Month: March 2017

the-universe

The Universe Is Created By Life not the Other Way Around

Physicists argue that their field is the most fundamental science. After all, every other science – biology, engineering, chemistry and so on – depends on the substances, energies and interactions of physics. But Robert Lanza, a US doctor and eminent scientist, believes this is upside-down, and that biology is the central driving science in the …

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youth

Achieving Immortality

Around the globe, about two-thirds of all deaths are from age-related causes. In industrialised countries, that figure rises to 90 per cent. Forget terrorism, malnutrition, war and malaria – when you look at the stats, the world’s biggest killer is old age. Over the millennia we’ve figured out a lot of ways to live longer, from …

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memories

Awesome Questions: Can Memories be Passed Down in Your Genes?

It’s pretty clear that organisms pass some form of knowledge down in their genes. Newly hatched sea turtles automatically move towards the sea, while baby kangaroos climb into their mother’s pouch when born. The term we use for such behaviours is ‘instinct’ but some researchers believe it may be possible to transfer more than just …

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thinking

Can Thinking Beings Spring Into Existence From Nowhere?

According to quantum mechanics, space is anything but empty. It is full of particles constantly flitting in and out of existence thanks to quantum fluctuations in energy. In principle, these fluctuations could give rise to collections of particles such as a hydrogen atom, a microwave oven, or even a living, thinking brain. The catch? The …

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vampires

Are We All Vampires?

The blood of the young can slow down the ageing process, accelerate healing and even treat degenerative brain disorders. That’s not the plot of a sci-fi novel, it’s the result of new research by degeneration expert Dr Tony Wyss-Coray at Stanford University. Though to be clear, he’s only experimented on mice so far. “We discovered that …

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mysterious-star

Mysterious Distant Star is Surrounded by an Alien Megastructure

In the constellation of Cygnus, 1,480 light-years from Earth, sits a very weird star. KIC 8462852 (or ‘Tabby’s Star’, named after its discoverer Tabetha S Boyajian) dims and brightens in an odd pattern, utterly unlike anything we’ve seen elsewhere in the night sky. A number of explanations have been proposed, like swarms of comets or planetary …

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drugs

Science News: Psychedelic Drugs May Help Treat Mental Illnesses

It’s no secret that drug policy is confusing. At times, it can seem that there is little scientific rigour involved in the regulation of substances (for up-to-date, confidential advice and information on drugs, visit talktofrank.com). This state of affairs is changing slowly, however, as researchers discover previously unknown, positive effects in some of the most …

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oceanone

Little Mermaid – OceanOne aka the ‘Robo-Mermaid’

Measuring 1.5m in length and weighing 180kg, OceanOne is quite unusual for a remotely operated underwater vehicle. Described as a ‘robo-mermaid’, it has a head, two cameras for ‘eyes’ and a pair of fully articulated arms, complete with wrists and fingers. OceanOne acts as an underwater avatar, allowing people to feel like they’re diving to …

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