The unique properties of graphene allow researchers to use electricity to control how much infrared light can pass through it. (Credit: Coskun Kocabas)
Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak seemed to do a good job of hiding him for many adventures after curfew, but what if the professors patrolling Hogwarts had thermal imaging technology? Would Harry’s cloak have obscured his body heat as well?
If not, he might want to upgrade his magical cloak with some nanos ...read more
Researchers have found changes to rabbit brains that may explain why your pet bunny is so snuggly.Photo Credit: Alex
The process of domestication fundamentally changes an animal’s looks and behavior. Floppier ears and a loss of fear of humans, for example, are nearly universal in domesticated species. Now, researchers have learned what domestication looks like in the brain—at least, for rabbits.
It’s not exactly clear whe ...read more
On June 24, Hayabusa-2 snapped a shot of Asteroid 1993 JU3, known as Ryugu, from a distance of just 25 miles (40 kilometers). (Credit: JAXA, University of Tokyo, Kochi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, Aizu University, AIST)
Deep-space exploration has been all the rage lately, but the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is honing in on a target closer to home.
JAXA’s Hayabusa-2 spacecraft is quickly ap ...read more
The Group Stage is almost done, so here are the last groups in the 2018 Geology World Cup! Before we get to Groups G & H, how about an update on the other groups?
Group A: Right now, Russia is running away with the group, but the 2-3-4 spots are tight. Egypt sits at 18%, with Uruguay at 13% and Saudi Arabia at 12%. VOTE HERE
Group B: Iran is winning the group, but Morocco and Portugal are currently tied for 2nd at 20%. Spain lags back at 14%. VOTE HERE
Group C: Perú and Australi ...read more
A fallow deer relaxes in a European forest…120,000 years ago, two of his distant kin were quarry during a Neanderthal hunt. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Jiřà Nedorost)
Our hominin family tree includes plenty of meat-eaters, going back a couple million years at least — this is not news. But it’s one thing to find evidence of animals that were butchered and consumed by our ancestors and closest kin. It&acir ...read more
Do scientists have a responsibility to make their work accessible to the public?
“Public Engagement�, broadly speaking, means scientists communicating about science to non-scientists. Blogs are a form of public engagement, as are (non-academic) books. Holding public talks or giving interviews would also count as such.
Recently, it has become fashionable to say that it is important for scientists to engage the public, and that this engagement should be enc ...read more
In research on people, scientists are typically interested in the group data – the mean, median, and variance of a sample of people. But according to a provocative new paper out in PNAS, the statistics of a group can obscure the variability within individuals, over time.
The paper, from Aaron J. Fisher, John D. Medaglia, and Bertus F. Jeronimus, isn’t really making a new point. The pitfalls of generalizing from the group to the individual level have long b ...read more
The Leilani Estates eruption (bottom right) seen by Astronaut Ricky Arnold aboard the ISS on June 20, 2018. NASA.
The eruption that started in Leilani Estates on the lower East Rift Zone of Kīlauea is rapidly approaching the end of its second month, and right now, there are no signs the eruption will be ending soon. For many of us, this eruption seems unprecedented: how often do volcanoes erupt lava like this for months at a time? It turns out that it isn’t that u ...read more
Skull of Junzi imperialis, a newly described extinct gibbon from China. [Credit: Samuel Turvey/ZSL]
In what may be the tomb of the grandmother of the first emperor of China, scientists unexpectedly discovered the bones of an extinct and hitherto unknown species of gibbon, a new study reveals. These findings suggest there was a higher level of ape diversity after the last ice age than previously thought, and that the number of primate extinctions due to humans has likely been underestimated.
In ...read more
