Science Trends

When it comes to meal times in the animal kingdom, giraffes have been found to be just like us and prefer the company of their friends, according to new research by the University of Bristol. While already known that giraffes display preferred choices of companions within their social group, until now it has not been clear what drives these and whether these choices are just some, or all of the time. This study, published in Animal Behaviour, aimed to explore what factors drive specific interactions in giraffes, and whether behavioural state or disturbance by human While already known that giraffes display preferred choices of companions within their social group, until now it has not been clear what drives these and whether these choices are just some, or all of the time. This study, published in Animal Behaviour, aimed to explore what factors drive specific interactions in giraffes, and whether behavioural state or disturbance by human s and predators had any effect on social re...

Women’s tendency to underestimate their professional self-worth and reluctance to ‘exploit’ social ties makes them less successful at networking — vital for the success at the work place, a study has found. The research, published in ‘Human Relations’, shows that it is not only exclusion by men, but also self-imposed barriers, including hesitation and gendered modesty, that prevent women from networking as effectively as their male counterparts. The study, by researchers from EBS Business School in Germany, was based on interviews with 37 high-profile female leaders in German corporations. It showed that women’s tendencies to harbour moral concerns about ‘exploiting’ social ties causes them to under-benefit from networking activities. This tendency is further exacerbated by women’s predisposition to underestimate and undersell their professional self-worth. Understanding why women are less successful at networking is vital for the development of gender equality in the work place. Talki...

Vegetarians beware. Your next  flight could be powered by animal byproducts. Researchers in search of renewable jet fuel are now working with a rendered form of   animal fat  — the byproduct of processed meats known as beef tallow — as a potential, sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. It’s one way that airlines are trying to cut costs and curb their emissions amid a boom in air travel that will see the number of passengers double by 2035, according to International Air Transport Association. With airlines accounting for 2% of annual carbon emissions, aviation’s environmental impact has become a top issue for executives and regulators — spurring interest in affordable fuel substitutes. Rendered animal fat isn’t the only substitute under consideration. In September, about 30% of the fuel load on a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Zurich was a biofuel derived from carinata, a type of mustard seed. A month later, Virgin Airlines announce...

During the Triassic period (252-201 million years ago) mammal-like reptiles called therapsids co-existed with ancestors to dinosaurs, crocodiles, mammals, pterosaurs, turtles, frogs, and lizards. One group of therapsids are the dicynodonts. Researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden, together with colleagues in Poland, have discovered fossils from a new genus of gigantic dicynodont. The new species Lisowicia bojani is described in the journal Science. During the Triassic period (252-201 million years ago) mammal-like reptiles called therapsids co-existed with ancestors to dinosaurs, crocodiles, mammals, pterosaurs, turtles, frogs, and lizards. One group of therapsids are the dicynodonts. Researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden, together with colleagues in Poland, have discovered fossils from a new genus of gigantic dicynodont. The new species Lisowicia bojani is described in the journal Science. The earth is about 4.5 billion years old and has gone through many geol...

This is Antarctica. Antarctica is high and dry and mostly bitterly cold, and it's easy to think of its ice and snow as locked away in a freezer, protected from melt except around its low-lying coasts and floating ice shelves. But that view may be wrong. Meltwater is now ponding on the surface of Antarctica's inland ice and in larger and more numerous ponds on the ice shelves surrounding the continent. This creates stresses that could break up the the ice shelves, which buttress inland ice from flowing more rapidly into the ocean. And models suggest that by the end of this century, it will be warmer air -- rather than warmer ocean water -- that plays the largest role in driving Antarctica's contributions to sea level rise. "It is crucial that we develop a better understanding of the dynamics of Antarctica's 190 feet (58 m) of potential sea level rise sitting frozen atop the continent," said Alison Banwell, a CIRES postdoctoral visiting fellow and...

A new MIT plane is propelled via ionic wind. Batteries in the fuselage (tan compartment in front of plane) supply voltage to electrodes (blue/white horizontal lines) strung along the length of the plane, generating a wind of ions that propels the plane forward. Since the first airplane took flight over 100 years ago, virtually every aircraft in the sky has flown with the help of moving parts such as propellers, turbine blades, and fans, which are powered by the combustion of fossil fuels or by battery packs that produce a persistent, whining buzz. Now MIT engineers have built and flown the first-ever plane with no moving parts. Instead of propellers or turbines, the light aircraft is powered by an "ionic wind" -- a silent but mighty flow of ions that is produced aboard the plane, and that generates enough thrust to propel the plane over a sustained, steady flight. Unlike turbine-powered planes, the aircraft does not depend on fossil fuels to fly. And unlike pro...

A new study bolsters the idea that strange grooves crisscrossing the surface of the Martian moon Phobos were made by rolling boulders blasted free from an ancient asteroid impact. The research, published in  Planetary and Space Science , uses computer models to simulate the movement of debris from Stickney crater, a huge gash on one end of Phobos' oblong body. The models show that boulders rolling across the surface in the aftermath of the Stickney impact could have created the puzzling patterns of grooves seen on Phobos today. "These grooves are a distinctive feature of Phobos, and how they formed has been debated by planetary scientists for 40 years," said Ken Ramsley, a planetary science researcher at Brown University who led the work. "We think this study is another step toward zeroing in on an explanation." Phobos' grooves, which are visible across most of the moon's surface, were first glimpsed in the 1970s by NASA's Mariner and Viki...

It is a biological curiosity that has perplexed scientists. Now researchers believe they have solved one of the animal kingdom’s smelliest mysteries: how wombats produce cuboid  poo. The marsupials’ six-sided portions of dung are unique in nature. And they produce them prolifically, depositing between 80 and 100 cubes each night. Wombats’ defecation allows them to pile  their  faeces  high to mark their territory and communicate through scent. The pellets’ flat sides mean they can be placed without rolling away, making them likely to catch the eye of a mate. But scientists have always been uncertain how wombats – which have circular anuses – fashion their faeces into their unusual shape. Now, a team of US mechanical  engineers  and Australian biologists believe they have flushed away any doubt. Lead study author Patricia Yang, a postdoctoral fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology, set out to investigative if differences in womba...

If you love to indulge in flattery or kissing up to your boss, think twice. While it may boost your career, it can also drain self control resources, thus making you more susceptible to bad behavior at the workplace, a study has found. Ingratiation, or kissing up, which generally includes flattery, conforming with the supervisor’s opinion and doing favors, is just one of the many behaviors employees use to create and maintain their desired image in the workplace. However, “there’s a personal cost to ingratiating yourself with your boss,” said lead author Anthony Klotz, Associate Professor at the Oregon State University (OSU) in the US. “When your energy is depleted, it may nudge you into slack-off territory,” he added. The findings, appearing in the journal of Applied Psychology, showed that the extent to which employees engaged in ingratiation varied widely from day to day and the more they engaged in kissing up, the more their self-control resources got depleted. “It mak...

Ch ildren whose parents remarry several times or have multiple partners are likely to have more relationships themselves when they’re adults, a study has suggested. An array of biological traits, as well as factors learned from parents in childhood, influence our relationship success, US researchers, lead by Dr Claire Kamp Dush , an associate professor of human sciences at Ohio State University , said. The researchers said that signs of an increased breakup rate being passed down the generations could be down to a mix of heritable factors, such as personality traits or mental health conditions, and the relationship skills children see from their parents. “What our results suggest is that mothers may pass on their marriageable characteristics and relationship skills to their children — for better or worse,” said Dr Dush. For the study, published in the ‘PLOS One’ , Dr Dush used data from 7,152 people enrolled on the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The study...

Your poop could soon be used as a reusable fuel, thanks to a new technique developed by researchers. The technique was created by researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the  Negev , and results in a safe, reusable fuel, as well as a nutrient rich fertilizer. It uses a process called hydrothermal carbonization, in which  human waste  is heated in a pressure cooker. This converts the waste into hydrochar — a safe, reusable biomass  fuel that resembles coal. The discovery addresses two key challenges in the developing world — sanitation, and growing energy needs. Professor Amit Gross, who led the study, said: “Human excreta are considered hazardous due to their potential to transmit disease. “While it is rich in organic matter nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium , human waste also contains micro pollutants from pharmaceuticals, which can lead to environmental problems if not disposed or reused properly.” The technique co...

Deadly radiation from the cosmos, potential vision loss, and atrophying bones are just some of the challenges scientists must overcome before any future  astronaut  can set foot on  Mars , experts and top NASA officials said on Tuesday. The US space agency believes it  can put humans on the Red Planet within 25 years, but the technological and medical hurdles are immense. "The cost of solving those means that under current budgets, or slightly expanded budgets, it’s going to take about 25 years to solve those," said former Nasa astronaut Tom Jones, who flew on four space shuttle missions before retiring in 2001. At an average distance of about 140 million miles (225 million kilometers), Mars poses scientific problems an order of magnitude greater than anything encountered by the  Apollo  lunar missions. With today’s  rocket  technology, it would take an astronaut up to nine months to reach Mars — the physical toll of fl...

These are skulls and other human remains from P.W. Lund's Collection from Lagoa Santa, Brazil kept in the Natural History Museum of Denmark. Credit: Natural History Museum of Denmark A legal battle over a 10,600 year old ancient skeleton -- called the 'Spirit Cave Mummy' -- has ended after advanced DNA sequencing found it was related to a Native American tribe. The revelation has been published in  Science  today (Thursday, November 8 at 14:00 US Eastern Time) as part of a wide ranging international study that genetically analysed the DNA of a series of famous and controversial ancient remains across North and South America including Spirit Cave, the Lovelock skeletons, the Lagoa Santa remains, an Inca mummy, and the oldest remains in Chilean Patagonia. The study also looked at the second oldest human remains from Trail Creek Cave in Alaska -- a 9,000 year old milk tooth from a young girl. Scientists sequenced 15 ancient genomes spanning from Alaska to P...

Researchers from the Virginia Tech College of Engineering and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have developed a novel process to 3D print graphene, one of the strongest materials ever tested, at a higher resolution that was an order of magnitude greater than ever printed before. Researchers from Virginia Tech and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have developed a novel way to 3D print complex objects of one of the highest-performing materials used in the battery and aerospace industries. Previously, researchers could only print this material, known as graphene, in 2D sheets or basic structures. But Virginia Tech engineers have now collaborated on a project that allows them to 3D print graphene objects at a resolution an order of magnitude greater than ever before printed, which unlocks the ability to theoretically create any size or shape of graphene. Because of its strength -- graphene is one of the strongest materials ever tested on Earth -- and its high ther...