Archive: May 2017

A recent NASA mission has discovered that the atmosphere on Mars has many similarities to that of Earth. Metal atoms, contained in dust particles, float down from the solar system and become trapped in the atmosphere of a planet. Energetic particles, for…

A medical team at Johns Hopkins University genetically engineered a common cold virus to deposit a gene when injected into the human eye. This gene codes for a protein that binds to VEGF, another protein whose activity in old age contributes to vision…

The Parkes Telescope in Australia has detected a large percentage of all observed FRBs. [‘radio telescope’ from University of Bath] Something in outer space is shouting at us, but astronomers are still trying to figure out the source of this…

by Liam Kelley figures by Alexandra Was Are humans as special as we think we are? We certainly like to believe so, at least on this planet. However, the question remains as to whether humans, or our planet, are unique in the universe. Are there other…

Antibiotic resistance is an important public health problem. In this lecture, we will learn about what antibiotic resistance is and how it arises. Ultimately, antibiotic resistance occurs through a process of natural selection and evolution. In complex…

by Nicolas P. D. Sawaya figures by Brad Wierbowski More renewable energy means more electricity storage When the National Academy of Engineering ranked the twentieth century’s greatest engineering achievements, first on the list was “electrification,”…

Spreading of Homo sapiens [Image: created by NordNordWest, release into the public domain] It is widely believed that humans first arrived in the Americas around 13,000 to 15,000 years ago. Discoveries at archeological sites such as Mesa Verde in Chile…

by Karen J. Kieser figures by Karen J. Kieser Tuberculosis (TB) has been a disease of humankind for millennia, and rising rates of drug resistance threaten humanity’s ability to arrest its spread. Compared to common bacterial infections, such as strep…

by Emma Bertran figures by Rebecca Clements Over the past few decades, our Earth has undergone global changes, a gradual reshaping that can be witnessed in real time. Since the Industrial Revolution, the global annual mean concentration of atmospheric…

The Internet abounds with running guides for beginners. Buy these shoes! Download this app! Do these dynamic warm up stretches! And while all of this advice works for getting you off the couch, the most effective trick for sticking to a running routine…