A Scientific Research Vault
Just like humans, animals living in urban areas are constantly prone to metal intoxication. In France, a team of researchers studying the level of metal intoxication in birds have found a strange relation between the color of the plumage and the level of metal toxin in the bird’s body. They observed that the birds with dark shade plumage were better at getting rid of metal toxin from their bloodstream.
Read More
The popular known fact that bamboo is the only food that panda exclusively feeds on, is not true. Researchers from the Monell Center have found that the panda has also liking for sweet food. The research, based on panda behavior and molecular genetics reveals the presence of taste receptors and confirms that the panda has a strong liking for natural sweeteners as fructose and sucrose.
Read More
Biomimicry: RoboClam Replicates Atlantic Razor Clam’s Dynamics In order to understand the efficient workings of flora and fauna, scientists always try to emulate nature’s wisdom, to which they call biomimicry. In one such attempt, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created RoboClam that digs itself into the soil to annihilate mines and to bury anchors. Atlantic razor clam (Ensis directus) has a stiff shell yet it is able to thrust itself through soil with a rate of 1cm/s. It’s been long since researchers were working upon the mechanism as…
Read More
When we talk about intelligence in the animal kingdom, animals like chimpanzees, dolphins or crows are the first one to come across our minds. But it’s time to get over them, because as per the latest research, common goats are way more intelligent than formerly believed.
Read More
We visualize wind turbine as tall tower with a huge fan mounted on it and fixed at some distant place. But we might have never imagined a wind turbine that floats in the air. Does it sound like a sci-fi movie subject? Surprisingly, it’s a reality being developed by MIT startup Altaeros Energies and will be seen floating in the sky above the city of Fairbanks and the power so generated will be used to power remote military sites and families residing off the grid that usually depend on expensive…
Read More
Humans in their entire life come across thousands of people. And they relatively recognize and remember all of these individual faces, thanks to the extraordinary brain for the same. But the mechanism behind this ability of the brain is still an issue for debate among the scientists. There are two hypotheses proposed by the researchers explaining how humans acquired this ability. One group of researchers suggests that the brain has specialized mechanism, exclusively for faces. Whereas the other group put forward the belief (expertise hypothesis) that the identification of any…
Read More
In a latest research, scientists have identified a gene which synchronizes the immune system and metabolism of the body. And the study conducted on mice shows that eliminating the gene results in increased longevity and less body mass.
Read More
So far, we have seen robots inspired from the best of biomimicry. Researchers have often looked upon nature to solve problems. At the same time, there are certain natural tendencies, which engineers are still trying to figure out the way towards artificially re-invention and one of them is ‘bone’. Bone is one of those natural materials that require no supervision, yet it fabricates material in response to environmental signals. In order to understand this phenomenon, researchers at the MIT, have tried to juxtapose living bacterial cells with non-living substance like…
Read More
We recently covered an article explaining the vital role of the oceans in the global carbon cycle and the process in which oceans accumulate, transport and convert carbon molecules. But according to a recent research carried by Irina Marinov and Raffaele Bernardello from University of Pennsylvania and colleagues from McGill University, says that climate change is slowing down the deep ocean currents and can adversely influence the climate in the future.
Read More
In another health technology breakthrough, scientists have successfully managed to design and manufacture a shake cancelling device. As essential tremor causing uncontrollable hand-shakes is a common disorder in older ages, scientists from the University of Michigan Health System conducted a study that evaluated a new device which cancels the effect of hand-shakes resulting from essential tremor. The device was developed by a team from the startup company Lift Labs. 15 adults living with essential tremor participated in a clinical trial to test the use of this spoon. Participants were better…
Read More
In the computer science lounge at Carnegie Mellon University, sits Victor, a scrabble playing robot. Unlike other robots who are designed to be the masters of the game, Victor is a below average player and just like humans, the bot is excited when it wins and sulk on losing. But be careful, the bot can be really nastier at times and can talk a lot of trash.
Read More
Researchers at the University of Utah have created one of the most minuscule plasma transistors that can resist soaring temperatures and ionizing radiation that could be seen in a nuclear reactor. The engineers envision that such transistors would: 1) Facilitate taking and collecting X-rays in war zones by high-end cellular phones 2) Integrated within equipments to gauge air quality in the actual time 3) Plasma based bot could be sent into the nuclear reactor for certain assignments Like beavers, the transistors perform the most important work in the field of…
Read More
Infidelity is very general trait to be observed in the animal kingdom. Maternal and paternal genetic tests have revealed that even the species that were considered to be faithful in their relationship, were often not loyal to each other. Merely about 10 percent of the species follow monogamy and are truly faithful to each other. However, according to a latest research led by University of Pennsylvania revealed that Azara’s owl monkeys (Aotus azarae) are remarkably devoted and faithful to their mating partners.
Read More
Sea snakes as the name suggest, spend their entire life in the ocean. Researchers have always been curious to know how do these snakes survive in seawater and what method did they employ to satisfy the quench for fresh water. According to a latest research, the sea snakes though surrounded by water, unfortunately, remains thirsty and dehydrated for months.
Read More
Researchers are continually trying to improve the ways to capture solar energy more efficiently for powering industries, towns, remote villages and even for military purposes. Military needs lots of fuel for its operations. In fact, Pentagon oil consumption is one of the largest in the world and with the fuel price rise, the military is searching for other energy options. Therefore, in the United States Naval Research Laboratory, researchers are trying to tap solar energy directly from the space and send it to military base operating in far-flung remote villages.
Read More