science

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Cougar's Long Trek to Chicago May Tell Tale

Cat likely from SD may yield clues about human overpopulation

(Newser) - A cougar shot April 14 in Chicago was spotted earlier in Wisconsin, DNA tests show, suggesting an epic trek. Now, scientists are eager to study the animal, hoping to learn more about how and why it migrated; they aim to pin down its ancestry in an effort to better understand...

Collosal Squid Has World's Biggest Eyes

They're the size of dinner plates, 'largest ever recorded'

(Newser) - With eyes bigger than dinner plates and orange-sized lenses, a colossal squid being dissected by New Zealand scientists boasts the biggest peepers of any animal—and larger relatives could lurk in the deep, the Telegraph reports. It's "certainly not the largest specimen out there," said one marine biologist,...

Absinthe's Secret Revealed
 Absinthe's Secret Revealed 

Absinthe's Secret Revealed

Mind-altering effect is really just the booze talking

(Newser) - Absinthe's "Green Fairy,” which spurred the likes of van Gogh and Picasso to creative heights, may have been more of a drunken sprite than psychedelic pixie. A study of century-old bottles of the green liqueur revealed that its potency most likely stems from its 70% alcohol content—making...

PETA Offering $1M Prize for Test Tube Meat

Animal-rights group nearly splinters over research reward

(Newser) - PETA is offering a $1 million reward to the first researchers who can figure out a commercially viable artificial meat-production system, the New York Times reports. Scientists have been working on in vitro meat for years, hoping to grow edible tissue cultures that could replace slaughtered livestock. But there was...

New Notes in Earth's Hum
 New Notes in Earth's Hum 

New Notes in Earth's Hum

Scientists discover more complex oscillations in planetary symphony

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered a new dimension to the sub-aural sound emanating from our planet’s crust, dubbed “Earth’s hum.” Researchers have known about the hum, detectable only by seismometers, for a decade, though its ultimate cause is unclear. They expected to find hidden oscillations, but the amplitude...

Darwin's Papers Now Online
Darwin's Papers Now Online

Darwin's Papers Now Online

Once-private drafts, notes and even recipes of evolutionary scientist are free to public

(Newser) - A vast collection of the papers of Charles Darwin is now online, providing public access to volumes once restricted to Cambridge scholars, the BBC reports. 20,000 items are available, including the first draft of his seminal book on evolution, travel notes and personal pieces such as family recipes, Reuters...

'Father of Chaos Theory' Dead at 90
'Father of Chaos Theory'
Dead at 90
obituary

'Father of Chaos Theory' Dead at 90

Edward Lorenz came up with concept of 'butterfly effect'

(Newser) - The MIT scientist whose pioneering of chaos theory revolutionized science, has died at the age of 90, MIT News reports. Meteorologist Edward Lorenz came up with the concept of chaos theory after meticulously analyzing weather data and discovering microscopic differences could have huge effects, leading to his paper "Predictability:...

Ex-Soviet Monkeys Survive 15-Year Limbo

Breakaway republic can barely support survivors from better times

(Newser) - Traumatized monkeys once the subjects of Soviet experiments are odd remnants of a more prosperous time in Abkhazia, an area of Georgia that calls itself independent, the Los Angeles Times reports. The area was crippled in its effort to break away from Georgia, but the 286 primates living in a...

New Drug Protects Body From Radiation

Promising treatment has potential medical, military applications

(Newser) - A promising new drug that protects animals from damaging radiation is ready for clinical trials in humans, the BBC reports. The drug interferes with the protein that ordinarily causes cell suicide in the presence of radiation, meaning it could be useful in treating cancer patients undergoing radiation as well as...

Elephant Bubble Plans Popped
 Elephant Bubble Plans Popped 

Elephant Bubble Plans Popped

Outcry bursts science center's plans to surround elephant with soap bubble

(Newser) - A California science center has ditched plans to surround an elephant with a giant soap bubble, reports the LA Times, after a thousand outraged emailers protested the plan and zoo professionals blasted it as a "Vegas-style sideshow."  A "bubble artist" had planned to break a world...

Laws of Physics May Need an Overhaul

Scientists detect gravity-defying behavior of spacecrafts

(Newser) - The laws of physics just might be broken. Scientists have detected gravity-defying behavior from spacecrafts flung around the Earth, the Economist reports. Five different spacecrafts picked up speed at a pace deviating,ever so slightly, from the laws created by Newton and Einstein. After laborious calculations, astronomers have created a...

Panel: US Math System 'Broken'
 Panel: US Math System 'Broken' 

Panel: US Math System 'Broken'

Group, worried about future competitive disadvantage, advises focus on basics

(Newser) - A presidential panel today called US math education “broken” and demanded greater focus on key skills ranging from preschool to middle school, the Washington Post reports. The National Mathematics Advisory Panel responded to concerns that Americans are growing less competitive in the realm, and pointed the way to better...

Digital Tutors May Edge Out Real Thing

Virtual educators don't get frustrated and kids aren't afraid of errors

(Newser) - The best education available these days may be a virtual one, scientists are finding. Today´s digital educators can teach anything from social to language skills—and don't get tired, bored or irritable, LiveScience reports. The programs are a perfect match for autistic kids, who often find face-to-face interactions overwhelming.

Bizarre Antarctic Sea Life Found
Bizarre Antarctic Sea Life Found

Bizarre Antarctic Sea Life Found

New species discovered just as they're threatened by global warming

(Newser) - A host of bizarre giant creatures lurk in the little-known waters of Antarctica, the Daily Telegraph reports. Thousands of specimens have been gathered by a mission to study Antarctic marine life before it is wiped out—including giant sea spiders the size of dinner plates, huge sea worms, and mammoth...

Scientists Near Invisibility Cloak for Sound

Special material makes acoustic waves take a detour

(Newser) - Researchers are making progress on something that sounds right out of the pages of Harry Potter—a sort of invisibility cloak for sound. A team of scientists in Spain is trying to turn theory into reality by creating a cloak that causes sound waves to slip around an object, the ...

Century Mark Within Reach for Many
Century Mark Within Reach
for Many

Century Mark Within Reach for Many

Healthy habits boost chances of living to 100, even with illness

(Newser) - Even people with heart disease or diabetes can hit the century mark if they take care of themselves, two new studies say. The trick for living to 100 is managing illness well enough to stay independent. "It's kind of a threesome: get more years, better years, and better function,...

Baby Blues Come From Single Ancestor

A long-ago genetic mutation diluted brown eyes, scientists say

(Newser) - All blue-eyed people have a single, shared ancestor, scientists say. And all those baby blues are the result of a genetic mutation that occurred between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago, LiveScience reports. Before that, everyone had brown eyes. The mutation limits the effects of the gene that produces...

Geologists See Earth in New 'Anthropocene Age'

Humanity's footprint on the planet marks whole new game

(Newser) - Humanity's impact on the planet over the last 200 years has been so vast that geologists are proposing to label it the start of a new geological era, Canada.com reports. Textbooks label these times as the Holocene era, which began 12,000 years ago, but scientists argue that carbon...

Top 10 Mysteries of the Mind
Top 10 Mysteries of the Mind

Top 10 Mysteries of the Mind

From memories to sleep to consciousness itself, scientists still can't agree

(Newser) - Debated for centuries, the human mind still holds a mystery or two in modern times. Here are LiveScience's top 10:
  1. Consciousness. Still the biggest human puzzle since Socrates.
  2. Cryonics. Can gray matter be revived from a 320-degree deep freeze?
  3. Aging. An unappreciated benefit, or simply cell decay with no purpose?
...

Angry Students Block Pope Visit
Angry Students Block Pope Visit

Angry Students Block Pope Visit

Profs say appearance would be affront to 'people of science'

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI has scrapped plans to speak at a prestigious Italian university after unprecedented protests by furious students and professors who accused him of justifying Galileo's trial and "affronting" people of science, the Los Angeles Times reports. The pope once described as "reasonable" the 400-year-old heresy trial...

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