Move Over Cleopatra, Chinese May Have Loved Cats Before Ancient Eyptians
Researchers in China and Missouri have traced the origins of today’s domesticated cat back 5,300 years to an ancient Neolithic Chinese agricultural village located in the modern-day Shaanxi Province. Like in the old Mother Goose nursery tale “This is the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack […]
Fresh Water Once Flowed in Ancient Mars Lake
NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory – Curiosity Rover – was sent to Mars some 16 months ago with a major objective of finding evidence of a past environment that would be well suited to supporting microbial life. Today, a team of mission researchers, writing in a series of papers published in the journal Science, said that […]
Real-time Flu Forecasting Proves Successful in Large-scale Test
A flu forecasting system that uses some of the same techniques as modern weather forecasting was not only able to predict the timing of the 2012-2013 influenza season, but was able to do so nine weeks before the flu season peaked. Columbia University researchers say there were able to correctly predict that flu activity in […]
Dogs Communicate with Wag of a Tail
The direction in which a dog wags its tail can communicate its emotional state to other canines, according to a new study published in Current Biology. The Italian research team behind the study says dogs recognize, and respond accordingly, whether other canines wag their tails to the right or to the left. The reason dogs […]
Scientists Make Progress on Artificial Limbs That Can Feel
Chicago researchers have made significant progress developing prosthetic limbs that can feel and touch. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers say they’ve established a foundation to develop touch-sensitive prosthetic limbs. This research could lead to a direct interface with the brain that could someday allow those who have lost […]
Study: Sudden Explosion of Cambrian Period Animal Life Caused by a ‘Cascade of Events’
Last week we told you about an Australian study that suggested that the evolution of life during the Cambrian Explosion took place at five times the rate it occurs today. Now, another group of scientists from Britain, in their newly published study, weigh in on the “Big Bang of Life.” They propose that the explosion […]
Big Bang of Evolution Moved at Warp Speed
Evolution during the “Big Bang of Evolution,” also known as the Cambrian Explosion, happened at five times the rate it occurs today, according to a new study, a finding that is consistent with Darwin’s theory of evolution. The Australian researchers said they’ve been able to estimate, for the first time, just how fast life evolved […]
Scientists Track Happiness with Cell Phones
Every day it seems that people are coming up with new and innovative ways to use mobile devices like cell phones and smartphones. Researchers at Princeton University are looking for new ways to measure a person’s sense of well-being with mobile devices. To gain a better understanding of how cellphones and other mobile device can […]
Warmer Climate Linked to Increased Human Violence
As global temperatures rise, so do our levels of hostility and violence, according to a new study. Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley and Princeton University discovered a strong link between shifts in climate to human violence around the world. The study found that even minor climate deviations, such as slight changes in normal […]
Studies Disagree on Origins of Monogamy
Two new competing studies disagree on the origins of monogamy but both agree it had nothing to do with romance. Researchers at Cambridge University found social monogamy originated as a male mating strategy which evolved over the years. Males pushed for monogamous relationships after finding themselves in situations where females lived far apart from each other […]