Category: Science

Mars once hosted vast lakes, flowing rivers and a variety of other wet environments that had the potential to support life, according to two new studies.

Mars once hosted vast lakes, flowing rivers and a variety of other wet environments that had the potential to support life, according to two new studies based on data from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) and other instruments on board NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

Children appear to be naturally inclined to feel empathy for others in pain, according to researchers who used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging scans. Children show responses to seeing someone in pain in the same areas of their brains. Additional aspects of the brain were activated when youngsters saw another person hurt.

Children between the ages of seven and 12 appear to be naturally inclined to feel empathy for others in pain, according to researchers who used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scans to study responses in children.

North Carolina State University scientists have figured out one reason why pregnant yellow fever mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti), one of the most important disease transmitters worldwide, choose to lay their eggs in certain outdoor water containers while eschewing others.

In a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, North Carolina State University researchers show that certain chemicals emanating from bacteria in water containers stimulate the female mosquitoes to lay their eggs. The female mosquitoes sense these chemical cues and decide that the water container is a preferable environment for their larvae to develop.

Did you ever see a mouse in the kitchen, then find yourself seeing mice in every dust ball and dark corner? According to researchers, this is normal and is part of how the brain works.

Letting your imagination run away with you may actually influence how you see the world. New research from Vanderbilt University has found that mental imagery - what we see with the "mind's eye" - directly impacts our visual perception.

Article Continues After Illustration

Mental imagery is commonly referred to as seeing with the mind's eye. This image shows a graphic, yet literal representation of the the minds eye, by showing an eye peering out of the brain.

Can you hear what a person looks like? A growing body of research suggests so.

“The mere sound of a person’s voice contains important, embedded biological information,” says Susan Hughes, assistant professor of psychology at Albright College in Reading, Pa., who has researched vocal attractiveness and body symmetry. In her latest study, she finds a relationship between voice quality and another important biological marker: digit ratios. “The ratio of the second (index) finger to the fourth (ring) finger – the 2D:4D ratio – is an indirect measure of prenatal sex hormone exposure,” she says.

Catching a football. Maneuvering through a room full of people. Jumping out of the way when a golfer yells “fore.” Most would agree these seemingly simple actions require us to perceive and quickly respond to a situation. Assistant Professor of Cognitive Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Mark Changizi argues they require something more—our ability to foresee the future.

Catching a football. Maneuvering through a room full of people. Jumping out of the way when a golfer yells “fore.” Most would agree these seemingly simple actions require us to perceive and quickly respond to a situation. Assistant Professor of Cognitive Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Mark Changizi argues they require something more—our ability to foresee the future.

Capt. Alfred S. McLaren and the crew of the USS Queenfish took their submarine in 1970 beneath the perennial sea ice cover of the Arctic Ocean to explore and map the Siberian Continental Shelf for the only time in history, encountering extreme dangers and discoveries along the way.

It’s hard to believe that a year after humanity reached the moon, a U.S. Navy submarine captain still could explore uncharted and virtually unknown areas of our own Earth. Yet that was what Capt. Alfred S. McLaren and the crew of the USS Queenfish did in 1970. They took their submarine beneath the perennial sea ice cover of the Arctic Ocean to explore and map the Siberian Continental Shelf for the only time in history, encountering extreme dangers and discoveries along the way.

Tea drinkers who opt for black, oolong, green or white teas may find that these beverages offer health benefits.

Despite their reputation for deadly attacks on humans and pets, alligators are wiggling their way toward a new role as potential lifesavers in medicine, biochemists in Louisiana reported last week at the 235th national meeting of the American Chemical Society. They described how proteins in gator blood may provide a source of powerful new antibiotics to help fight infections associated with diabetic ulcers, severe burns, and “superbugs” that are resistant to conventional medication.

Article Continues After Illustration

Alligator blood could provide a powerful new source of antibiotics for fighting deadly superbugs and other infections, researchers say. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

A harbor town, nearly 3,500 years old, has been found in amazingly intact condition on the Greek shorline. Researchers with Florida State University and the University of Pennsylvania are conducting a study of the site.

Along an isolated, rocky stretch of Greek shoreline, a Florida State University researcher and his students are unlocking the secrets of a partially submerged, “lost” harbor town believed to have been built by the ancient Mycenaeans nearly 3,500 years ago.

“This is really a remarkable find,” said Professor Daniel J. Pullen, chairman of FSU’s Department of Classics. “It is rare indeed to locate an entire town built during the Late Bronze Age that shows this level of preservation.”

Back in the old days at Rochdale College, we knew how to weigh our kilos. However, we're sure that's not what the good folks at Sandia have in mind as they seek to redifine the kilogram.

The kilogram is losing weight and many international scientists, including some at Sandia National Laboratories, agree that it’s time to redefine it.