Other Sciences News

This is an artist's reconstruction of female Homo from Dmanisi, Georgia. Image credit: Elisabeth Daynes, via tabula.ge.

Dmanisi Human: Skull from Georgia Implies All Early Homo Species were One

Oct 18, 2013 by News Staff

An analysis of a complete 1.8-million-year-old hominid skull found at the archaeological site of Dmanisi in Georgia suggests the earliest Homo species...

Handprints at the El Castillo cave, Spain. Image credit: University of Cantabria.

Paleolithic Cave Painters in Europe were Mostly Women, Researcher Says

Oct 16, 2013 by News Staff

Anthropologist Prof Dean Snow from Pennsylvania State University analyzing ochre-stenciled handprints in Paleolithic caves in France and Spain has determined...

Escrava Isaura, a 2004 Brazilian telenovela. Image credit: Sérgio Savarese / CC BY 2.0.

New Study Shows What Makes Latin American Telenovelas so Popular

Oct 15, 2013 by News Staff

According to a new study led by Dr Tom van Laer from ESCP Europe Business School, a particular type of consumer enjoys stories with plots, characters,...

Researchers mapped brain activity when volunteers read poetry and prose. The results show that poetry is like music to the human mind. Image credit: Jens Langner.

fMRI Study Reveals Differences in Brain Response to Poetry and Prose

Oct 11, 2013 by News Staff

Researchers from the University of Exeter, UK, have used the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology to map the different ways in which...

Nanorods or nanoropes of carbine would be stronger than graphene or even diamond if they can be manufactured. Image credit: Vasilii Artyukhov / Rice University.

Carbyne: Material could be Stronger than Graphene, Diamond

Oct 10, 2013 by News Staff

According to scientists at Rice University, a material called carbyne will be the strongest material if and when anyone can make it in bulk. Nanorods or...

Haleakala Crater in East Maui Hawaii. Image credit: University of Wisconsin.

Hawaiian Islands Formed by Extrusive Volcanism, Scientists Find

Oct 8, 2013 by News Staff

New research, reported in the Geophysical Research Letters, changes our understanding of how the Hawaiian Islands formed. Haleakala Crater in East Maui...

High-level water vapor influences weather and climate, according to a new study. Image credit: NASA.

Water Vapor in Stratosphere Influences Climate on Earth, Study Says

Oct 7, 2013 by News Staff

According to new research reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, water vapor changes in the stratosphere contribute to warmer...

Subglacial topography and predicted flow routes for catchments of the Institute Ice Stream and the Möller Ice Stream. Image credit: Anne M. Le Brocq et al.

Antarctica: Researchers Find Huge Channels beneath Ice Shelf

Oct 7, 2013 by News Staff

In a new paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience, British researchers have reported the discovery of giant ice channels beneath the floating Filchner-Ronne...

Waiting Room - Employment Office by Theresa Bernstein, 1917, oil on canvas. Image credit: The Jewish Museum, New York.

Waiting Makes Us More Patient, New Study Suggests

Oct 2, 2013 by News Staff

Waiting actually does make people more patient, which can provide a payoff for consumers by helping them make better decisions, according to Dr Ayelet...

Acute brain slice: thin brain slices allow the selective study of a neural circuit in isolation not possible in intact organism; here one can also selectively manipulate the conditions and observe their specific effect. Image credit: Bhuminder Singh.

Future of Neurophysiology: to Slice or not to Slice?

Oct 1, 2013 by Bhuminder Singh

We would like to think that scientific efforts are free of trends and human whims and proceed in a straight line for the good of humanity; but this is...

Periodic table of the elements (University of California, Irvine).

IUPAC Revises Standard Atomic Weights for Gold, Fluorine, Arsenic and other 16 Elements

Sep 26, 2013 by News Staff

Nineteen elements – including gold, arsenic, fluorine, cadmium, molybdenum and thorium – have been assigned new atomic weights, according to...

The world's largest recorded deep earthquake occurred on May 24, 2013, at a depth of 609 km in the subducting Pacific plate beneath the Sea of Okhotsk near Kamchatka, Russia, as shown on this map. Image credit: Ye et al / Science.

Largest Deep Earthquake Surprises Seismologists

Sep 20, 2013 by Enrico de Lazaro

According to a new study published in the journal Science, a magnitude 8.3 earthquake that struck 609 km beneath the Sea of Okhotsk near Kamchatka, Russia,...

Dr Livermore's team used a model of the Earth's core which was run on the giant super-computer Monte Rosa in Lugano, Switzerland. The scientists were able to simulate the Earth's core with accuracy about 100 times better than other models. Image credit: Philip W. Livermore et al.

Earth’s Inner Core ‘Superrotates’ in Eastward Direction, Scientists Say

Sep 17, 2013 by News Staff

British scientists have answered the question about which direction the centre of our planet spins. The inner core, made up of solid iron, superrotates...

This image shows Irharhar, Sahabi and Kufrah rivers systems in the Sahara region. The green points show the location of archaeological sites in the region. Image credit: Coulthard TJ et al.

Three Ancient Rivers Existed in Sahara 100,000 Years Ago

Sep 17, 2013 by Enrico de Lazaro

Simulating paleoclimates in the Sahara region, a team of researchers from Germany and United Kingdom has found evidence of three major river systems that...

A family watching TV. Image credit: Evert F. Baumgardner.

EastEnders Effect: Watching TV Can Change Your Accent

Sep 11, 2013 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal Language (full paper) provides the first empirical evidence to prove that television viewing does help to accelerate...

The scientists have developed a new camouflage using reflectin, a compound derived from Loliginidae, also known as pencil squids or calamari. The image shows two pencil squids Sepioteuthis sepioidea. Image credit: Jim Lyle / California State University Dominguez Hills.

New Infrared Camouflage Coating Created from Squid-Derived Compound

Sep 10, 2013 by News Staff

A team of researchers led by Dr Alon Gorodetsky of the University of California, Irvine, has developed a tunable biomimetic infrared camouflage coating...

Dr Bonnell and her colleagues fabricated nanostructures with various photoconduction properties (David Conklin et al).

New Method Developed for Harvesting Solar Energy Using Plasmonic Nanostructures

Sep 10, 2013 by News Staff

Scientists from the United States and Switzerland have demonstrated a novel mechanism for extracting energy from light. Dr Bonnell and her colleagues fabricated...

3D map of the Tamu Massif formation (IODP).

Tamu Massif: Largest Volcano on Earth Discovered Beneath Pacific Ocean

Sep 9, 2013 by Enrico de Lazaro

Oceanographers led by Dr William Sager from the University of Houston have discovered what they say is the biggest single volcano yet documented on our...

This photograph shows soldiers of the Eight nations alliance in 1900. British and also American soldiers are taller than continental European and Asian soldiers. Left-to-right: Britain, United States, Australian, British India, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Japan.

European Men Grow Four Inches in Century, Says Researcher

Sep 4, 2013 by News Staff

According to a new study by Prof Timothy Hatton from the University of Essex and the Australian National University in Canberra, the average height of...