Sometimes the wetness of liquids is inconvenient. The transport of liquid drops across a solid surface is impeded by contact forces, and some of the liquid invariably gets left behind on the surface. Now they have found a way to make water less wet. These liquid marbles
behave more like soft solid spheres than like liquid drops: they roll down inclined planes, instead of sliding, and leave no liquid film behind them
Solving a 30-year-old scientific mystery, physicists have found the most convincing evidence yet that neutrinos — elusive subatomic particles that were thought to have no mass whatsoever — have a tiny wisp of heft after all
Shell is to invest $1 billion into alternative energy R&D over the next 5 years. It’s looking at big offshore wind farms in the North Sea, solar power, and research into geothermal energy and biomass
One scientist has stuck out his neck and stated that global warming has little to do with human activity, is a natural cyclical phenomenon to do with carbon dioxide-water exchange, and things could start cooling down in a few years
Researchers are using spider genes to get potatoes and tobacco plants to produce large quantities of silk protein, which they hope to be able to weave into fibres and fabrics
Japanese scientists have developed tiny spinning screws, 8mm long and under 1mm diameter, that can swim along veins or burrow through flesh taking drugs to infected tissues. The swimming micro-machines are based on cylindrical magnets, and can screw through 2cm of beef steak in 20 seconds. It could also be used as a New Age silent assassination weapon
By studying genetic data and fossil records of a common California snail, biologists from Louisiana State University and the University of California, San Diego have found that a change in a species’ territory can bring on rapid morphological, or structural, evolutionary changes — evolution is faster than you think
Vying for prime position in outer space, Australian scientists hope to secure one of the largest radio telescope projects to observe the universe. As part of a consortium of countries, which include the United States, Europe and China, Australia is grappling for the opportunity to be the host of the AU$1 billion Square Kilometre Array telescope project
Researchers in Australia and England are working on developing materials from plants like hemp and elephant grass to replace plastic and metal-based car components. Scientists say the materials are biodegradable and can increase fuel efficiency since they weigh about 30 percent less than currently used materials
The air pollution from cutting grass for an hour with a gasoline-powered lawn mower is about the same as that from a 100-mile automobile ride, according to a new study from Sweden, which recommends using catalytic converters on mowers. The report is the first to compare lawn mower pollution with auto mileage, according to the researchers
A Swedish scientist investigating the most environmentally friendly form of burial has found a way of quickly recycling corpses into soil enricher
Ronald Mallett, professor of theoretical physics at Connecticut University, has worked out how to build a time machine, using slowly circulating beams of light which distort time and space. And he says the technology is in our grasp now
Researchers found that darkness boosts the body’s immune system and aids in the body’s production of melatonin
By odd coincidence, on the day writer Douglas Adams died, the Minor Planet Centre, a branch of the International Astronomical Union, named an asteroid Arthurdent, from a character from his best-known work, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Evil
is not a word most psychiatrists like, but some are trying to find a way to measure it. During a symposium Thursday at the American Psychiatric Association convention, Dr Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist, asked more than 120 psychiatrists to help create a depravity scale which could be used by the courts to judge criminals
Boffins at Oxford University are about to turn on a tabletop pulsar
which, if the controversial theory behind it is right, will produce faster than light messages
A ‘tractor beam‘ that can reach out, trap and move objects has been developed by British scientists. But while fictional tractor beams of the kind depicted in Star Trek can ensnare a giant spaceship, this real version works only at the microscopic level.
Three blind Briard puppies, had their right eyes treated late last year with a single injection of thousands of copies of the corrective gene. Their left eyes were untreated as a control. The scientists planned to formally test eye function three months later, when the dogs were 6 months old. But well before those tests, the dogs were already reacting to light
The UK, US and Australian IT&T industry groups will join forces to lobby scriptwriters and producers for more realistic portrayals of technology professionals in the media — nothing like giving nerds a makeover.
Conservators at Colonial Williamsburg think they’ve found the trick to restoring old brick buildings deteriorating because of salt: cover the interior with toilet paper
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