The Pepper robotic assistant. (Credit: MikeDotta/Shutterstock)
As prices drop and their functionality expands, you can expect to see humanoid robots in more places, including schools, airports, and hospitals. That’s made researchers curious how androids and their kin will influence human behavior. In a study published today, scientists found that meaner, colder robots can help people concentrate — and that could help us better understand human-robot relationships.
The experiment, p ...read more
When kids were asked if certain lines are longer or shorter than others, they deffered to the robots’ answers. (Credit: Tony Belpaeme / Ghent University)
Those of us of a certain age may recall the D.A.R.E. program wafting through our classrooms like so many puffs of smoke. In addition to the evils of drugs and alcohol, and the importance of just saying no, the program highlighted the power of peer pressure. No matter how much our friends and classmates might say something’s cool, ...read more
(Credit: Gregory Zamell/Shutterstock)
Millions of years ago, a gene in mammals became useless. Now scientists have discovered the gene has come back to life in elephants, where it’s exceptionally good at killing damaged cells. The “zombie” gene may explain why the long-lived pachyderms rarely develop cancer and how large animals evolved.
A Cancer Mystery
Elephants are a paradox for scientists. The giants appear largely resistant to cancer, which is odd as their long lifespans ...read more
(Credit: tommaso79/Shutterstock)
If you wanna shiver right, you gotta exercise.
That’s the suggestion of a new study in The Journal of Physiology looking at how mice fared in the cold after they’d spent some time undergoing regular jogging sessions on a wheel. Compared to couch-potato mice, the fit mice lost less weight in the cold and had higher body temperatures. The findings reveal that physical fitness likely plays a role in how well we deal with chilly situations.
Shiver ...read more
(Credit: ESA – P.Carril)
Think that the Moon is the only object orbiting Earth? You might want to think again.
Researchers have theorized the existence of “mini-moons” — tiny asteroids pulled into Earth’s orbit by forces of gravity — ever since discovering one with NASA’s Catalina Sky Survey in 2006. These fast moving asteroids revolve around the planet before either falling toward the surface as a meteor, or being ejected back out into space ...read more
Jupiter’s signature stripes are streams of gas that flow in alternating directions. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill)
What would Jupiter be without its stripes? The Great Red Spot might be Jupiter’s most famous feature, but the giant planet would be unrecognizable without the multicolored bands streaking across its face.
The colors are there thanks to the chemistry of Jupiter’s atmosphere, but the striped pattern itself comes from long-lived winds called zona ...read more
(Credit: Yuricazac/Shutterstock)
Sleep deprivation strikes us all at some point in our lives, from stressed-out students struggling through finals week to parents of a newborn barely catching a wink. They’re all running on empty. And if you happen to interact with one of these poor souls, you’ll likely notice they may seem a bit distant. If so, you may feel a little bummed yourself once you part ways. You’re not imagining things, at least according to new research i ...read more
(Credit: Ondrej Prosicky/shutterstock)
Native Americans may have kept a breeding colony of scarlet macaws in the American Southwest starting more than 1,000 years ago, a new study finds. The birds were raised for their colorful plumage hundreds of miles from their native jungles.
With their brilliant red, yellow and blue plumes, scarlet macaws are likely the best-known parrots of the New World. These birds normally range from South America to eastern coastal Mexico and Guatemala.
Yet, over the ...read more
NASA astronaut Harrison Schmidt shaves during the Apollo 17 mission. (Credit: NASA)
On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space when he piloted the Mercury capsule Freedom 7. His sub-orbital journey lasted 15 minutes. Like most children who grew up in the early era of space flight, I remember this moment well.
The flight was extra special for me because my dad, Arthur L. Levine, worked for NASA. As a human resources administrator, he recruited John Glenn, who in 1962 became ...read more
