Chameleons Convey Messages By Changing Colors

Neha Shukla

So far, it was believed that the chameleons change color to match to their background, which’ll make them safer as then it’ll be difficult to locate them. However, as per a new research done on veiled chameleons (Chameleon calyptratus), changing color is meant to communicate other information as well than just to camouflage. Male chameleons have been seen using the change in colors as a signal to ward off its enemy. Researchers from Arizona State University, observed the bright color stripes on the side and top of the male chameleons,…

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Meet Valkyrie, Johnson Space Center’s New Super Hero

Pooja Kashyap

NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in association with the University of Texas and Texas A&M and with funding from the state of Texas itself have built a humanoid to which they call, Valkyrie, officially designated as “R5”. The bot is 6.2 feet tall, weighs around 125 kgs with 44 degree of freedom and is powered by battery. The machine is not built for any space mission or otherwise but for the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), that’ll hold its first round of competition in the second half of this month.

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Newly Discovered Sound-Producing Organ in Koalas

Wa'd Abuzurayk

“Cute” is a word usually associated with Koalas. However, these small sized bears have been recently discussed from an angle distant from that related to their scrumptious looks; one that uncovered the mystery of their deep voices. Koalas have always puzzled scientists with their low-pitched bellows, which are considered about 20 times lower than they should be considering their body sizes. This estimation was made considering that the size of the vocal cords of an animal determines the pitch of their voices. Accordingly, smaller-sized animals are known to produce higher-pitched…

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3D Virtual Birth Simulator Might Avoid Complications During Births

Pooja Kashyap

Taking an innovative approach towards predicting the birth event during laboring, researchers at the University of East Anglia have come up with a patient-specific 3D virtual birth simulator. With an aim of assisting doctors and midwives, the simulator prepares them in case of complications at the time of births. The program takes into account the mother’s body shape and position of the baby to reach to proximity of what might take place during the birth event.

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Giant Convection Cells Observed Within Sun

Pooja Kashyap

We have known that convection currents are a part of the water cycle on earth. A conventional cell – density differences that results from rising and/or falling of currents – is the spark that ignites the formation of clouds with its release and transportation of energy. As air transcends along the surface of the earth, it carries heat, hence loses density (because of fluid dynamics) and moves higher into the atmosphere. Upon reaching there, it experiences low pressure due to which fluid retention becomes difficult and so it releases its…

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Nanogenerator Fabricated By Virus Template

Pooja Kashyap

Nature has an innate ability of fabricating organic structures at the nano scale, self-cleaning mechanism or water repellence in lotus effect best describes this tendency. Dexterously the leaves of lotus flower repel water. The complex micro and nanoscopic architecture of the surface is responsible for creating physical atmosphere that assist in disengaging water molecules to the leaves. Scientists today are working towards replicating the mechanism by using nature as a template. However, imitating the natural process is not that easy especially when working on the nanoscale, often it requires toxic…

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Electrical Stimulation Provokes The Will to Persevere

Wa'd Abuzurayk

I am sure that we have all heard stories of people who lead a fight with death, and won the fight against all odds. Such stories are no longer told for mere inspiration to hold on to life and declare war on hardships. It is now in fact being studied from a scientific point of view. A group of scientists believe that they may have discovered the brain part responsible for the “will to persevere”. The anterior midcingulate cortex has always been believed to play a role in emotions, pain…

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HD106906 System Explodes The Basic Concepts Of Planet Formation

Pooja Kashyap

Recent discovery of planet HD 106906 b has exploded the underlying hypotheses of planet formation so far. A team of space scientists led by a University of Arizona graduate student has pioneered the discovery. The exoplanet weighs around 20.9x 1027 kg, which is eleven times more than that of Jupiter. It’s also found revolving around its star at 650 times the average distance between the Earth and the Sun. As per one theory of planet formation, planets that are in proximity with their stars band together with the help of…

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Animals Can Perform Some Tasks Better Than Humans

Neha Shukla

We have already mentioned in some of our earlier posts that animals are superior relatively in certain terms. We are still trying to comprehend unique animal behavior and abilities like sophisticated communication in tiny marmoset monkeys or bacteria influenced smell based networking in hyenas. We are also fascinated about the way elephants communicate through seismic waves or echolocation in dolphins.

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Synaesthesia is More Common in People with Autism

Wa'd Abuzurayk

A new study suggests that people with autism are more likely to have synaesthesia. As explained in my previous article, Synesthesia is a neurologically based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway-  News-medical.net The study was carried out by a team of scientists led by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen at the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University. The research team started their work from the assumption that both people with Synaesthesia and those with autism have atypical…

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Sinfonia’s Robot Up For Cleaning Solar Panels

Neha Shukla

We already know the importance of solar energy in this era when our regular fuel sources are being depleted. Need of the hour is to construct bigger solar plants to meet with the ever rising demand. However, it is not easy to maintain such immense Solar Plants. Dust particles, bird droppings or sand grains, bar the sunlight and result in lowering the overall output of the plants by 30% in just one month (as per some research). However, until now there was no cost effective and potent solution for the…

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Traces Of Water Discovered Across Exoplanet Atmospheres

Pooja Kashyap

Two teams of space scientists have discovered the presence of atmospheric water across the five distant planets. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope was the tool employed by the teams for the exploration mission. WASP-17b, HD209458b, WASP-12b, WASP-19b and XO-1b were the planets that were under observation. WASP-17b and HD209458b gave the strongest signal of water content present in their atmosphere while the others showed consistency.

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Decline In Bee Population: A Rising Concern

Neha Shukla

It is well known fact that the most important work that a bee performs is to pollinate. Almost 80% of our flowering crops are dependent on these bees for their pollination process. That constitutes nearly 1/3 of human diet dependent on bees. Now we can imagine how dependent we are on bees for our survival on this planet. However, scientists have been recording an alarming decline in the bee population and have been named as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). In last six years approximately 10 million beehives has suffered from…

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Epson’s Dual Arm Robot, Amongst Hottest Trends In Industrial Robotics

Pooja Kashyap

The dual-arm, adaptable industrial robot by Seiko Epson, Japanese electronic company, reminds me of Sid, the sloth. Unlike the existing industrial bots, this prototype by Seiko Epson can visualize, take decisions, adapt as per the environment, can adjust the force while grabbing objects and above all, its portable. This dual-arm bot is capable of moving independently while performing simple tasks on assembly lines. As per the press release, Epson’s autonomous dual-arm robot is able to accurately recognize the position and orientation of objects in three-dimensional space, much like the human…

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Treating Acne With Marine Algae

Neha Shukla

This article goes out for all the women (men too) who are often troubled with ace problem and look for all the possible remedies to get rid off them. Researchers has found an answer to such acne problems. Researchers from University of Stirling’s Institute of Aquaculture, discovered that the fatty acid produced from the marine algae, posses cleansing effects and therefore could cure acnes. 

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