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Unless you were named prom king/queen, “Most Likely to be Cool,” or some other extremely extroverted title in high school or college, it’s always a guilty pleasure to be able to avoid a certain social situation for some secret reason. Maybe an annoying friend will be attending, maybe it will be awkward in every way […]

We’ve all been there — stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire, lost on the highway searching for directions to a ‘local’ restaurant to meet some sketchy acquaintances, or, if you’re like me — you’ve lost your credit card (even though you’re positive it was stolen). So, what’s the connection between […]

Have you ever traveled to a location and realized that, in some strange way, you’ve been there before? Or, have you been asked a question that you swore you knew the answer to — but even though it’s on the tip of your tongue, you just can’t seem to get the answer out? These and […]

Everyone knows smoking is bad for your health. Even tobacco company’s must provide a surgeon general’s warning to the customer about how dangerous smoking is. Second hand smoke is just as deadly. However, no one really understood how cigarette smoke caused lung cancer. Was it the nicotine? Other toxins?Researchers from the University of California published […]

Have you ever seen a movie like The Butterfly Effect where memory flashbacks are sometimes portrayed like a DVD on fast forward? Well researchers out of the University of Arizona have figured out that this is kind of how the brain consolidates memories from the prior day. In other words, when processing the day’s events, […]

Is there a link between eating enough nutrients as a toddler and increased pay as an adult? A 30 year-old study believes so. John Hoddinott of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington D.C. led a study which analyzed data on 1,424 Guatemalans aged 25-42 who grew up in four villages. The study actually […]

Sounds like these chimps are on to something! After months of continuous study, researchers find that chimpanzees are fickle when it comes to trading one thing for another, unless they are gaining something better in return. Never would have guessed. They are animals, after all. Still, scientists have found that, when trained, chimps are more […]

Even if you don’t exactly understand the physics behind how a solar panel works, you know it collects energy from the sun and transmits it into usable energy. Or maybe you don’t. Nevertheless, the problem with these solar (sun, anyone?) panels/collectors was that they cannot collect and transmit energy at night. At least not anymore. […]

While performing an experimental brain surgery on a 50 year-old man, scientists may have stumbled upon a mechanism that can reverse the loss of memory. The surgery, originally intended to suppress the man’s appetite, used deep-brain simulation to send electronic impulses in the ‘appetite’ part of the brain. Instead, the patient had an intense experience […]

With 700,000 Americans suffering from strokes each year (and over 150,000 dying from them), doctors are continuously researching new ways to clear brain clots. Strokes generally occur when the blood vessels feeding the brain become blocked, which deprives brain cells of oxygen until they die. For those who suffer a stroke, the clot-eliminating drug TPA […]

As always, science continues to impress me. Scientists in Grenoble, France, have discovered a way to harvest energy from falling raindrops that can be used to power electronic devices. The new system catches the mechanical energy from the impact of a falling raindrop and uses it to convert the energy to electricity. But first, a […]

Today, a whole new meaning is tied to the phrase, “let’s go fly a kite.” Instead of a toy enjoyed by kids everywhere, a 462 ft. cargo ship is leaving Germany today — with a parachute-shaped kite as its means of power. The MS Beluga’s owners, in collaboration with Sky Sail inventor Stephen Wrage, will […]

In a report published today in Nature Biotechnology, researchers describe a microbial fuel cell that may be able to power batteries in the future. The isolated bacterium Rhodoferax ferrireducens was collected from an aquifer in Virginia, and when used as a “bacterial battery,” can convert simple sugars into electricity with 81% efficiency. To generate the […]