The knotted, intricately braided string was like no other anthropologist Sabine Hyland had ever seen. Called a khipu, such devices were typically made and used by Inca elite to record astronomical events, take the census and maybe even…
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Sunlight is all that’s needed to keep these tiny aircraft aloft
Sun-powered fliers could use photophoretic forces to hover in the mesosphere, gathering data from a region off limits to planes and balloons.
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Researchers uncover surprising limit on human imagination — Harvard Gazette
Human beings can juggle up to 10 balls at once. But how many can they move through the air with their imaginations?
The answer, published last month in Nature Communications, astonished even the researchers pursuing the question. The…
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Tiny chip could unlock gamma ray lasers, cure cancer, and explore the multiverse
A University of Colorado Denver engineer is on the cusp of giving scientists a new tool that can help them turn sci-fi into reality.
Imagine a safe gamma ray laser that could eradicate cancer cells without damaging healthy tissue. Or a tool that…
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Tiny “talking” robots form shape-shifting swarms that heal themselves
Animals like bats, whales and insects have long used acoustic signals for communication and navigation. Now, an international team of scientists have taken a page from nature’s playbook to model micro-sized robots that use sound waves to…
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Global study reveals the surprising habit behind tough decisions
An international study surveying people in a dozen countries found that when it comes to making complex decisions, people all over the world tend to reflect on their own, rather than seek advice.
Researchers from the University of Waterloo led…
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Warm autumns could be a driver in monarch butterflies’ decline
In the lab, higher temperatures during fall migration led monarchs to break their reproductive pause, increasing their risk of death.
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AI Finds New Molecules with Potential Antimicrobial Activity in Archaea
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest threats facing humanity, making the need for new antibiotics more critical than ever. While most antibiotics originate from bacteria and fungi, Archaea offer a largely untapped reservoir for…
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Study: Genetic Variant Inherited from Neanderthals Reduces Activity of Key Muscle Enzyme
The Neanderthal variant in AMPD1 decreases its enzymatic activity by 25% in lab-produced proteins and by up to 80% in the muscles of genetically engineered mice; the variant is found in all sequenced Neanderthals, but is absent in all other…
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Scientists Decode Genome of Sweetpotato
Researchers have produced a chromosome-level genome assembly for a sweetpotato cultivar called ‘Tanzania.’
‘Tanzania’ sweetpotato variety. Image credit: Benard Yada, National Crops Resources Research Institute in Uganda.
The…
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