Category: Science

December 02, 2016Engineers at Washington State University (WSU) have found a novel way of recycling old plastics into useable jet fuel hydrocarbons. The researchers have employed a microwave-assisted catalytic process that breaks down the carbon backbone of polymers into alkanes in the jet fuel range.

What is renewable energy? This brief guide will help you to understand this often cited and yet usually misunderstood topic. Image Source : sonnydelrosario/Pixabay Let& 39;s kick things off with a definition.Renewable energy noun :Any naturally occurring, theoretically inexhaustible source of energy, as biomass, solar, wind, tidal, wave, and hydroelectric power, that is not derived from fossil or nuclear fuel.

December 02, 2016Mithridates the Great, is literally one of the weirdest kings ever. His phobia caused him to be the one who used honey as the first chemical weapon in the history. He is the only king who poisoned himself regularly for years and created an antidote.Mithridates VI, also known as Eupator Dionysius, was the king of Pontus in the northern Anatolia, (Now in Turkey) between around 120–63 BC.

December 01, 2016Buried under both rock and history lies the Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni in Malta. The ancient temple is the only prehistoric underground temple in the world.It dates back to nearly 3,500 years ago and holds a unique secret. Its structure resonates at 111 Hz, or the & 39;holy frequency.& 39;An ancient civilization has built underground temples around 3500 years ago that are resonating in the same frequency, 111 Hz.

December 03, 2016Get ready to hear a 5300-year-old mummy talk. Scientists have reconstructed the voice of & 34;Ötzi& 34; the icemanÖtzi aka the Iceman is a phenomenon and the oldest known natural human mummy. And it has started to speak. Scientists have recreated the voice of Iceman, who aimed to discover the timbre and color of his vowels.

The Tie Fighter (and variants throughout the Star Wars Galaxy and Expanded Universe) is one of the most recognizable star fighters (and sound effects) in sci-fi for both young and old alike. Simultaneously sleek, imposing and fragile they exude military power. Originally designed by ILM’s Colin Cantwell the design has become iconic…But have you ever wondered what the technology involved in their design and operation would need to be and could they conceivably be built using existing tech?

December 02, 2016After a year-long wait, since they were officially recognized, four new elements have officially been added to the periodic table. The new additions complete the seventh row of the periodic table and are the first new elements to be added since 2011. Image Source : Reuters/Kyodo The four new elements to be added by The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) are:Element 113: Nihonium (Nh)- formerly known as ununtrium.

By Shelby RogersDecember 05, 2016Researchers have finally calculated the combined mass of the & 39;technosphere& 39; - everything created by humans. It& 39;s your stuff, your neighbor& 39;s things, all the gadgets in your garage, and all the interstates you use for travel. Technology, clothing, books, infrastructure, planes and more go into the calculations.

In 1905, Albert Einstein, developed his Theory of Relativity. This groundbreaking piece of work changed how we think and perceive the world around us, overturning centuries of accepted scientific thinking.My favorite analogy for the theory comes from the man himself:& 34;When you sit with a nice girl for two hours you think it’s only a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove for a minute you think it’s two hours.

December 11, 2016You can stop building your mind palace. Scientists proved that your brain works like Sherlock Holmes& 39;s. Image Source: Public Domain/Wikipedia A new study held by a team from Stanford and Princeton Universities used a 48-minute section of BBC’s Sherlock to show your brain works in the same way as the titular detective.

December 05, 2016Glass has been one of the most amazing materials used by humans since ancient times. It played an important role in daily life, from architecture, telecommunications, art, industrial design and building construction. It& 39;s one of the most dependable materials in the world. We use it in medical tools, medicines, chemicals, food, water and more.

December 09, 2016Kratom, the herb that once held promise to supporters of natural healing, could now be classified alongside ecstasy, heroin and LSD.The Drug Enforcement Administration looks to completely ban the plant from the US. They would label it as a Schedule 1 controlled substance. The plant has been widely used to cure drug addictions.

December 10, 2016For the third time ever in history, scientists unearthed an insanely rare quasicrystal. They found it in a Russian meteorite.Luca Bindi, an Italian geologist from the University of Florence, led the team that found the material within the Khatyrka Meteorite. According to scientists, an icosahedral quasicrystal has rarely been seen before in nature.

December 16, 2016Aliens may be sending strange messages from the stars, scientists says. They believe that the unusual messages they took from deep space might have come from aliens.Scientists from Cornell University have recently released a report claiming that they acquired encouraging signals from stars.

By Shelby RogersDecember 17, 2016Impending asteroid impact sounds like a scenario in a new J.J. Abrams film. However, NASA consistently tracks bodies close to earth as Near-Earth Objects (NEOs). They currently have 17 on their list, and nearly all of them are asteroids. Image Source: Los Alamos National Laboratory With 70 percent of Earth& 39;s surface covered in water, there& 39;s a high possibility that the asteroid would hit the ocean before hitting land.

By Shelby RogersDecember 14, 2016A team of Australian researchers want to keep both humans and sharks safe with new technology.The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the NSW Government will work together and analyze a new system. The & 39;Clever Buoy& 39; system uses sonar to track sharks. The sonar detects shark-sized objects moving with & 39;sharklike& 39; behavior.

December 19, 2016On the Subantarctic Islands of New Zealand you can find megaherbs that are huge, hairy and warmer than air. These plants were first described by Joseph Hooker and Captain Ross while the two were on their Antarctic voyage. Since then they have puzzled scientists. The mystery of how these amazing plants produce heat seems to have been solved, however.

By Shelby RogersDecember 19, 2016In revolutionary new research a team has managed to reprogram cells to reverse the aging process in mice. The process allowed prematurely aging mice to live 30 per cent longer than mice in a control treatment.To achieve this effect, a team from Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California used what are called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).

By Shelby RogersDecember 10, 2016Earlier this year, a group of scientists (including astrophysicist Stephen Hawking) announced a breakthrough plan to get a nano spacecraft to Alpha Centauri.The biggest problem facing the team? Making sure the tiny craft survived radiation. Researchers want to give the chip driving the craft on-chip healing abilities.

December 31, 2016One program wants to make your emotions sing. Vessels produces innovative music created by physiological signals recorded through a dry-electrode EEG system.Young music cognition researcher and electronic musician Grace Leslie developed the Vessels system. To better understand the link between emotion and music, she focused on employing musical brain-computer interfaces to improve wellness.