Manga & Davies, Conversation
The world's most destructive mud volcano was born near the town of Sidoarjo, on the island of Java, Indonesia, just over 11 years ago and to this day it has not stopped erupting. The mud volcano known as Lusi started on May 29, 2006, and at its peak disgorged a staggering 180,000 cubic metres of mud every day, burying villages in mud up to 40 metres thick.
Brad Stulberg, Science of Us
Even though we live an exciting era of cutting-edge technology, genomics, and personalized, precision medicine, your best chance at living a long, healthy life is incontestably low tech: Don't smoke. Don't become obese. Lay off the booze.
Loren Grush, The Verge
Last week, astronomers at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico announced they had picked up some strange radio signals coming from a small red dwarf star, and they couldn't quite figure out what was causing them. Now, it seems they have an answer: it turns out these bizarre radio signals most likely came from the transmissions of a couple of satellites.
Johanna Miller, Physics Today
The tendency of electron spins to align with their neighbors is the defining feature of ferromagnetism. But not all stable magnetic configurations have global alignment. Magnetization on the submicron scale can organize into domains, vortices, skyrmions, and other inhomogeneous configurations.
Scott Barry Kaufman, Scientific American
Our culture is obsessed with sex. Everywhere you look is another article on how to have hot sex, harder erections, mind-bending orgasms, and ejaculations that go on for days. What people seldom realize, though-- and which the latest science backs up-- is that this is exactly the problem.
Nick Thieme, Slate
Between 30,000 and 40,000 farm-raised minks were released into the wild near Eden Valley, Minnesota, earlier this week when burglarspresumably animal rights activistscut the fence to a mink-pelt farm and opened the cages holding the mammals, letting them run into the wild.
Nola Redd, Astronomy
In 2015, reports of an unusual signal observed around a distant star spurred suggestions of the presence of an alien megastructure. But new research suggests that the bizarre discovery could instead be the sign of a destroyed world.While most planets orbit their stars from a safe distance, some see their suns up close and personal. Orbiting far closer than Mercury, these worlds experience extreme temperatures that cause their atmospheres to expand. If the planet is too small... Читать дальше...
Alison Abbott, Nature News
The battle against drug-resistant superbugs has neglected a key weapon, scientists say: using vaccines to quell the spread of resistance.As drug-resistant infections sweep across the globe, public-health organizations have focused mainly on developing new antimicrobial treatments and cutting the overuse of existing ones, to prevent resistant strains emerging.But not enough attention has been paid to vaccines as a defence strategy, say microbiologists and vaccine-developers... Читать дальше...
Maria Temming, Science News
Tools, paints and other artifacts excavated from an ancient rock-shelter in northern Australia are giving new glimpses into early life Down Under. The first humans may have arrived on the continent 65,000 years ago 5,000 years earlier than previously thought and they were sophisticated craftspeople, researchers report July 19 in Nature.Archaeologists unearthed three distinct layers of artifacts at Madjedbebe, Australia's oldest known site of human habitation, during digs in 2012 and 2015. Читать дальше...
Eric Berger, Ars Tech
In recent weeks, there have been rumors that SpaceX is no longer planning to send an uncrewed version of its Dragon spacecraft to Mars in 2020, or later. Now those rumors about the Red Dragon concept have been largely confirmed.The company had planned to use the propulsive landing capabilities on the Dragon 2 spacecraftoriginally developed for the commercial crew variant to land on Earthfor Mars landings in 2018 or 2020. Previously, it had signed an agreement with NASA to... Читать дальше...
Tracy Staedter, LS
In the sophisticated world of counterfeiting, it can often be difficult to tell fakes from the real deal. But now, scientists have developed a new method that can stamp things with "atomic fingerprints" to keep phony products at bay."There is no bigger crime than counterfeit crime," said Robert Young, a professor of physics at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom and chief technology officer of the tech startup Quantum Base.
Hamish Johnston, Phys World
A smart glove that translates American Sign Language (ASL) into digital text has been developed by scientists at the University of California, San Diego. Timothy O'Connor, Darren Lipomi and colleagues reckon that their device can be produced for less than $100 and could also find use in virtual-reality and remote-control systems.Most systems for monitoring body movement involve using a camera or infrared emitters and sensors to capture motion. While such systems are effective... Читать дальше...
Rebecca Morelle, BBC
A UK zoo is taking part in a radical plan to save the world's last three northern white rhinos from extinction.At Longleat safari park, scientists have collected eggs from southern white rhinos - a closely related sub species - to use for IVF.The eggs will help researchers to develop the technology to help the remaining northern whites to reproduce.
Jordana Cepelewicz, Quanta
More than a quarter billion people today are infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV), the World Health Organization estimates, and more than 850,000 of them die every year as a result. Although an effective and inexpensive vaccine can prevent infections, the virus, a major culprit in liver disease, is still easily passed from infected mothers to their newborns at birth, and the medical community remains strongly interested in finding better ways to combat HBV and its chronic effects. Читать дальше...
Josh Bloom, ACSH
Heavy metals get a bad rap. For the most part, it is deserved because they are usually toxic. Except when they aren't. You have probably consumed a whole lot of at least one or two of them and are just fine. Here's why.