Science News
Everyone Is Talking About AI--But Do They Mean the Same Thing?
Singularity Hub - 15 Mar 2018 17:00
In 2017, artificial intelligence attracted $12 billion of VC investment. We are only beginning to discover the usefulness of AI applications. Amazon recently unveiled a brick-and-mortar grocery store that has successfull...
Illuminating Mechanism at Play in Learning
Neuroscience News - 15 Mar 2018 23:01
Researchers report molecular networks on both sides of a synapse are important for controlling learning.
Who is Best at Understanding Human Interactions? Those Who Are Lonely and Sad
Neuroscience News - 15 Mar 2018 21:13
Those who feed sad or lonely appear to be better at understanding social nature, researchers report.
Compact fiber optic sensor offers sensitive analysis in narrow spaces
Phys.org - 15 Mar 2018 20:39
Researchers have developed a new flexible sensor with high sensitivity that is designed to perform variety of chemical and biological analyses in very small spaces. The sensor's small size means that it could potentially...
The Novichok spy attack was brazen - it needs a tough response
New Scientist - 15 Mar 2018 20:25
Hard-line regimes once tried to hide their attempts to poison defectors. Now they make them blatant. Tougher responses are required, says David Hambling
Breakthrough Discovery in Neurotransmission
Neuroscience News - 15 Mar 2018 20:11
Researchers discover the FABP5 protein is key to how endocannibinoids travel from neurons to receptors.
Scientists investigating mysterious dark matter
Phys.org - 15 Mar 2018 19:46
University of Houston scientists are helping to develop a technology that could hold the key to unraveling one of the great mysteries of science: what constitutes dark matter? Scientists believe dark matter makes up 85 p...
Powerful new device for studying puzzling process
Phys.org - 15 Mar 2018 19:45
A millisecond burst of light on a computer monitor signaled production of the first plasma in a powerful new device for advancing research into magnetic reconnection--a critical but little understood process that occurs ...
The complex journey of red bloods cells through microvascular networks
Phys.org - 15 Mar 2018 19:39
If you think of the human body, microvascular networks comprised of the smallest blood vessels are a central part of the body's function. They facilitate the exchange of essential nutrients and gasses between the blood s...
Exercising during pregnancy can make your labour shorter
New Scientist - 15 Mar 2018 19:22
Exercise is linked to a 10 per cent decrease in labour time, suggesting that regular aerobic activity plus strengthening exercises, make it easier to push
Is Your Smile Male or Female?
Neuroscience News - 15 Mar 2018 19:21
A new AI system is able to automatically assign a gender to a person based on an image of a smile. Researchers report female smiles are more expansive than male smiles.
Measuring electrical conductance across a single molecule
Phys.org - 15 Mar 2018 19:18
When noble metals, like gold, are treated with an aliphatic thiol, like alkanethiol, a uniform monolayer--a layer only one molecule deep--self-assembles on the surface. Each individual molecule can conduct electrons. Thi...
Neanderthals Weren't Humans' Only Mating Partners. Meet the Denisovans.
Live Science - 15 Mar 2018 18:50Our ancestors mated with the mystery 'Denisovan' people - twice
New Scientist - 15 Mar 2018 18:00
The genes of extinct hominins called Denisovans live on in people from China and Papua New Guinea, suggesting two instances of cross-species breeding
'Frequency combs' ID chemicals within the mid-infrared spectral region
Phys.org - 15 Mar 2018 17:59
Chemical compounds all carry distinctive absorption "fingerprints" within the mid-infrared spectral region of 2 to 12 microns. This offers an opportunity to measure and study chemicals at extremely sensitive levels but r...
Thermally driven spin current in DNA
Phys.org - 15 Mar 2018 17:56
An emerging field that has generated a wide range of interest, spin caloritronics, is an offshoot of spintronics that explores how heat currents transport electron spin. Spin caloritronics researchers are particularly in...
Mass die-offs are driving efforts to create hardier corals
The Economist - 15 Mar 2018 17:50
BY SOME estimates, half of the world's coral has been lost since the 1980s. Corals are delicate animals, and are succumbing to pollution and sediment from coastal construction. Also to blame are sewage, farmland run-off ...
An out-of-control Chinese space station will soon fall to Earth
The Economist - 15 Mar 2018 17:50
ITS name means "heavenly palace". But Tiangong-1, an eight-tonne Chinese space station launched in 2011, will not remain in the heavens much longer. After visits from crews in 2012 and 2013, Tiangong-1's mission official...
A new type of smooth car suspension
The Economist - 15 Mar 2018 17:50
WHEN unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in 1955, the Citroën DS caused a sensation. It was not just the car's elegant lines that encouraged 12,000 customers to place immediate orders, but also its mechanical innovations. ...
Judges and examiners get laxer with practice
The Economist - 15 Mar 2018 17:50
STUDENTS are widely judged on their abilities before being allowed to enter top universities. Athletes are assessed on their physical prowess before being awarded medals. And academic papers, like those reported in this ...
Are research papers less accurate and truthful than in the past?
The Economist - 15 Mar 2018 17:50
AN ESSENTIAL of science is that experiments should yield similar results if repeated. In recent years, however, some people have raised concerns that too many irreproducible results are being published (see chart 1). Thi...
Shedding Light on the Underlying Cause of Stroke
Neuroscience News - 15 Mar 2018 17:42
A new study reveals the drug QNZ-46 may help to protect patients at risk of stroke.