Science News
Planets more hospitable to life than Earth may already have been discovered
Live Science - 9 Oct 2020 14:12
At least two dozen planets outside the solar system might be better for life than Earth.
Why Are Some Bilingual People Dyslexic in English but Not Their Other Language?
Neuroscience News - 9 Oct 2020 20:08
The characteristics of language structure and writing system may explain why some bilingual people are dyslexic in English, but not in their other proficient language.
Turning a hot spot into a cold spot: Fano-shaped local-field responses probed by a quantum dot
Phys.org - 9 Oct 2020 18:05
Optical nanoantennas can convert propagating light to local fields. The local-field responses can be engineered to exhibit nontrivial features in spatial, spectral and temporal domains. Local-field interferences play a k...
Perceptions of Body Image Linked to Sexual Dysfunction
Neuroscience News - 9 Oct 2020 22:10
Having a negative perception of your body image correlates to an increased risk of sexual dysfunction. However, researchers report a positive body image is associated with greater pleasure when it comes to intimacy.
Polarimetric parity-time-symmetric photonic system
Phys.org - 9 Oct 2020 17:53
Parity-time-symmetric photonic and optoelectronic systems are being intensively explored recently, which has been bringing about significant fundamental physics and technological outcomes. One of the main characteristics...
Stone Age people in Ireland had dark skin and were lactose-intolerant
New Scientist - 9 Oct 2020 17:33
Bone fragments from a mountain chamber in Ireland belonged to Stone Age people, and genetic analysis has revealed they had moderately dark skin and couldn't digest raw milk
A Ridiculously Huge New Solar Farm Just Came Online in China
Singularity Hub - 9 Oct 2020 16:00
The Chinese economy has suffered as a result of the pandemic, but one sector that's forging full-steam ahead is energy. Last week saw the opening of a massive new solar farm--the second-largest in the world--in the north...
The first demonstration of braiding in photonic topological zero modes
Phys.org - 9 Oct 2020 15:40
Physics theory suggests that exotic excitations can exist in the form of bound states confined in the proximity of topological defects, for instance, in the case of Majorana zero modes that are trapped in vortices within...
Support film makes cryo-electron microscopy sharper
Phys.org - 9 Oct 2020 15:20
A trio of researchers at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology has developed a support film for creating sharper images in cryo-electron microscopy. In their paper published in the journal Science, Katerina Naydenova, Peip...
AI can alter the speed of just one object or person in a video
New Scientist - 9 Oct 2020 14:00
An AI can separate specific people or objects in a video and then slow down or speed up their motion, including background changes like splashing water or shadows
Naked mole rats invade neighbouring colonies and kidnap their babies
New Scientist - 9 Oct 2020 12:00
The world's most social mammals can be positively antisocial, as naked mole rats have been observed invading each other's colonies and kidnapping newborn pups
The Right Stuff review: Best part is the nudge to rewatch the original
New Scientist - 9 Oct 2020 10:00
Disney and National Geographic's The Right Stuff is a TV remake that's based on the film and the book by Tom Wolfe, but falls short compared with the originals
Major Hurricane Delta set to batter Louisiana, where many are still homeless after Laura
Live Science - 9 Oct 2020 02:00
Delta will landfall just miles from the still-devastated Lousiana area where Laura hit in August, continuing a devastating hurricane season.
New NIST project to build nano-thermometers could revolutionize temperature imaging
Phys.org - 9 Oct 2020 22:53
Cheaper refrigerators? Stronger hip implants? A better understanding of human disease? All of these could be possible and more, someday, thanks to an ambitious new project underway at the National Institute of Standards ...
Masks and closures in Arizona led to a 75% decrease in coronavirus cases
Live Science - 9 Oct 2020 22:24
Another study shows that masks and other mitigation efforts not only work, but work well.
Physicists have discovered the ultimate speed limit of sound
New Scientist - 9 Oct 2020 21:00
Sound travels through solids and liquids via atoms interacting, and now its top speed has been calculated for the first time: it is about 36 kilometres per second
Scientists find upper limit for the speed of sound
Phys.org - 9 Oct 2020 20:00
A research collaboration between Queen Mary University of London, the University of Cambridge and the Institute for High Pressure Physics in Troitsk has discovered the fastest possible speed of sound.
Covid-19 news: One in 170 people in England have coronavirus
New Scientist - 9 Oct 2020 19:45
The latest coronavirus news updated every day including coronavirus cases, the latest news, features and interviews from New Scientist and essential information about the covid-19 pandemic
Why are Armenia and Azerbaijan fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region?
Live Science - 9 Oct 2020 19:36
Azerbaijan is emboldened because it now feels like Turkey has its back.
Evidence of top quarks in collisions between heavy nuclei
Phys.org - 9 Oct 2020 18:10
The result of recent research by the CMS collaboration opens the path to study in a new and unique way an extreme state of matter that is thought to have existed shortly after the Big Bang. The collaboration has seen evi...
15 million tons of microplastics pollute the seafloor
Live Science - 9 Oct 2020 13:50
A new report finds that microplastic debris is twice as abundant in the deep ocean as it is on the sea surface.
Dick Johnson Is Dead review: A moving tragicomic film about dementia
New Scientist - 9 Oct 2020 13:02
Dick Johnson Is Dead blurs the boundary between fiction and real-life. It has moments of joy, humour and sadness, and confronts the realities of dementia