in order to increase its scientific productivity. In a town hall presentation at the 234th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society here June 10, Paul Hertz, director of NASA’s astrophysics division, said those upcoming changes are the outcome of a pair of
A strange convergence led to this essay. While driving, the song “One In Ten” by UB40 cycled on my playlist. It is one of my favorite songs and chronicles the perspective of a person living in poverty. The song prompted me to think about recent pushback by residents in the county where I reside to
Bitcoin and the blockchain may seem like puzzling new technological concepts, but the central tenet of this cutting-edge cryptocurrency goes back way longer than you might believe. Strange as it may seem, bitcoin has a kind of bizarro historical analogue in an ancient currency system dating back hundreds of years: giant stone disks called rai,
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