Imagine a corporation in which the CEO expresses one set of genes and assembly line workers express a completely different set of genes. All employees are born with the same genetic composition, but the genes they express determine their labor role, status in the corporation and quality of life. If the CEO passes away, assembly line workers can adapt to express the “CEO-specific genes” in hopes of assuming the role of CEO.
“Peanuts! Peanuts! Get your peanuts!” Baseball. Summertime. American bleachers.
When Baltimore residents think of a circulator, their minds probably jump to buses moving through the Inner Harbor. When Austin residents think of a circulator, they may think of something a bit more high tech. Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin recently developed an acoustic circulator that acts like one-way glass for sound.
Obesity levels in the United States have steadily increased in recent years. Public media has drawn attention to the growth of this condition often describing obesity as a national epidemic. Medically, obesity is classified as a condition in which an individual’s body mass index (BMI), a quantity calculated by dividing the weight in kilograms by the square of the height, exceeds 30. Obesity increases the probability of developing other conditions including cancer and fatty liver disease. While some of these obesity-linked ailments are incurable, researchers at Hopkins have found a drug that can combat one of them. The Hopkins research team discovered that a common medicine for epilepsy can be used to alleviate fatty liver disease.
“Buy six gallons of milk, get the seventh free!” A massive banner draped across the refrigerated aisle promotes the bone-building qualities of a hearty glass of American-made milk. If you think these advertisements are a bit excessive for one grocery store trip you’d be in agreement with Walter Willet, a Harvard University nutritionist who’s got a bone to pick with the dairy industry.
Picture yourself as a human 300,000 years ago. You are huddled inside a cave with friends, and there is a hunting party around a burning hearth. As you cut up the afternoon’s catch with a newly crafted stone tool, you chat — in whatever communication methods available — about your day. You lean over and whisper to your neighbor about the herd of deer you saw earlier roaming the mountains where you normally hunt. Your friend then suggests to the group that you all fight away the other people threatening to take your hunting spot.
It is not large mammals nor hungry creatures that stand as the Magellanic penguin’s biggest predator: It is climate change. A recent study conducted by Dee Boersma at the University of Washington claims that changing weather patterns are threatening the chicks of this penguin species.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is on pace to become, if it hasn’t already, one of the most controversial pieces of legislation of our generation.
Meet BMH-21. This little studied molecule has been hiding in a library of potential anticancer agents, successfully evading the pipettes and petri dishes of cancer researchers.
“Excuse me, but I am lost. Could you direct me to Hodson Hall?”
The cool, playful sea breezes on the sunny beaches of California may be more menacing than they seem. A study published this month by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that China is exporting its pollution across the Pacific Ocean and onto American soil. The study, conducted by nine scientists from Britain, China and the United States, attempted to identify the environmental consequences of interconnected economies. Specifically, the researchers wanted to investigate how American air quality is affected by the demand for goods produced in China.
Researchers at The Brain Observatory in San Diego have embarked on a quest to help illuminate the meaning of a mysterious language engraved within a 2,401-page book. The inscriptions are those of neuroscience and the pages are brain slices. Two-thousand four-hundred and one slices of brain.
During the 2001 anthrax attacks, bioterrorists used deadly anthrax spores in postal letters to threaten U.S citizens and political figures, including two senators. Ultimately, 22 people were infected and five died. Despite the implementation of biohazard checkpoints, anthrax continues to be a threat to our country, as the spores can be cultivated with minimal equipment and education. However, some researchers at the University of California, Davis may have some good news for countering this form of bioterrorism. In the corpse of a Nimibian zebra, the researchers serendipitously found a certain virus that can kill the anthrax bacteria.
You’re waiting in an unbearably long line. You tap your feet and check you watch - over and over again. Your body posture and movement convey your restlessness to all nearby observers. But are your eye movements giving away your impatience as well?
We are social animals. Our social surroundings shape us in more ways than one. Those we choose or unwittingly allow in our “cognitive neighborhood” can have tremendous effects on our health, mentality and even personality development. Cognitive scientists at Indiana University investigating social learning have unearthed yet another one of these social triggers, and it might catch you off guard.
Walk down any street and you are likely to see packs of pedestrians glued to smartphone screens. Sit down at any restaurant and you are likely to see droves of diners sacrificing interaction with their neighbors to focus on their smartphones. Nowadays, you would think carrying a smartphone is as essential as wearing a shirt and a pair of pants. In fact, this level of attachment may necessitate an invention that allows people to wear their smartphones as accessories.
A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Iowa found that, relative to body size, men’s noses are on average 10 percent larger than women’s.
Ever taken a course in quantum physics? If not, you probably at least know that there’s something inherently complex about the field that manages to perplex even today’s greatest scientists. Einstein admitted that some parts of quantum physics are pretty “spooky.” Well, something spooky may actually be occurring in the universe this very instant: the formation of a wormhole. It turns out, according to some physicists at University of Washington and Stony Brook University in New York, that this wormhole may be forming through something called quantum entanglement.
Everyone is familiar with those things that may seem easy enough at first, but turn out to be ridiculously difficult. For many people, that thing is beatboxing.
Ones and zeros are the most relevant numbers for anyone using a computer, cellphone, modern cable . . . the list goes on. In the modern world, the binary code has become nearly synonymous with computing. However, this may change in the near future. Quantum computing may soon burst into the scene, as it is inching out of the foggy realm of theory into a world of mainstream usage.
