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Everyone knows you can produce energy from algae. The question is how to do it most efficiently. Here are some of the most innovative contenders.
Good news about our brains?turns out our visual memory is bigger and better than previously thought. The study authors even offer a tip to help improve your memory, and keep you from losing your keys.
See images of stars forming, both in our Milky Way Galaxy and in extreme environments in other distant galaxies.
What is happening to that volcano? It's erupting!
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - CNN will close its dedicated unit that covered environmental, science and space stories.
A jellyfish-like hydrozoan with a novel power to rewind its life cycle has been spreading rapidly around the world?s oceans without anyone taking much notice, researchers say.
Letters: The world leaders and scientists meeting to tackle climate change should listen to younger voices
We've already found water on mars, but finding organic inhabitants on our red neighbor would be the discovery of the ages.
Soaring overhead in the Cretaceous skies with taut, leathery wings longer than a family car, it would have made an unnerving sight. Scientists who analysed a fossil that lay in a German museum for years after its discovery have glimpsed for the first time one of the most imposing of the prehistoric flyers.Lacusovagus magnificens, or "magnificent lake wanderer", is the largest toothless prehistoric flying reptile ever found. It was preserved in lake sediments from the Araripe basin in north-east Brazil, a site well-known for its excellently preserved fossils."Some of the previous examples we have from this family in China are just 60cm long - as big as the skull of the new species," said Mark Witton from the school of earth and environmental science at the University of Portsmouth. Interpreting the fossil was difficult because of the unusual position in which it had lain. "Usually fossils like this are found lying on their sides but this one was lying on the roof of its mouth and had been rather squashed, which made even figuring out whether it had teeth difficult," Witton said.The beast would have had a wingspan of around five metres and stood over a metre tall at the shoulder. Its wide mouth suggests it was able to tackle large prey.Although large, Lacusovagus was smaller than some of the giant toothed flying reptiles, such as Quetzalcoatlus, which was the size of a Spitfire, with a wingspan of 11 or 12 metres.FossilsGermanyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
The smell of fear, one of the most terrible cliches of pulp fiction, is actually founded in fact, scientists claim today. People can unconsciously detect whether someone is stressed or scared by smelling a chemical pheromone released in their sweat, according to researchers who have investigated the underarm secretions of petrified skydivers. The team found that the smell of fear triggered a heightened response in brain regions associated with fear when inhaled by volunteers in a brain scanner. The research suggests that, like many animal species, humans can detect and subconsciously respond to pheromones released by other people. The research was funded by the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency - the Pentagon's military research wing - raising speculation that it is a first step to isolating the fear pheromone for use in warfare, perhaps to induce terror in enemy troops. But Darpa denied that it had any military plans for fear pheromones or plans to fund further research into the field. Dr Lilianne Mujica-Parodi at Stony Brook University in New York State and her team taped absorbent pads to the armpits of 20 novice skydivers - 11 men and nine women - on their first tandem jump. The pads soaked up sweat before they leapt from the plane and as they fell. For comparison, the team collected sweat from the same individuals as they ran on a treadmill for a similar duration at the same time of day they had made their jump.They transferred the two types of sweat to nebulisers and asked volunteers in a brain scanner to breath it in. The team did not tell the volunteers about the experiment. New Scientist magazine reported that the volunteers' amygdala and hypothalamus - brain regions associated with fear - were more active in people who breathed in the "fear" sweat. The volunteers in the brain scanner were unable consciously to distinguish between the two types of sweat.In a conference presentation last year, Mujica-Parodi wrote: "We demonstrate here the first direct evidence for a human alarm pheromone ... our findings indicate that there may be a hidden biological component to human social dynamics, in which emotional stress is, quite literally, 'contagious'." She declined to comment further on the results because the study is under review with a scientific journal.Simon Wessely, a psychiatrist at the King Centre for Military Health Research at King's College London, told New Scientist that the idea that a fear pheromone could be developed as a chemical weapon was scientifically implausible. He said that a purely physiological cue was not enough to induce fear.Most researchers do not believe that humans can detect pheromones. In other mammals this is done using a structure in the nose called the vomeronasal organ. Although humans have one of these it is not connected to the brain. However, human pheromones could still be detected elsewhere and some small studies have suggested that human behaviour can be modified by an alarm pheromone.Medical researchguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Editorial: A creature whose lifestyle is an irresistible metaphor for human organisations
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A new dry wipe can clean up chemical agents such as mustard gas, giving soldiers a more convenient way to deal with toxic materials on the battlefield, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.
Partially-completed elephant exhibit may be scrapped after celebrity protests.
Ok, so here is the difference between paid studies and independent research. How stupid do they think we are? A paid study that finds that laser printers are harmless sounds suspicious in itself. Looks like we should be a more careful how we handle laser printers.
The plan, the brainchild of the former Silicon Valley software executive Shai Agassi, is an attempt to overcome the major hurdles to electric cars.
LONDON (Reuters) - The arctic tundra emits the same amount of methane in winter as in the warmer months, a surprising finding that bolsters understanding of how greenhouse gases interact with nature, researchers said on Wednesday.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The space tourism race heated up on Tuesday when a second company began offering tickets for suborbital rides at less than half the price of competitor Virgin Galactic's.
Anti-piracy technology steps up to fend off sophisticated maritime hijackers.
?Noam Chomsky?s position in the history of ideas is comparable to that of Darwin or Descartes,? University College London linguist Neil Smith declared in Nature. ?Chomsky has redefined our understanding of ourselves as humans.?
The smell of fear, one of the most terrible cliches of pulp fiction, is founded in fact, scientists claim today. People can unconsciously detect whether someone is stressed or scared by smelling a chemical pheromone released in their sweat, according to researchers who have investigated the underarm secretions of petrified skydivers. The team found that the smell of fear triggered a heightened response in brain regions associated with fear when inhaled by volunteers in a brain scanner. The research suggests that like many animal species, humans can detect and subconsciously respond to pheromones released by other people. The research was funded by the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency ? the Pentagon's military research wing ? raising speculation that it is a first step to isolating the fear pheromone for use in warfare, perhaps to induce terror in enemy troops. But DARPA denied that it had any military plans for fear pheromones or plans to fund further research into the field. Dr Lilianne Mujica-Parodi at Stony Brook University in New York State and her team taped absorbent pads to the armpits of 20 novice skydivers ? 11 men and nine women ? who were doing their first tandem jump. The pads soaked up sweat before they leaped from the plane and as they fell. For comparison, the team collected sweat from the same individuals as they ran on a treadmill for a similar duration at the same time of day they had made their jump.They transferred the two types of sweat to nebulisers and asked volunteers in a brain scanner to breath it in. To avoid biasing the results, the team did not tell the volunteers anything about the experiment. New Scientist magazine reported that the volunteers' amygdala and hypothalamus ? brain regions associated with fear ? were more active in people who breathed in the "fear" sweat compared with the control. The volunteers in the brain scanner were unable consciously to distinguish between the two types of sweat and rated them both as mild and non-aversive.In a conference presentation last year, Mujica-Parodi wrote: "We demonstrate here the first direct evidence for a human alarm pheromone ? Our findings indicate that there may be a hidden biological component to human social dynamics, in which emotional stress is, quite literally, 'contagious'." She declined to comment further on the results because the study is under review with a scientific journal.Simon Wessely, a psychiatrist at the King Centre for Military Health Research at King's College London told New Scientist that the idea that a fear pheromone could be developed as a chemical weapon is scientifically implausible. He said that a purely physiological cue is not enough to induce fear if people are not in a frightening situation. "You can generate the physical symptoms of fear but people don't necessarily get scared," he said.The findings will be controversial because most researchers do not believe that humans can detect pheromones. In other mammals, this is done using a structure in the nose called the vomeronasal organ. Although humans have one of these it is not connected to the brain. However, human pheromones could still be detected elsewhere and some small studies have suggested that human behaviour can be modified by an alarm pheromone. In one study in 2002, for example, 60 women were asked to distinguish between sweat pads worn by women who had watched the horror film Candyman or a documentary. They rated the sweat from the scary film watchers as stronger, less pleasant and smelling more "like aggression".Human behaviourMedical researchPsychologyNeuroscienceWeapons technologyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Anthropologist finds that high testosterone makes women tougher, more competitive -- and also puts more fat on waist.
High-tech gear key to how 10 gun-toting men terrorized city of 13 million for 60 hours.
Farmers look to "multitask" canola for food, feed and fuel.