A study of chimpanzees gives tantalizing evidence that humans may have evolved upright walking in order to carry more food. A team of scientists from Oxford University, Cambridge, and Kyoto University tested the theory that two-legged (bipedal) walking should occur more of the time when animals are carrying prized but rare resources. The researchers put […] … learn more→

UCS released a survey of 997 FDA scientists this week which found that while FDA leaders are working hard to boost scientific integrity at the agency, persistent interference by special interests continues to hinder scientists’ work. The FDA responded quickly and reasonably, stressing its successes while acknowledging that improvements can and should be made. National […] … learn more→

A new NASA study revealed that the oldest and thickest Arctic sea ice is disappearing at a faster rate than the younger and thinner ice at the edges of the Arctic Ocean’s floating ice cap. The thicker ice, known as multi-year ice, survives through the cyclical summer melt season, when young ice that has formed […] … learn more→

Someday, your doctor may turn to you and say, \”Take two surgeons and call me in the morning.\” If that day arrives, you may have electrical engineer Ada Poon to thank. This week, at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference, before an audience of her peers, Poon demonstrated a tiny, wirelessly powered, self-propelled medical device capable […] … learn more→

Many species have dubious futures in the face of climate change. But sea turtles have a particularly pressing problem: their gender is determined by temperature. Australia has ecologically and culturally significant populations of sea turtles, that also have value to the tourism industry. Some of them live out their lives in Australia, while others just […] … learn more→

Can a whiter roof make your home cooler? What about your whole city? The existing literature and theory suggests that increasing the albedo – or reflectiveness – of a building will reflect incoming sun light and associated heat, reducing the building’s cooling requirements and also reducing the “Urban Heat Island” effect. The City of Melbourne […] … learn more→

The scientists of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), including astronomers at Penn State, have produced a new map of the universe that is in full color, covers more than one quarter of the entire sky, and is full of so much detail that you would need 500,000 high-definition TVs to view it all. The […] … learn more→

Archaeology is the study of the remains of the past but has long been predatory on the sciences and their ever-growing technologies. I was brought up as a student in 1970s Britain, when we learned of the wonderful revelations to be made through aerial viewing of almost any human landscape. Today we have moved on […] … learn more→

Timing is everything. I’m in the daily 3 pm planning meeting at the Observation Support Facility (OSF), and the talk is all about missing nanoseconds. One thousand millionth of a second. Even light can travel only 30 cm in a nanosecond. On the wall, a large screen shows live images of 20 white radio antennas, […] … learn more→

Imagine a home in which every appliance — computer, television, washing machine, refrigerator, air conditioner — can carry on a minute-by-minute \”conversation\” with the local power grid, allowing the devices to power down when the price of electricity is at a premium and to consume energy when it is cheapest. Such smart-grid technologies can lead […] … learn more→