Pauline Gagnon, Sci American
Today, 19 December, marks the 141th anniversary of the birth of Mileva Mari? Einstein. But who remembers this brilliant scientist? While her husband, Albert Einstein is celebrated as perhaps the best physicist of the 20th century, one question about his career remains: How much did his first wife contribute to his groundbreaking science?
Leah Shaffer, Undark
Alex Loukas, a parasitologist at the Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine at James Cook University, recently studied a video taken during an endoscopy of a patient diagnosed with celiac disease an autoimmune disorder in which, among other things, the ingestion of gluten can cause severe damage to the digestive system.
Drake Baer, Science of Us
Slowly, slowly, animal cognition or, gasp, consciousness! is becoming a valid, fruitful scientific pursuit: over the past year, scientists have studied crows wielding tools, dogs reading faces, chimps getting PTSD, and octopi revealing themselves to be ancient aliens.
Ed Yong, The Atlantic
Sometimes, Audrey Dussutour enters her lab in Toulouse to find that one of the creatures within it has escaped. They tend to do so when they're hungry. One will lift the lid of its container and just crawl out. These creatures aren't octopuses, which are known for their escape artistry. They're not rats, mice, flies, or any of the other standard laboratory animals. In fact, they're not animals at all.
Ian Johnston, The Independent
Wind turbines could be used to create more sea ice in the Arctic in a massive geoengineering scheme on the scale of the Manhattan Project, scientists have said.The increasing loss of ice, which reflects much of the heat from the sun, and the release of currently frozen stores of potent greenhouse gas methane threaten to create runaway global warming that would affect the entire planet.
Ilima Loomis, Science News
Sunbeamswhat a drag. That's the conclusion of physicists trying to solve a longstanding mystery: why the sun's surface rotates more slowly than its inner core. The team argues that energy radiating outward from the sun pushes back slightly as it is expelled, providing just enough resistance to put on the brakes. The hypothesis is supported by a new observation: that the thin skin of the sun rotates more slowly than layers just beneath.
Jordana Cepelewicz, Nautilus
Presbyterian reverend Thomas Bayes had no reason to suspect he'd make any lasting contribution to humankind. Born in England at the beginning of the 18th century, Bayes was a quiet and questioning man. He published only two works in his lifetime. In 1731, he wrote a defense of God'sand the British monarchy'sdivine benevolence, and in 1736, an anonymous defense of the logic of Isaac Newton's calculus. Yet an argument he wrote before his death in 1761 would shape the course of history. Читать дальше...
Jordana Cepelewicz, Nautilus
Presbyterian reverend Thomas Bayes had no reason to suspect he'd make any lasting contribution to humankind. Born in England at the beginning of the 18th century, Bayes was a quiet and questioning man. He published only two works in his lifetime. In 1731, he wrote a defense of God'sand the British monarchy'sdivine benevolence, and in 1736, an anonymous defense of the logic of Isaac Newton's calculus. Yet an argument he wrote before his death in 1761 would shape the course of history. Читать дальше...
Deborah Gordon, Aeon Magazine
It's easy to find familiar examples of division of labour. In a corporation, some people work in sales and others in accounting; in an orchestra, some play the bassoon and others the violin. Since no one is born an accountant or a bassoonist, in a system with division of labour, differentiated skills must be acquired. Division of labour' evokes an organisation characterised by a fit between role what each participant does and its natural ability.Historically, many... Читать дальше...
The Economist
EXPERIMENTAL self-driving cars continue to make regular forays onto the roads. After a trial in Pittsburgh, Uber, a taxi-hailing-app company, launched several of its autonomous vehicles onto the streets of San Francisco on December 14thand promptly ran into a row with officials for not obtaining an operating permit, which Uber insists is unnecessary as the vehicles have a backup driver to take over if something goes wrong. General Motors said it would begin testing self-driving cars in Michigan. Читать дальше...
Ben Spencer, Daily Mail
Eating ham or sausages four times a week could worsen asthma symptoms, experts have warned.The research suggests the 5.4million people in the UK who suffer with asthma could be at greater risk of problems if they eat too much cured or processed meat.Scientists believe the nitrites used to process cured meat such as salami may trigger inflammation in the airways - a typical feature of asthma.
Melissa Healy, LA Times
Maybe the reason we call it human kindness is because that's the only kind there is.We humans might find nothing more heartwarming than seeing other animals befriend and take care of each other. But new research suggests that, although they appear to perform random acts of kindness, chimpanzees, our primate relatives with the most complex social lives, do not actually act with the simple intention of pleasing one another.That conclusion will probably stir controversy, because... Читать дальше...
Helen Briggs, BBC News
Prehistoric people may have cooked wild grains and plants in pots as early as 10,000 years ago, according to new evidence.Scientists say the food was "a kind of porridge", acting as the staple diet when there was no meat from hunting.The pottery fragments were found at two sites in the Libyan Sahara, which was then green and fertile.
Coral Davenport, NYT
President Obama is expected to announce as soon as Tuesday that he will use his executive authority to permanently ban new offshore drilling in parts of federally owned waters off the Atlantic coast and in the Arctic Ocean, according to people familiar with the decision.Mr. Obama, who is searching for ways to bolster his environmental legacy in the last days of his administration, is expected to use a provision in the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to ban the drilling... Читать дальше...
Patrick Monahan, SM
An aspiring criminal sneaks past a family home, formulating her plan to break in during the dim hours before dawn. But this isn't a typical criminal, nor a typical crime. For one, she's a bird. And instead of stealing valuables, she'll be leaving something precious behind. A new study lays out just how two devious cowbird species plan and execute the perfect crime, and sometimes even return to the scene after the deed is done.Rather than doing the hard labor of raising their own chicks... Читать дальше...
Jason Daley, Smithsonian
It's been a tough year for animal conservationnot only was there a controversial report saying the Earth would lose two-thirds of vertebrate species by 2020, elephants had their worst year in a quarter century and the gentle giraffe slipped onto the endangered species list. Even the amphibian celebrity Toughie, the last Rabbs' fringe-limbed tree frog, croaked his last. But a new report from the World Wildlife Fund shows that the world is still full of beautiful and surprising creatures worthy of protection... Читать дальше...
Elizabeth Howell, Space.com
Lunokhod 1 was the first successful rover to explore another world. It arrived on the moon on Nov. 17, 1970, upon the Luna 17 lander. Driven by remote-control operators in the Soviet Union, it travelled more than 10 kilometers (6 miles) in just 10 months. By comparison, it took the Mars Opportunity rover about six years to reach the same milestone.Part of the space raceIn the 1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a "space race" to send humans to the moon first... Читать дальше...
