Flashback Friday: A scientific study of binge TV watching finds that yes, you'll probably regret it
Select Category Select Tag Select Archive ...read more
Author: Vishay Singh
At the Bottom of the Ocean, Octopus Moms Cling to Their Bad Decisions
Parents may feel guilty when they use television to keep their kids quiet, or give in to a demand for cookies. But most of us are doing a better job than these octopus mothers. Scientists found them clustered on the sea floor, trying to grow their young in a warm bath that will certainly kill babies and moms alike. The mothers were doomed to begin with. After mating, most female octopuses choose a spot to glue down a batch of eggs. Then they park themselves on top of those e ...read more
College AI Courses Get an Ethics Makeover
Poster for the course “Artificial Intelligence Methods for Social Good.” Credit: Fei Fang | Carnegie Mellon University Years after it became a running gag on HBO’s show “Silicon Valley,” the idea of companies automatically “making the world a better place” through profit-driven technological development has lost much of its shine. The next generation of computer engineers and tech entrepreneurs may benefit from a more socially ...read more
Millennials Want to Tan, No Matter the Risks
Now We Can 3-D Print Circuits Right Onto Our Skin
How Tiny Creatures Achieve Amazingly High Speeds
Dinosaur Teeth Show Which Species Preferred Squishier Prey
Drone Spies Crocodile Eating Dead Whale Alongside Tiger Sharks, Much To The Sharks' Dismay
Last fall, a tour company in Australia stumbled upon a rare find: a dead whale. But what they had spotted turned out to be even rarer than that, as the video footage captured both sharks and a large saltwater crocodile tearing at the carcass—something no one had ever seen before. [embedded content] It was an exciting enough observation to catch the attention of Austin Gallagher, chief scientist and CEO of Beneath the Waves. “I saw the post online on Facebook, ...read more
Your Behavior in Starbucks, and the Link to Your Ancestors
(Credit: Monkey Business Images) Do the lives of our ancestors still determine how we act today? That’s the question at hand in a new study by U.S. and Chinese researchers, and they come up with an interesting means of testing the question. To test whether individualistic and cooperative tendencies learned centuries ago live on in descendants of Chinese farmers today, the scientists looked to a common denominator of modern life today: Starbucks. And they set up a situation that anyo ...read more
These Human Bone Daggers Were Made to Kill With
Bone daggers from New Guinea. a) Human bone dagger attributed to the Upper Sepik River. b) Cassowary bone dagger attributed to the Abelam people. (Credit: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College) Daggers made of human bone were regularly used in mortal combat in New Guinea, and now scientists find these weapons were specially engineered for strength so they could find repeated use in violent confrontations. Bone daggers were once widespread in New Guinea. The weapons were worn on men’ ...read more