Common pesticides stop bees and flies from getting a good night’s sleep
Just like us, many insects need a decent night’s sleep to function properly, but this might not be possible if they have been exposed to neonicotinoid insecticides, the most common form of insecticide used worldwide, suggests research by academics at the University of Bristol. Two studies by scientists at Bristol’s Schools of Physiology, Pharmacology and […]
New book explores how people build good relationships across cultural boundaries
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain In a new book launched this week, Professor Helen Spencer-Oatey of the University of Warwick Department of Applied Linguistics and her co-author Professor Dániel Z. Kádár of the Hungarian Research Institute for Linguistics (NYTI) explore how people relate across cultural boundaries, a topic which is increasingly important in our interconnected world. […]
Very Good Space Boys: Robotic Dogs May Dig Into Martian Caves
A pack of four-legged robotic dogs may rove across regions of the rugged Martian landscape never reached before. Known as “Mars Dogs,” the robots are designed to explore deep lava tube caves on the Red Planet to search for evidence of past or existing life—as well as potential sites for building future human […]
Fighting the good fight against bacteria — ScienceDaily
Drug-resistant bacteria could lead to more deaths than cancer by 2050, according to a report commissioned by the United Kingdom in 2014 and jointly supported by the U.K. government and the Wellcome Trust. In an effort to reduce the potential infection-caused 10 million deaths worldwide, Penn State researcher Scott Medina has developed a peptide, or […]
The Boston Dynamics robots are surprisingly good dancers
At this point, we’ll watch the Boston Dynamics robots do basically anything. In their latest YouTube adventure, the squad of robots dances to the 1962 Contours classic “Do You Love Me?” and it’s as weird as it is adorable. The video features a pair of the company’s vaguely humanoid Atlas robots that do the running […]
Despite COVID-19, 2020 featured some good health news
The year will not be remembered as a good one for human health. But some notable bright spots did shine through. Ebola outbreak ends The second biggest Ebola outbreak in history is officially over. Beginning in 2018, the virus surged in eastern Congo, infecting 3,470 people and killing about two-thirds of them (SN Online: 6/25/20). […]
Radicals seem to be good for the brain
Reactive oxygen molecules, also known as “free radicals”, are generally considered harmful. However as it now turns out, they control cellular processes, which are important for the brain’s ability to adapt – at least in mice. Researchers from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and the Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD) at TU […]
Researchers discover why a perfect crystal is not good at conducting heat, although it seemingly should be — ScienceDaily
The crystalline solid BaTiS3 (barium titanium sulfide) is terrible at conducting heat, and it turns out that a wayward titanium atom that exists in two places at the same time is to blame. The discovery, made by researchers from Caltech, USC, and the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), was published on November […]
Apple’s M1 chip makes the new MacBook Air shockingly good
The Darkroom app is one of the first to get optimization for Apple Silicon. (Stan Horaczek /) I keep a big, hardcover book next to my couch for when I want to edit photos in Lightroom with the computer on my lap. Without that tome to protect my legs, my laptop slowly roasts my thighs […]
Video games feel different on the PlayStation 5 and that’s a good thing
The PS5 is big, but you already knew that. (Stan Horaczek /) The PS5 arrived at just the right time. Old gaming consoles were starting to feel outdated. Even the high-performance machines in their respective lineups—like the Xbox One X and the PS4 Pro—were starting to show their age. It’s 2020, after all, so why […]
