Engineers develop water filtration that removes “forever chemicals”
Engineers at the University of British Columbia have developed a new water treatment that removes “forever chemicals” from drinking water safely, efficiently – and for good.
Parrots learn to make video calls to chat with other parrots: study
Pet parrots in a new study led by Northeastern researchers loved using iPads to call fellow birds to chat while forging lasting friendships.
Light can make water evaporate without heat
At the interface of water and air, light can, in certain conditions, bring about evaporation without the need for heat, according to an MIT study.
Study finds billions of nanoplastics released when microwaving containers
The fastest way to heat food and drink might also rank as the fastest route to ingesting massive quantities of minuscule plastic particles, says new research led by Husker engineers.
37, the median value for the second prime factor of an integer
Chris Grossack's math blog and professional website.
Underwater ears everywhere
Programming note: the subscribe link was broken for a while because I am bad at computers (yet another case of "forgot to enable the systemd unit"). It's fixed now. The unsubscribe link was also broken and is now fixed but, you know, maybe that was a feature. Did wonders for reader retention.
Euclid's First Images
Euclid, our dark Universe detective, has a difficult task: to investigate how dark matter and dark energy have made our Universe look like it does today. 95% of our cosmos ...
LED lighting badly suppresses human melatonin production at night
Yes, it’s a spicy title. Yes, I plan to back it with what I consider very reasonable evidence of the claims, in the form of a lot of research papers. I would simply ask that you read to the end before deciding I’ve lost it.
Breakdown of faults by car brand: Tesla has replaced Dacia at the bottom
Minimised clearances, active hoods, new materials, new drive technologies – surely modern cars have reached their pinnacle?
Some insects I found inside dried Turkish figs from Trader Joe’s
During an online wasp identification course I participated in several weeks ago, there was a fun discussion about whether commercially-produced figs contained fig wasps (Agaonidae, in the Chalcidoidea). Opinions varied, plus some asserted, as do many internet pages, that even if wasps were once insi
Scientists regenerate hair cells that enable hearing
Researchers move closer to gene therapy solution for hearing loss
A new method to reprogram human cells to better mimic embryonic stem cells
In a groundbreaking study published today in Nature, Australian scientists have resolved a long-standing problem in regenerative medicine.
Engineered material can reconnect severed nerves
Rice neuroengineers designed the first self-rectifying magnetoelectric material and showed it can not only precisely stimulate neurons remotely but also reconnect a broken sciatic nerve in a rat model.
Cargo airships could be big
A capital-intensive, high-risk way to revolutionize global commerce
Eating microwave popcorn increases the level of PFAS in body (2022)
Dear Doctors: I’ve been hearing a lot about PFAS and how they have an adverse effect on our health. I read that some food wrappers, like bags for microwave popcorn, use PFAS to keep food from sticking. My kids eat microwaved popcorn almost every night. Should I be worried?
I changed my mind about nuclear waste
I’ve feared it. I’ve protested it. Now I’m hugging it
Intelligent Brains Take Longer to Solve Difficult Problems
Do intelligent people think faster? Researchers at the BIH and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, together with a colleague from Barcelona, made the surprising finding that participants with higher intelligence scores were only quicker when tackling simple tasks, while they took longer to solve difficult problems…
Why do prime numbers make these spirals? (2019)
A curious pattern in polar plots with prime numbers, together with discussion of Dirichlet's theorem
Royal Astronomical Society: all journals to publish as open access from 2024
The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) has today announced that all journals published by the Society will be Open Access (OA) from January 2024. This move will enable...
New world record with an electric racing car: From 0 to 100 in 0.956 seconds
Students from ETH Zurich and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts have broken the previous world record for acceleration with their hand-built electric racing car, mythen. The vehicle accelerated from zero to 100 km/h in 0.956 seconds over a distance of 12.3 metres.
Managing Kitchen Fruit Flies with a Little Shop of Horrors
I live in Seattle on a fairly wooded property. Every summer since we’ve moved here, we end up with swarms of fruit flies in the kitchen. They congregate around the compost bin and the fruit bowl (where there are always lots of bananas). We aren’t slobbish - I do the dishes and wipe down the counters every night, take…
One sleepless night can rapidly reverse depression for several days in mice
In a new study, researchers induced mild, acute sleep deprivation in mice and then examined their behaviors and brain activity. Not only did dopamine release increase during the acute sleep loss period, synaptic plasticity also was enhanced — literally rewiring the brain to maintain the bubbly mood for the next few…