Outside, that paragon of high-performance science, has some interesting findings from the University of Toronto, where researchers found that caffeine regularly boosts athletic performance… Read the rest “Caffeine actually slows some of us down – genetically.”
Funny I should have found this image today, right after discussing Helen Macdonald’s H is for Hawk (a book bloody and wonderful, including cameos by Merlin Sylvestris,… Read the rest “Science Art: Accipitres, Osprey, Goshawk, &c., 1889”
Science magazine opens a window on the past with DNA samples from Africa’s oldest cemetery:
… Read the rest “15,000-year-old DNA reveals prehistoric African culture”The origins of the ancient Moroccans, known as the Iberomaurusians because 20th century
Science News has a metaphor for our times playing out in deep space, where we’ve been watching black holes defy expectations by getting much bigger, much faster than we figured:
… Read the rest “Outperforming black holes get too big, too fast.”Sightings
The Institute for New Economic Thinking has a rather grim look at America’s economic future (and present), courtesy of an M.I.T. economist, Professor Emeritus Peter Temin. He’s… Read the rest “80 percent of America is a Third-World Nation: M.I.T. Economist.”
Science Daily reports on a Yale study that has found that intestinal bacteria can trigger autoimmune responses (like those in lupus) – and targeting those germs with antibiotics… Read the rest “Gut bacteria drive autoimmune diseases.”
Early electronics: a cell for isolating minute quantities of heavy metals, apparently by zapping a drop of a solution under a powerful microscope and seeing what’s… Read the rest “Science Art: With this electrolytic cell as little as a milligram of various heavy metals may be precisely determined, 1922”
Science News looks over data from the Juno space probe and marvels at some of the strange things that are being revealed about the giant planet – including the clusters of cyclones … Read the rest “Jupiter’s cyclone-clusters have a geometry. They make shapes.”
Nature pulls back the veil on those smudges seen on Egyptian mummies on display for more than a century – that, it turns out, are actually tattoos of animals and ritual tools:
… Read the rest “Ancient Egyptian tattoos discovered under our noses.”Scrutiny
Science Daily reveals a genuine lost colony… of penguins. Revealed by satellite photos of their poop. Yes, there’s a previously unknown supercolony of 1.5 million Adelie… Read the rest “The Hidden Penguins of the Danger Islands!”
Big birds haven’t changed too much since 1931.
These are:
NLTimes.nl reports on Dutch public-works diggers who found a trove of treasure – not just scientific treasure, but a literal pot of 15th-century gold coins buried outside Vienen… Read the rest “Pot of gold found in waterworks dig.”
Nature gets into the groove with a piece on oscillations – the natural flickering rhythm of brainwaves, and how flashing lights and electric zaps can change the brain’s rhythms… Read the rest “Putting brains in rhythm to boost memory (and all sorts of other stuff)”
Polar bears salute the midnight sun as Arctic explorers sail to the horizon.
This image is part of a page of “Cosmic Meteorological Landscapes” that are all… Read the rest “Science Art: The midnight sun, from Atlas zu Alex. V. Humboldt’s Kosmos, 1851.”
Science revisits one of my childhood nightmares (one of many blessings from frequent family visits to South Africa) with news of researchers infecting volunteers with what my aunts called… Read the rest “So these folks infect themselves with this parasitic worm to figure out how to cure this disease….”
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