An MQ-9 Reaper performs during an air show demonstration May 29, 2016, at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M. Credit: U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Dennis J. Henry Jr.
More than 15 years after a U.S. Predator drone launched its first Hellfire missile, the United States remains reluctant to sell armed drones to even its closest allies. That hesitation in selling armed drones has left the door open for countries such as Israel and China to dominate military drone sales across the world. Now the U.S. ...read more
(Credit: Dr. Torsten Scheyer; Palaeontological Institute and Museum, University of Zurich, Switzerland)
A new, beautifully preserved specimen of a reptile from the Triassic boots the species out of the water and back onto land.
The fossil in question is a small reptile dating to around 241 million years ago called Esaurosphargis dalsassoi. It was found by researchers from Switzerland in the eastern part of the Swiss Alps, armored plates, frilly spikes and all. It&rsquo ...read more
Photo: flickr/Thomas Hawk
Despite evidence to the contrary, many like to think that the U.S. justice system works pretty well. This is especially true when it comes to the ultimate punishment — the death penalty. But as we know, not everyone on death row is guilty. So where does the process go wrong? Here, researchers tested whether snap judgements of peoples’ faces affected whether they were given the death penalty. To do so, the researchers had volunteers judge the &ldq ...read more
In blaming western wildfires on environmentalists and the Forest Service, politicians are ignoring science — and putting people at risk
Giant smoke plumes from wildfires blazing in Utah and Arizona were easily visible to the GOES-16 weather satellite on June 27th, 2017. The Brian Head fire is to the north, in Utah. The Goodwin Fire near Prescott, Arizona is to the south. A much smaller plume can also be seen growing in Arizona. (Source: RAMMB/CIRA/NOAA)
Thanks to hot, dry and windy ...read more
Psychologists and social scientists tend to see their research as a force for good. But can we assume this? Couldn’t knowledge of human behaviour be exploited for malicious ends?
As an example of what we might call the “goodness of psychology” assumption, consider this recent paper about Psychological Characteristics of Romance Scam Victims, from the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. The research is about online romance scams in which victims are ...read more
Silicon Valley‘s unicorn hunter Erlich Bachman played by T.J. Miller, who said he plans to leave the show. (Credit: HBO)
In the world of venture capitalists, not everyone is Peter Thiel. The Silicon Valley investor reaped 1 billion dollars in 2012 when he cashed in his Facebook stocks, turning a 2,000 percent profit from his initial $500,000 investment. Stories like Thiel’s may be inspirational, but they are by far the outlier. The start-up world sees thousands of hopeful comp ...read more
(Credit: Shutterstock)
The year is 2030. You’re in a business school lecture hall, where just a handful of students are attending a finance class.
The dismal turnout has nothing to with professorial style, school ranking or subject matter. Students simply aren’t enrolled, because there are no jobs out there for finance majors.
Today, finance, accounting, management and economics are among universities’ most popular subjects worldwide, particularly at graduate level, due to hi ...read more
A monocled cobra, Naja kaouthia. Photo Credit: Tontan Travel
Vishal Santra got more than he bargained for when he peered into a chicken coop in the Hooghly District of West Bengal, India in 2004. He was helping the local community with dangerous snake removals when he was called upon to wrangle an unwelcome guest in a fowl pen: a monocled cobra, Naja kaouthia. Monocled cobras, which can reach lengths of about 5 feet, are highly venomous animals, so Santra knew to avoid ...read more
(Credit: 279photo Studio/Shutterstock)
Patties of beef grown in a lab could be hitting supermarket shelves as early as 2018.
That’s the bold statement from Hampton Creek, a San Francisco-based food company that produces mainly vegan condiments and cookie doughs. As the Wall Street Journal reports, the company says they are working on growing cultured animal cells in the lab to turn into cruelty-free meat products, and the product could be ready as early as next year. If the rocky history ...read more
