Painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) will not survive the effects of climate change by nesting earlier. Many flora and fauna are already responding to a warming world by reproducing earlier in the season, when temperatures are cooler. But, a new model, developed by Rory Telemeco, Karen Abbott, and Frederic Janzen from Iowa State University predicts this [...]
Archive for Science News Digest
Apr
14
Insecticide-resistant mozzies could help destroy dengue
Insecticide-resistant mosquitoes that block dengue could be the key to controlling the disease, reports a new study. Professor Ary Hoffmann from the University of Melbourne and Professor Michael Turelli at the University of California, Davis have calculated that releasing mosquitoes with a genetic resistance to insecticides, that are also infected with a virus-suppressing bacteria, could [...]
Mar
10
Virtual Reality can implant false memories and do other stuff
“Right now, we’re inside a computer program?” Asks a very a perplexed Neo in the 1999 classic, The Matrix. He has just realised that the world around him is virtual reality. While The Matrix is fictitious, according to some scientists, it’s very easy for us to confuse virtual reality for, well, reality. The quote opens [...]
Dec
28
“Impossible” to decipher secret Pigeon message
British intelligence agents think it’s impossible to decipher an encrypted message written in WWII, and recently found attached to the leg of a pigeon. The bird’s skeleton was discovered in the chimney of 17th-century home in Surrey, UK in 1982 when the home owner, David Martin, was restoring his chimney. David Martin, told the The [...]
Oct
29
Internet turns 43 today
Growing up in the 1990s, I remember when the internet was starting to reach into our homes. I remember printing penguin photos from The Web on paper with awkward holes on the side. I remember the the first time I flirted with boys it was online, and I remember my mother stopping dinner to check [...]
Sep
22
IgNobel Awards 2012: Sloshing Coffee, Chimp Butts and Ponytail Forces
Every year, Harvard University turns its hat backward, drops its pants and plays it cool by hosting the very tongue-in-cheek IgNobel awards. The prize celebrates “Improbable” research, that is, work that “makes people laugh and then think.” It’s a friendly counterpart to the Nobel Prizes, which are announced soon after the IgNobels. Past winners of [...]
Sep
10
What a wonder! Bras are 600 years old
The modern bra. What a wonder! I can jump, I can run, I can do anything! But did you ever wonder about the birth of the modern bra? When did two cups first join forces around breasts to keep them supported? Earlier this year it was announced that four 15th century bras were found in [...]
Jun
7
Transit of Venus helps hunt exoplanets
Every now and then a dark spot glides across our Sun. This rare moment hits when the planet Venus slides in between the Sun and Earth, obscuring a small portion of the sun. During a transit, Venus can sneak as close as 38 million kilometres to our home planet. The transit usually lasts about six [...]