China ready to launch a big chunk of space station.
Scientific American prepares for the launch of a new place in space – the core module of the CSS (China Space Station), which, after 29 […]
Month: April 2021
Blood-sugar test gives us the first way to quantify exactly how hungry you are.
Nature reports on experiments mapping out exactly how hungry people will feel over the next 24 hours – giving a hard number to what’s usually […]
Science Art: Transverse section through the region of Clarke’s column of the thoracic cord of a new-born dog, 1906
This is an image of nerves, the nerves of a dog, a new-born dog. “Clarke’s column” is also called the posterior thoracic nucleus, a part […]
Old coffee is coming back to save the business (and the species tastes great, too)
The Scientist toasts the rediscovery of Coffea stenophylla, a relative of the C. arabica coffee plant our society runs on – that’s proved itself able […]
Science Art: Scheme of quadrocopter impellent (X and H configuration), by Ulrich Heither
This looks like a heraldic emblem to me, but it’s not. It’s also not merely an abstract diagram of circular forces, though that’s a little […]
Humans have touched 97% of the Earth’s land.
Science News has disheartening news for would-be explorers or lovers of virgin wilderness. The latest survey has found that no more than 3 percent of […]
Red cabbage could soon turn your food blue (and green and purple) – naturally.
Science magazine celebrates a new natural way to replace the artificial dyes that make candy, soda and ice cream blue – by stabilizing the pigments […]
Science Art: Geologic Map of Jezero Crater and the Nili Planum Region, Mars (Scientific Investigations Map 3464), by Vivian Sun and Kathryn Stack.
Click to embiggen This is a colorful map (literally called a mosaic!) of the area where Perseverance landed, only from a little higher up. You […]
Brood X – the cicada boom we expect this summer – will boost birds. Temporarily….
Scientific American predicts a lively summer 2021, with the noisy emergence of Brood X – three species of 17-year cicadas – filling the air with […]
We can grow brain tissue in a $5 microchip. (And it’s reusable.)
New Scientist reveals the cost of building a brain from scratch has just gone way, WAY down: The device, dubbed a “microfluidic bioreactor”, is a […]
After 20 years, they found the weird toxin that’s been killing eagles.
Science News celebrates a discovery that may save the lives of hundreds of eagles, ducks, and other birds living on or near lakes in the […]
Science Art: Diagram to Show the Destination of the Arterial Arches in Man and Mammals. (Modified from Rathke. )
Click to embiggen This is an anatomical drawing of the blood vessels around the heart, but it’s odd to me how much it looks like […]
Sugar – as in sweet sodas – disrupts kids’ brain development.
Translational Psychiatry has some research that should be making a bigger splash. It indicates that feeding kids more sugar affects the development of their brains […]
“Xenobots” are tiny robots made from living cells – self-healing swarms that can form bodies… and memories.
Eurekalert introduces the next generation of living robots. Tufts University biologists and computer scientists have created a second generation of tiny, biological machines they’re calling […]