The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 4,456 posts.
In findings that give fresh meaning to the old adage that a good night’s sleep clears the mind, a new study shows that a recently discovered system that flushes waste from the brain is primarily active during sleep. This revelation could transform scientists’ understanding of the biological purpose of sleep and point…
Back when YC was getting started about 10 years ago, Paul Graham wrote some [http://www.paulgraham.com/webstartups.html] essays [http://www.paulgraham.com/future.html] that predicted the way startup fundraising would change in the next decade – accurately, it turns out. Paul Graham predicted that there would be way…
The graph on the left shows a third example, taken from analytical chemistry: a straight-line calibration data set where X = concentration and Y = instrument reading (Y = a + b X). Click to download that data . The blue dots are the data points. They don't all fall in a perfect straight line because of random noise…
In the past 4 days, the spacecraft has raised its orbital high point, or apogee, by about 2 kilometers.
Explore overnight stays at US National Parks and uncover surprising patterns.
Automakers and policy makers are increasingly voicing their belief that the passenger vehicle of the future will be powered (partially or fully) by electricity. There remains, however, a lack of consensus on the timing and speed of the transition, in large part due to differing opinions on current and future…
There is, apparently, an increase recently in interest in the Dunning-Kruger effect. The Washington Post writes about this recently, making the obvious political observation (having to do with the current occupant of the White House). It's great that there is public interest in an important psychological phenomenon…
Interactive article explaining alpha compositing concepts.
Marine sanctuaries have benefited at-risk species living within their borders, but their implications for highly migratory species such as tuna have been less clear. Now, researchers at MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have found evidence that tuna are spawning in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area in…
In this topic page, we explore data on loneliness and social connections and review available evidence on the link between social connections and well-being.
We all know what sound is. Except actually, no we don't. Let's fix that.
UW researchers created a method for two people help a third person solve a task using only their minds.
To mark the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, we revisit a first-hand account of designing the Lunar Module digital autopilot, and compare the approach used then with the way it could be done today.
You may have already heard that the Galileo EU satellite navigation constellation is out of service since last Thursday July 11th. Currently the Galileo constellation status page shows that the status of most Galileo satellites is not usable because of a service outage. The satellites not affected by this outage are…
Rising temperatures are causing the frozen ground that covers large parts of the Earth to break up, adding to the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
Silica aerogel could warm the Martian surface similar to the way greenhouse gasses keep Earth warm
MIT researchers have created a fiber-based, lightweight, fast-acting artificial muscle that could be useful for robotics and for prosthetics.
It's to prevent them from killing you
Pain researchers at University of Sydney have found compelling evidence that insects feel persistent pain after injury. Read more.
A new study shows that bilinguals do indeed think about time differently, depending on the language context in which they are estimating the duration of events.
Today’s carbon dioxide emissions may trigger a reflex in the carbon cycle with devastating consequences, according to a new MIT study.
Researchers from Inserm and Université de Rennes recently identified a new bacterial toxin which they transformed into potent antibiotics active against various bacteria responsible for human infections.
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams around the U.S. with news, information and resources.
Note: These pages make extensive use of the latest XHTML and CSS Standards . They ought to look great in any standards-compliant modern browser. Unfortunately, they will probably look horrible in older browsers, like Netscape 4.x and IE 4.x. Moreover, many posts use MathML, which is, currently only supported in…
The 50-km-long rupture has triggered widely dispersed aftershocks. However, almost none of these struck on the faults that the M 7.1 brought closer to failure: The major Garlock Fault; or the Blackwater, Panamint Valley, or Sierra Nevada Faults.
Researchers at MIT and Princeton have found a way to increase the output of silicon solar cells by allowing a single photon to release two electrons in the silicon.
[Note Added: Thanks to some great comments I’ve received, I’m continuing to add clarifying remarks to this post. You’ll find them in green.] It’s been a couple of months si…
