Don't let the ferocious name of a new armored dinosaur found in Montana fool you: Zuul crurivastator (the new genus is a nod to the main Ghostbusters villain) is actually quite the softie. At least in terms of soft tissue. The wonderfully preserved specimen has loads of it, opening up a lot of possibilities for further research.
Zuul roamed North America about 75 million years ago and was about as badass as an herbivore can be. It was a large ankylosaurine, one of the armor-plated dinos ...read more
Buttons, who needs 'em?
A new proof-of-concept technology from Carnegie Mellon University turns everyday objects into touch interfaces with an array of electrodes. Walls, guitars, toys and steering wheels come alive with touch sensitivity in their video, and it seems that the possibilities are pretty much endless. What could be next? Grocery store aisles? Whole buildings? Other people? Cell phones?
The design is called Electrick, and it comes from Carnegie Mellon's Future Interfaces Gr ...read more
Another issue: Most scientists aren’t experts in mouse biology.
“I think in the past, some investigators worked in a vacuum,” says Elizabeth Bryda, director of the Rat Resource and Research Center (RRRC). Scientists aren’t always thinking about the genetic differences between mice and humans because they’re focused elsewhere. “Maybe the species you’re working with isn’t the best species for the question, but you don’t know enough about the ph ...read more
Rare Earthquakes Within Tectonic Plates Are Highly Deadly
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The Colorado Deluge
CO2 ‘Time Bomb’ From Thawing Permafrost More Like Slow Leak
97. Seismologists Convicted for Failed Quake Prediction
Iceland Eruption, Largest for a Century, Shows No Signs of Stopping
Hurricanes with Female Names Are Deadlier Than Masculine Ones
Solving the Mystery ...read more
Scientists debate whether the faces humans make mean the same thing around the world.
Everyone smiles in the same language, right? For decades, psychologists have backed up the idea that facial expressions are universal. Paul Ekman’s research in the 1960s was a driving force behind this popular notion. He found cultures worldwide describe facial expressions the same way: For example, a scrunched-up nose signals disgust. Even in the isolated Fore tribe of Papua New Guinea, Ekman’ ...read more
NASA’s news of the TRAPPIST-1 solar system generated quite the buzz recently. The agency announced that the system’s star — an ultra-cool dwarf just a bit bigger than Jupiter — has a collection of seven Earth-sized planets circling it. Researchers confirmed two of these planets in 2016 but upped the tally to seven after they gathered more data. Three of the worlds lie in the star’s habitable zone, where there is the greatest likelihood of having liquid water and may ...read more
Once this iceberg drifts into the ocean, the shelf behind it might collapse. That’s similar to what happened at Larsen B, which will likely disintegrate completely by 2020. However, NASA JPL ice shelf scientist Ala Khazendar cautions that Larsen C’s future remains uncertain. Ice shelves naturally shed icebergs, and this ice shelf could recover and avoid the fate of Larsens A and B.
If the floating Larsen C does collapse, it won’t raise sea levels directly. But once an ice shelf ...read more
Mammals aren’t the only ones who can have a good time.
In April 2013, on board the unmanned spacecraft BION-M, a thick-toed gecko wriggled out of its polyurethane collar. In microgravity, the object floated away, then floated back toward the animal, then away again, approaching another gecko, and then a third. The animals got curious. One pushed the collar with its snout. Another tried inserting its head into it. Yet another pinned the thing down to the floor. As the spacecraft orbite ...read more
Dr. Edith Bone has decided not to cry.
On this autumn afternoon in 1956, her seven years of solitary confinement have come to a sudden end. Beyond the prison gates, the Hungarian Revolution’s final, scattered shots are echoing down the streets of Budapest. Inside the gates, Bone emerges through the prison’s front door into the courtyard’s bewildering sunlight. She is 68 years old, stout and arthritic.
Bone was born in Budapest in 1889 and proved an intelligent — if disobe ...read more
