Not only that, but presenting people with facts can entrench them further in their beliefs. People willfully ignore facts that don’t correspond to their opinions. “This bodes ill for a democracy, because most voters — the people making decisions about how the country runs — aren’t blank slates. They already have beliefs, and a set Read more about People ignore facts, opinions are based on beliefs[…]
It could potentially also be used to regenerate bones Tooth Regeneration Gel Could Replace Painful Fillings : Discovery News.
Touch is both the first sense to develop and a critical means of information acquisition and environmental manipulation. Physical touch experiences may create an ontological scaffold for the development of intrapersonal and interpersonal conceptual and metaphorical knowledge, as well as a springboard for the application of this knowledge. In six experiments, holding heavy or light Read more about Incidental Haptic Sensations Influence Social Judgments and Decisions — Ackerman et al. 328 (5986): 1712 — Science[…]
Stem cells can be made to grow around a three dimensional scaffold in your mouth in as quick as around nine weeks. Much better than dental implants! Columbia University Medical Center Press Release.
The UK Metropolitan Police has been recording the frequency variations on the National Grid every second and a half for the past five years. When examining recordings, scientists are able to match the variations in the recordings with the database and establish exactly when the recording was made. If there are multiple matches, the recording Read more about Electrical network frequency analysis[…]
They now know where it is and where it’s going. Einstein said it couldn’t be done. Measurement of the Instantaneous Velocity of a Brownian Particle — Li et al., 10.1126/science.1189403 — Science.
Entangled photons have been able to instantaneously transmit their states over 500 m before, but the Chinese have managed to increase this range massively, allowing them to be used for communicative purposes. Quantum teleportation achieved over 16 km.
What they did is email genetic code to a machine, which constructed DNA and implanted that in a virus cell, after removing the old DNA. The synthetic DNA then reproduced and it’s reproductions also carried the synthetic DNA. The reproduction is the ‘life’ bit. They’re calling it Cynthia. Scientists Create First Synthetic Cell – WSJ.com.
YouTube – Stephen Wolfram: Computing a theory of everything.
Scientists have found the first multicellular animals that apparently live entirely without oxygen. The creatures reside deep in one of the harshest environments on earth: the Mediterranean Ocean's L'Atalante basin, which contains salt brine so dense that it doesn't mix with the oxygen-containing waters above. Previous samples taken from the water and sediments in the Read more about Animals That Live Without Oxygen discovered[…]
Chinese doctors have used arsenic in the treatment of APL (leukemia) with cure rates of 90% since 1992 without the side-effects of chemo (hair loss, suppression of bone marrow function). A paper from Shanghai shows that it works by targetting specific proteins that feed the cancer. China scientists show how arsenic treats blood cancer | Read more about Chinese scientists use arsenic to kill blood cancers[…]
Using Google search technology you can now browse through the entire archive of Popular Science magazine and read the old issues online. New! Browse the Complete PopSci Archive | Popular Science.
And we’ve known this since the 1890s. Experiments repeatedly show that multitasking basically makes you perform badly at any of the tasks you’re performing. Now, however, it turns out that not only do you do badly at the tasks, but it also destroys your capacity for reasoning. This article walks quickly through the history of Read more about Seriously: multitasking is bad for you![…]
A team of US research scientists have made a startling breakthrough in solar-cell development, creating flexible wire-based cell substrates that use just one per cent of the silicon needed for brittle and comparatively heavy conventional cells. Solar cells made from this material would not only be less expensive than current photovoltaics, but due to their Read more about Flexible, low weight solar cells[…]
Professor Jones [NB the guy who sent all the wierd emails that were uncovered revealing that data was spurious and that he’d hammer into the ground all global warming sceptic scientists] also conceded the possibility that the world was warmer in medieval times than now – suggesting global warming may not be a man-made phenomenon.And Read more about Climategate admitted – sort of[…]
These guys are doing huge wetware experiments in their own home, at a fraction of the cost of government / academic projects. They have a large community and have a repository of hardware plans to get you started for a fraction of the price of a full lab. DIY Bio: A Growing Movement Takes on Read more about DIY Biology[…]
The nanorobotic arm is built out of DNA origami: large strands of DNA gently encouraged to fold in precise ways by interaction with a few hundred short DNA strands. The products, around 100 nanometers in diameter, are eight times larger and three times more complex than what could be built with a simple crystalline DNA Read more about Nanoscale: Robot Arm Places Atoms and Molecules With 100% Accuracy[…]
“Scientists and engineers can use the 3D bio printers to enable placing cells of almost any type into a desired pattern in 3D,” Murphy said. “Researchers can place liver cells on a preformed scaffold, support kidney cells with a co-printed scaffold, or form adjacent layers of epithelial and stromal soft tissue that grow into a Read more about 3d bio printer[…]
A female scientist was fed up of hearing comments on the parking abilities of women and found that not only do they take 20 seconds longer on average to park, they’re 5% worse at it than men. Men really ARE better at parking… and that’s a woman professor talking | Mail Online.
Using ECoG (electrocorticography) and overlaying electrodes directly on the surface of the brain, scientists can record reactions when letters are flashed on a screen and then play back the letters when that thought pattern is brought up. It’s around 8 letters per minute, but it’s something. There’s also a piece where they translate thought patterns Read more about Thought control: now with letters[…]
Analysts say Russian meteorological stations cover most of the country’s territory, and that the Hadley Center had used data submitted by only 25% of such stations in its reports. Over 40% of Russian territory was not included in global-temperature calculations for some other reasons, rather than the lack of meteorological stations and observations. The data Read more about Oh dear – More Climategate![…]
A synthetic chemical similar to the active ingredient in marijuana makes new cells grow in rat brains. What is more, in rats this cell growth appears to be linked with reducing anxiety and depression. The results suggest that marijuana, or its derivatives, could actually be good for the brain. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8155
The Allan Hills 84001 Meteorite which landed on earth has been examined and they’ve discovered that the tiny magnetite crystals it contains are chemically consistent with being formed in bacteria – they’re basically little fossils. They’re pretty sure the rock, which has floated around for around 16 million years, comes from Mars as it matches Read more about Evidence of life on Mars[…]
In this theory, time is split from space entirely. It’s a working model, but is still being refined as there are some flaws in it yet. It’s exciting because it does what Newton’s and Einstein’s theories can’t do, which is predict at the quantum graviton level. Splitting Time from Space—New Quantum Theory Topples Einstein’s Spacetime: Read more about New theory of gravity works at quantum level[…]
After some teething problems and predicions about the world ending, it’s started and we’re still here: the first low power collisions have been made in two of the four sensor arrays, meaning more science is yet to come! BBC News – Cern’s Large Hadron Collider makes first collisions.