Scientists hoping to clone prehistoric mammoths are preparing their first frozen DNA samples in a bid to revive the species
A flotilla of rubber ducks about to beach on the shores of Nova Scotia after travelling the world for more than a decade is being hailed as more than just flotsam and jetsam by oceanographers
After having its funding cut off by Congress a decade ago, the SETI program has just received a NASA five-year grant to participate as a lead team in the NASA Astrobiology Institute, which investigates the origin and future of life in the universe
George Gobel, 1996 winner of the Ig Nobel prize for chemistry for lighting a barbecue with liquid oxygen, has had his extended home page pulled by Purdue University. The site has even been removed from Google’s cache. Fortunately, the Wayback Machine still has a copy in its archives
For centuries, researchers have been confounded by the fact that the Incas apparently ruled a mighty empire without any written records. Now Gary Urton, a professor at Harvard University, believes he has uncovered a language of binary code recorded in knotted strings — a writing system unlike virtually any other
Nerve cells derived from human embryonic stem cells and transplanted into paralysed rats have enabled the animals to walk again. The findings add to a growing number of studies that suggest embryonic stem cells could have a valuable role to play in treating spinal injuries
All new Victorian homes will have to have solar hot water or rainwater tanks under building regulation changes. The changes are part of the State Government’s mandatory five-star energy standards to come into full force in July 2005
University of Perugia researchers have found that artisans throwing pots in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Umbria were practising an early form of nanotechnology. Coloured glazes in pottery samples from the Umbrian town of Deruta exploit the reflective properties of minute metal grains to give them a rich lustre
The dispute over genetically modified crops will intensify with news of the evolution of superweeds, which are resistant to the powerful weedkillers that GM crops were engineered to tolerate. While French small farmers’ leader and anti-globalisation campaigner, José Bové, was starting a 10-month jail sentence last night for destroying genetically modified crops, his third spell in prison in four years, after his highly melodramatic arrest
NASA is putting money into Momentum-eXchange/Electrodynamic Reboost tether technology — MXER for short — an innovative concept that if implemented would station miles and miles of cart-wheeling cable in orbit around the Earth — via Slashdot
Shattered bones could soon be replaced by segments of artificial bone that can be printed
within hours. The artificial bone is strong enough to bear weight, and would slowly be replaced by new bone
Theodore Gray, creator of the Periodic Table Table, has an article on how to whip up a batch of ice cream in 30 seconds or so by using liquid nitrogen
British Egyptologist Joann Fletcher has announced her team may have identified the mummy of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti, the wife and co-ruler with pharaoh Akhenaten and stepmother to legendary boy King Tutankhamun
Scientists from the US Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory have created a working plasma force field
A small group of volunteers will participate in the first human trial of a new-generation vaccine against the AIDS virus developed by an Australian consortium
Finishing a beer in the sun before it gets warm is usually not a problem, but what about those really hot days? Having some hardware lying around there is only one solution to keep the beer cool, that’s to make a PeltierBeer — via Slashdot
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon have been able to mimic the adhesive ability of Gecko feet with a synthetic material that could find applications in new types of vehicle tyres or allowing robots to climb walls — via Slashdot
Astronomers led by Steve Phillipps, at the University of Bristol, and Michael Drinkwater, University of Queensland, have discovered a new type of galaxy. The ultra-compact dwarf galaxies
, are so small that scientists had previously mistaken them for nearby stars
Researchers are reporting that first-person-shooter video games — the kind that require players to kill or maim enemies or monsters that pop out of nowhere — sharply improve visual attention skills
A new anti-assault device for women wards off potential assailants with an 80,000 volt electric shock. Dubbed exo-electric armour
, the No-Contact Jacket looks like an ordinary fashionable women’s coat. But an inner layer of conductive fibre carries a low-amp charge that delivers a nasty but non-lethal shock to anyone who messes with its wearer
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