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Finding the biological roots for pathological social withdrawal, Hikikomori
Researchers identify a number of key biomarkers in Hikikomori patients and show their promise for predicting the severity of the condition
Topics /
Science & Space
The most popular blog posts about science & space on Hacker News. 399 posts.
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Reasons why Fortran is still used (2021)
Fortran is a language that is specialized for high-performance computing. Believe it or not, it's still alive and evolving.
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The Scientific Virtues: Stupidity, Arrogance, Laziness
Science education usually starts with teaching students different tools and techniques, methods for conducting research. This is wrong. Science education should begin with the scientific virt…
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How to grow crystals at home with fertilizer
Growing crystals is easy. It's both a fun family activity and a cool science experiment. You can even dye your crystals with food coloring.
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Digitizing Smell: Using Molecular Maps to Understand Odor
Posted by Richard C. Gerkin, Google Research, and Alexander B. Wiltschko, Google Did you ever try to measure a smell? …Until you can measure their ...
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Elizabeth Cotton’s Fingerstyle Ragtime
Dust-to-digital posted this lovely performance of “Washington Blues” by Elizabeth Cotten. It reminded me that she is the greatest and that I should write more about her. If you are a gu…
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Link found between immune system and hair growth
Founded by polio vaccine developer Jonas Salk, the Salk Institute is an independent, nonprofit organization. We drive foundational, risk-taking research that addresses society’s most pressing challenges, including cancer, Alzheimer’s, and agricultural resilience.
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A modern Fortran scientific programming ecosystem
Historically, large general-purpose libraries have formed the core of the Fortran scientific ecosystem (e.g., SLATEC , or the various PACKS ). Unfortunately, as I have mentioned here before, these libraries were written in FORTRAN 77 (or earlier) and remained unmodified for decades. The amazing algorithms continued…
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Why fusion will never happen (2012)
I like fusion, really. I’ve talked to some of luminaries that work in the field, they’re great people. I love the technology and the physics behind it. But fusion as a power source is n…
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Time to redefine normal body temperature? (2020)
Is 98.6˚ F still the norm for body temperature? Data collected over almost 160 years show that the normal body temperature has been declining and is now roughly one degree lower....
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Ice Spikes: Strange things you can find in your freezer
Temperature is certainly a factor when growing ice spikes, and we have done experiments that show that spikes are more likely to form when the temperature is just below freezing (see the graphs below). I'm not entirely sure why this is so, but I suspect that the ice tube freezes shut before the tube gets very long if…
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Potato diet community trial
In French, the word for potato is pomme de terre. This literally translates to apple of the earth. By this logic, potatoes are the lowest-hanging fruit of all. More seriously: We keep getting more …
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Why is there no semantic ontology of sentiment in academic citations?
About a million years ago, I was discussing the FOAF (Friend of a Friend) ontology with its early proponents. It allowed you to define a machine-readable semantic relationship like "Alice is married to Bill" and "Bill is Carol's child" and "Carol works for David". That sort of thing. At the time, all the FOAF…
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We could have universal Covid vaccines soon
Bureaucratic and logistical roadblocks, not the science, stand in our way
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Butterfly wing patterns emerge from ancient ‘junk’ DNA
Butterfly wing patterns have a basic plan to them, which is manipulated by non-coding regulatory DNA to create the diversity of wings seen in different species, according to new research.
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Can the knees go over the toes? (2016)
Just last week, I was guest lecturing to a class of physical therapy students at the University of Missouri. I asked a simple question, “How many people here think we should never have our knees go…
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New research shows hydrogen-reduced iron has superior properties
New research within the HYBRIT project shows superior results on the properties and quality of the hydrogen direct reduced sponge iron compared to the fossil-based process.
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Researcher finds a new method for recycling polystyrene
In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team led by Virginia Tech researchers presents a new method for recycling the material that also offers economic viability.
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Outdoor Sound Propagation in the U.S. Civil War (1999)
Students of military history know that acoustic refraction and unusual audibility have often played significant roles in the outcome of battles. Before electrical and wireless communications became common on the tactical level, the sound of battle was often the quickest and most efficient method by which a commander…
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Picture This: The Periodic Table
Philip Ball on the visual ordering of all the elements known to humankind—and how we might order them differently.
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Toward a Better Music Theory (2013)
Update: a version of this post appeared on Slate.com. I seem to have touched a nerve with my rant about the conventional teaching of music theory and how poorly it serves practicing musicians. I th…
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Special Relativity and Middle-Earth
This post is an unofficial sequel to one of my first blog posts from 2007, which was entitled “Quantum mechanics and Tomb Raider”. One of the oldest and most famous allegories is Plato&…
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Eight studies reveal a bias in human imagination
Eight studies reveal a (possibly universal) bias in human imagination
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The worst dam idea: evaporating the Mediterranean to power Europe
Lessons from Atlantropa, the megaproject to unite Europe (& erase Africa)