NASA's Kepler Discovers Multiple Planets Orbiting a Pair of Stars
Coming less than a year after the announcement of the first circumbinary planet, Kepler-16b, NASA's Kepler mission has discovered multiple transiting planets orbiting two suns for the first time. This system, known as a circumbinary planetary system, is 4,900 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. This discovery proves that more than one planet can form and persist in the stressful re..
Chimpanzees Create 'Social Traditions': Unique Handclasp Grooming Behavior Reveals Local Difference
Researchers have revealed that chimpanzees are not only capable of learning from one another, but also use this social information to form and maintain local traditions. Researchers have revealed that chimpanzees are not only capable of learning from one another, but also use this social information to form and maintain local traditions. A research collaboration between the Gonzaga University and ..
Whispering Gallery Inspires Virus Detector
By affixing nanoscale gold spheres onto a microscopic bead of glass, researchers have created a super-sensor that can detect even single samples of the smallest known viruses. The sensor uses a peculiar behavior of light known as "whispering gallery mode," named after the famous circular gallery in St. Paul's Cathedral in London, where a whisper near the wall can be heard around the gall..
Scientists Develop Rapid-Scanning Microscope With No Loss Of Quality
Researchers at the University of Leicester have developed a new form of digital microscope which can create an image 100 times faster than regular equipment - without losing image quality. The team of scientists have developed a new type of confocal microscope that produces high-resolution images at very fast speeds. The findings are published on the online journal PLOS ONE. The device, which take..
Nobel laureate predicts ‘dark’ future for universe
Renowned astronomer and Nobel laureate Brian P. Schmidt predicted a “dark” future for the universe which he says will eventually fade away throwing astronomers out of work. “Human beings will look to an empty universe in 100 billion years, as all the galaxies will fade away except the Milky Way we live in,” Prof. Schmidt, who is attending the 28th General Assembly of the In..
Sleep Learning Is Possible: Associations Formed When Asleep Remained Intact When Awake
Is sleep learning possible? A new Weizmann Institute study appearing August 26 in Nature Neuroscience has found that if certain odors are presented after tones during sleep, people will start sniffing when they hear the tones alone -- even when no odor is present -- both during sleep and, later, when awake. In other words, people can learn new information while they sleep, and this can unconscious..
Forensic test can predict hair and eye colour from DNA
Scientists have developed a forensic test that can predict both the hair and eye colour of a possible suspect using DNA left at a crime scene. The team that developed the test says it could provide valuable leads in cases where perpetrators cannot be identified through DNA profiling. The Hirisplex system could allow investigators to narrow down a large group of possible suspects. Details appear in..
Sunbathing Helps These Bugs Stay Healthy
Sunbathing may be healthy -- at least for one group of North American insects that apparently uses the activity to fight off germs, Simon Fraser University scientists have found. Western Boxelder bugs (WBB), found largely in B.C. interior regions, are known to group together in sunlit patches and while there, release monoterpenes, strong-smelling chemical compounds that help protect the bugs by ki..
Indo-European Languages Originated in Anatolia, Research Suggests
The Indo-European languages belong to one of the widest spread language families of the world. For the last two millenia, many of these languages have been written, and their history is relatively clear. But controversy remains about the time and place of the origins of the family. A large international team, including MPI researcher Michael Dunn, reports the results of an innovative Bayesian phyl..
Tags to shed light on northern hairy ants' movements
Researchers are planning to fit tiny tags to a protected species of ant in order to gain an insight into the insects' behaviour. A team from the University of York will fit the devices to 1,000 northern hairy ants - the UK's largest ant species. Although ants have been tagged in laboratories before, the project will be the first to attempt to track the movement of the creatures in the wild. The pr..
