2101
The True Shape of Io's Steeple Mountain
Popular images of the Jovian moon Io’s famed Steeple Mountain turn out to be misinformed. How the Inquisitive team figured that out, and what Steeple Mountain really looks like!
Topics /
Science & Space
The most popular blog posts about science & space on Hacker News. 2,419 posts.
2102
The case against plant consciousness
Botanist Lincoln Taiz and colleagues argue against the suggestion that plants have neurobiology or consciousness.
2103
Mild Covid-19 induces lasting antibody protection
People who have had mild illness develop antibody-producing cells that can last lifetime
2104
Passive radiative cooling ceramic with high solar reflectivity
A significant breakthrough in developing a passive radiative cooling (PRC) material has been announced by researchers at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) . The findings have just been published in the prestigious scientific journal Science titled “ Hierarchically structured passive radiative cooling ceramic with…
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Study reveals mammoth as key food source for ancient Americans
Scientists have uncovered the first direct evidence that ancient Americans relied primarily on mammoth and other large animals for food. Their research sheds new light on both the rapid expansion of humans throughout the Americas and the extinction of large ice age mammals.
2108
Model built by researchers suggests coronavirus outbreak began in November
The coronavirus epidemic started one month earlier than is commonly reported and has yet to be brought under control, a new disease-transmission model created by University of Toronto researchers suggests. Using open access data that are updated daily, the model replicates epidemiological scenarios and allows…
2109
The Breeder's Equation
R is the response to selection, S is the selection differential, and h 2 is the narrow-sense heritability. This is the workhorse equation for quantitative genetics. The selective differential S, is the difference between the population average and the average of the parental population (some subset of the total…
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2111
Perfect colors, captured with one ultra-thin lens
No need for color correction—Harvard physicists’ flat optics, using nanotechnology, gets it right the first time
2112
The Tarnished Moon
Remote sensing observations reveal the presence of ferric iron in the form of the mineral hematite at high latitudes on the Moon, possibly the product of reaction of ferrous iron on the Moon with oxygen from the Earth�s upper atmosphere.
2113
Synthetic Cartilage (2020)
The thin, slippery layer of cartilage between the bones in the knee is magical stuff: strong enough to withstand a person’s weight, but soft and supple enough to cushion the joint against impact, over decades of repeat use. That combination of soft-yet-strong has been hard to reproduce in the lab. But now, Duke…
2114
How to Recognize Woodpeckers by Their Drumming Sounds
Woodpecker drumming may not be as immediately distinctive as birdsong—but by carefully listening to speed, duration, and rhythm you can still tell many species apart. Here are some tips.
2115
Linguistics Using Category Theory (2018)
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…
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2117
The plot thickens for a hypothetical “X17” particle
This content is currently in the process of being archived and integrated into the CERN Library collections.
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2119
2120
Two centuries of rapid global population growth will come to an end
Global population grew rapidly over the past century, but this period of fast growth is coming to an end.
2121
Scientists unveil fire-safe fuel
UC Riverside chemical engineers have designed a fuel that ignites only with the application of electric current. Since it doesn’t react to flames and cannot start accidental fires during storage or transport, it is a “safe” liquid fuel.
2122
Engineers find a new way to convert carbon dioxide into useful products
MIT chemical engineers devised an efficient way to convert carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide, which can be used to generate useful compounds such as ethanol and other fuels.
2123
Young blood does not reverse aging in old mice, UC Berkeley study finds
A new study from UC Berkeley argues against the rejuvenating properties of young blood and points to old blood, or molecules within, as driving the aging process.
2124
Engineers Investigate a Simple, No-Bake Recipe to Make Bricks from Martian Soil
Explorers planning to settle on Mars might be able to turn the planet’s red soil into bricks without needing to use an oven or additional ingredients. Instead, they would just need to apply pressure to compact the soil—the equivalent of a blow from a hammer. These are the findings of a study published in Nature…
2125
Five Corrections to The New York Times
I am writing to request 5 corrections to the article on ancient DNA that appeared in this week’s The New York Times Magazine.
2126
Antibody Drug Conjugates: A frontier in cancer treatment
Learn how antibody-drug conjugates work as a “magic bullet” cancer treatment, combining targeted antibodies with chemotherapy to attack tumor cells more precisely.
2127
Plastic Pollution
How much plastic ends up in the ocean? Where does it come from?
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2129
Clinical trial finds blood-plasma infusions for Alzheimer’s safe, promising
In a small safety trial based on preclinical work by a Stanford researcher, participants receiving blood plasma infusions from young donors showed some evidence of improvement.
2130
Artificial “muscles” achieve powerful pulling force
MIT researchers have created a fiber-based, lightweight, fast-acting artificial muscle that could be useful for robotics and for prosthetics.