tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40915233040422091022024-02-02T21:35:18.424+02:00The SilverbackIntriguing sciencellllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-1576613293811377252015-09-24T17:23:00.003+03:002015-09-24T17:23:59.067+03:00Why the Mexican cavefish gave up their eyes
illustration: silverbackblog.com
If you're a fish living in a cave, having eyes isn't going to be particularly useful to you. Eyes and the parts of the brain handling vision need a lot of energy to work in the form of food. In theory, evolution would have cave-dwelling fish do away with vision altogether. That could be what has happened to a species of fish known as the Mexican tetra.
Thatllllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-87973516008206616042015-08-15T20:08:00.005+03:002015-08-15T20:10:39.852+03:00Birds use cigarette butts to ward off parasites, but at a cost
source: Wikimedia Commons user Basar.
In 2012 Constantino Macías Garcia, a scientist working at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, published a study on the behavior of urban birds and their nest making, according to New Scientist. Birds living in urban centers will often incorporate cigarette butts in their nests. The team used thermal traps in the nests of 27 house finches and 28 llllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-47600499356732631132015-08-15T02:53:00.002+03:002015-08-15T02:53:34.041+03:00Don't trust Wikipedia when it comes to controversial science topics
That Wikipedia isn't a reliable source isn't exactly news to many of you, but despite its faults it is the most widely used online encyclopedia and the sixth most popular website globally. Yet stories of edit wars, vandalism and admins going rogue to keep their pet topics hostage so others couldn't edit them, are rampant and they should undermine Wiki's credibility. Yet people still trust it tollllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-19419674271053964302015-05-02T02:32:00.000+03:002015-05-02T02:33:28.363+03:00Don't Use Bar Graphs to Represent Data
Many different datasets can lead to the same bar graph.
A recent criticism, published in PLoS Biology, has called into question the use of bar and line graphs to represent continuous data. The authors list 3 flaws inherent to bar and line graphs.
Bar graphs hide the underlying nuances of continuous data, summarizing the differences. Things like distribution patters and sample sizes are llllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-70976568794897401902015-02-25T01:38:00.002+02:002015-02-25T02:05:12.073+02:00Appendectomies Are Linked With Colon Cancer
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Researchers in Taiwan have examined the medical records of a large group of Taiwanese patients and discovered that cancer incidence rate was 14% higher in patients who had previously undergone appendectomies. Hundreds of thousands of patients between 1997 and 1999 were studied.
Recently more weight is given to the idea that the vermiform appendix is not just a llllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-75833534999054841962015-02-22T15:18:00.002+02:002015-02-22T15:18:24.163+02:00A New HIV Vaccine that Transforms Cell DNA
HIV-infected T cell.
Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in California have managed to alter the DNA of Rhesus macaques to give their cells the ability to resist HIV.
Conventional vaccines that produce antibodies work slowly and are ineffective since the virus mutates very rapidly. HIV infects our T cells crucial for our immune system, killing them and causing a condition known as llllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-78260553291815573282014-10-26T01:14:00.001+03:002014-10-26T01:14:15.475+03:00Ancient Giant Kangaroos Look Like Studio Ghibli Charactersllllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-73719123259918416972014-10-01T22:38:00.001+03:002014-10-01T22:38:30.085+03:00Huge cloud on Titan is cold and Toxic
Photo of Titan taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
Closer image of the cloud.
The surface of Titan, taken by
the Huygens probe.
Titan is one of the more fascinating moons in our solar system, mainly because of the very thick nitrogen-methane atmosphere around it and the liquid lakes covering the surface.
The Cassini spacecraft took this photo of the Saturn's moon in 2012, which showed allllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-46302220470937970252014-09-30T04:54:00.000+03:002014-09-30T04:54:15.077+03:00Well-preserved fossil identified as new species of ancient Lungfish
3D representation of micro-CT scan data.
Now christened as Persephonichthys chthonica – from Persephone, a Greek goddess, daughter of Zeus and queen of the underworld; and chthonica, meaning "from the underworld," – the name is an allusion to the burrowing nature of the species. Although these fossilized skulls, unearthed from Nebraska, were before characterized as a llllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-53063381503522386932014-09-28T02:52:00.001+03:002014-09-28T03:16:12.389+03:00Overstating scientific progress makes people lazy about environmentalism
A paper by Dutch psychologists describes 4 studies that show that depictions in media of scientific progress made in battling climate change has an unexpected effect in people of decreasing interest in behaving in environmentally friendly ways.
The argument is that overly-positive depictions of science might in the reader enhance perceptions of order, which reduces motivations to act in llllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-57245642098740951222014-09-24T02:26:00.002+03:002014-09-24T02:26:54.958+03:00Direct brain-to-brain communication
Sender on the left. Receiver on the right.
International scientists have managed to transmit words from one brain in India to another in France. The way this works is that an EEG is is placed on the head of one person. The person thinks of a specific word, then the input is fed to a computer, the computer takes the signal and turns it into binary data. That gets e-mailed to another computerllllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-73092985799605605902014-09-23T15:36:00.000+03:002014-09-23T17:07:47.922+03:00Monkeys get upset with unequal pay
Capuchin monkeys were used in this study.
Here is an interesting video that demonstrates so well that animals have a sense of fairness. Two scientists have published a paper describing their research with Capuchin monkeys and how they get upset after witnessing another monkey receiving a tastier treat for the same work that they do.
Watch the video, it's highly amusing.
source: llllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-42354683818837705712014-09-21T16:14:00.001+03:002014-09-23T21:22:12.606+03:00Does your dog understand you're looking for your keys?
Scientists at the University of Portsmouth, UK, wanted to find out exactly that. More precisely to find out if domestic dogs understand human actions as goal-oriented.
This is an interesting question for scientists trying to assess the intelligence of animal species. Human infants start developing awareness of other people's goal-orientedness after about 5 months of age. Previously llllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-75375446905610230022014-09-20T00:22:00.002+03:002014-09-21T02:07:35.040+03:00Monument to Lab Mice
There's a statue in Novosibirsk, Russia that is dedicated to honoring laboratory mice. Around the statue are smaller displays of hamsters, guinea pigs, dogs and other animals that have aided scientific research. Personally I think it's awesome.
source: http://www.neatorama.com/2013/10/07/Monument-to-Lab-Mice-Mouse-Knitting-a-DNA-Strand/llllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-17161726610951500322014-09-19T23:41:00.003+03:002014-09-21T01:22:07.996+03:00Artificial 'biospleen' cleans up blood from viruses/bacteria
Nanobeads attach to E. coli (left) and S. aureus (right).
There might be a new futuristic way of fighting viruses and bacteria. Instead of taking antibiotics, which can have side effects and might not be that effective, in the future we might hook ourselves to a device that uses magnetic nanobeads coated with specific proteins, which attach to the surfaces of pathogens. llllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-54203150644718963672014-06-11T14:28:00.001+03:002014-09-21T01:04:21.975+03:00Send Your Name to an Asteroid for Free!
So have you ever wanted to visit an asteroid? Well, sorry, you can't. But if you want to have your name written on a space probe headed to an asteroid, then head on over to The Planetary Society and fill in a form. It's free! Names can be submitted until September 30, 2014.
NASA is launching a space probe in 2016, called OSIRIS-REx, to fly to the asteroid 101955 Bennu and return a sample inllllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-349154555217924842013-01-09T14:38:00.002+02:002013-01-09T14:40:09.036+02:002012 Was Hottest Recorded Year in the U.S.
It seems that 2012 was the hottest year ever recorded in the U.S. Not only did it beat the previous record of , it beat it by a whole degree in temperature at 55.3 degrees Fahrenheit, 12.94 Celsius. 2012 was also a lot drier than average.
The year was 15th driest year on record, it said. At the peak of the heat in July 2012, 61 percent of the country was in drought, NOAA said, llllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-61046080680705406702013-01-08T16:04:00.001+02:002013-01-08T16:05:54.404+02:00Crowdfunding Can Bring to Light why Greenland is Melting Unusually FastLast summer all of the snow covering Greenland melted in just a few days, causing massive floods. Satellite images showed Greenland going from a mostly snow covered island into a dark rocky one. As Greenland loses more snow, it also receives more heat from the sun. Snow acts as a mirror, reflecting the sun's infrared rays back into space. As Greenland loses snow, it receives more heat, more snow llllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-75539685540908951302012-08-13T11:20:00.004+03:002012-08-13T11:20:51.243+03:00More MSL awesomeness
NASA has put together an awesome 360-degree panorama that you can check out here. If you want to see Mars like you're actually there or want to examine Curiosity itself then here's your chance.llllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-26753950464715439572012-08-12T02:02:00.002+03:002014-09-30T09:50:08.513+03:00The Mystery of Dyatlov Pass
What happened to 9 hikers on the night of February 2, 1959 in the chilly Ural mountains in Russia? Does this mystery have a rational explanation or will we forever have to be satisfied with only the official but eerie answer that "a compelling unknown force" was the cause of their deaths?
The Dyatlov Pass incident refers to the sudden disappearance and odd deaths of 9 hikers in the northern llllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-72667476544532711422012-08-11T09:48:00.003+03:002014-09-21T01:13:30.661+03:00Uwingu Will Let You Directly Fund Science
Have you ever wanted to do more for space exploration? Do you think it's a shame that NASA's budget is getting constantly slashed? Even now after the great success of the Mars Science Laboratory landing, remember that there are still no plans to return to the Moon. So what can you do?
Uwingu ("sky" in Swahili) is a new project, founded by leading scientists who feel that space exploration isllllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-39871396123261389322012-08-09T02:21:00.000+03:002012-08-09T02:21:19.786+03:00A 281-Gigapixel Image of a Zebrafish Embryo
A new technique dubbed virtual nanoscopy can integrate existing electron microscopic imaging technology to visualize an animal completely but also at such a high resolution that you can zoom in and see it on a cellular level.
Here is a zebrafish that you can zoom into and explore like Google Maps.
http://v.jcb-dataviewer.glencoesoftware.com/webclient/img_detail/201/
http://gizmodo.com/llllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-84470159618643913502012-08-01T02:24:00.003+03:002012-08-01T02:27:39.330+03:00Vasa
I had the great opportunity to go to Stockholm recently and during this trip I made sure to visit the Vasa museum that houses Vasa, the Swedish war ship completed in 1627. Badly designed and overloaded, it sank just 2 km from port during its maiden voyage. Despite being so close to shore, 30 to 50 people perished in the cold waters nonetheless. The cold polluted waters, however, helped keep the llllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-76265057787708007752012-03-19T19:37:00.000+02:002014-09-21T01:20:48.994+03:00Awesome space picture time!
This is a picture of Jupiter and its moon Io. If you look closely you can see a red dot on the moon's surface. The dot is actually a volcano and the blue cloud above it is the smoke. High res.
llllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091523304042209102.post-75194737969158386202012-01-25T09:53:00.002+02:002014-10-03T11:39:05.603+03:00Rare early NASA photosThese are scanned photos from the NASA Projects Mercury and Gemini made available thanks to the efforts of NASA, L. B. J. Space Center and Arizona State University. There are thousands more, all available in high quality here http://tothemoon.ser.asu.edu/
The goal of Project Mercury was to send a man into orbit and return him safely back down on the ground. While Yuri Gagarin was llllollllllhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03431848788579043997noreply@blogger.com20