Esther Inglis-Arkell

Tech News

Researchers Want To ‘Build’ Their Own 3D Shark with Beastcam

The giant blue crab that is swooping down on that gecko is known to the people of the University of Massachusetts as Beastcam. It can scan a car in 45 seconds flat. Hopefully it can scan a live shark in less. The first step to creating Beastcam was an abject failure. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, … Continued

Tech News

A Common Food Preservative Could Be a Cancer Treatment

You’ll find nisin in quite a lot of your food—particularly the food that has to be shelf-stable. Some people look askance at preservatives, but not only is this one all-natural, it has just been shown to kill tumor cells and antibiotic resistant bacteria. A recent article in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, with the refreshing … Continued

Tech News

These Scientists Have a Plan to Make Ebola Research More Affordable

The past few months have seen a dramatic rise in the number of experts researching the prevention or treatment of Ebola. That rise hasn’t been dramatic enough, in part because Ebola has to be tested at expensive, highly specialized facilities. Now there’s a plan to change that. A group led by researchers at the Toronto … Continued

Tech News

These Ready-to-Mix Drug Capsules Are the Size of a Red Blood Cell

The idea of separated medications that only mix inside the body at a desired location is an old one, but it’s never been possible with something that can be injected directly into the bloodstream. Made with three needles, a blast of electricity, and a thorough knowledge of fluid dynamics, these capsules are the first step … Continued

Tech News

Badass Historical Chemists: This Fisherman’s Son Argued for the Existence of Atoms

Mikhail Lomonosov coined the term “physical chemistry,” was an early advocate of the existence of atoms, and wrote poetry to get himself out of prison after being arrested for brawling. Along the way he became one of the greatest names in science. Lomonosov was born in 1711. In some versions of the story he was … Continued

Tech News

Here’s Why Seashells Don’t Have the Consistency of Chalk

Chalk and seashells are made of the same thing: calcium carbonate. Shells are stronger because they have trapped proteins inside, and scientist had thought that these proteins were trapped like flies in amber. It turns out it’s way more organized than that. Scientists know that it’s the little proteins trapped inside that makes the difference … Continued

Tech News

Columbia Just Digitized a Bestselling Anatomy Flipbook From the 1610s

People in the past were as interested in how the world worked as we are. Authors and illustrated produced works to cater to that interest—including an incredibly bizarre “flap book” that shows what human insides look like. Now you can look at the whole thing online. In 1613 Johann Remmelin published a book, Catoptrum Microcosmicum, … Continued

ScienceBiology

This Bison Was Struck by Lightning and Emerged Ugly But Alive

If you’re ever in Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, keep an eye out for the ugliest bison alive. That’s not an insult. Taking a direct hit from a lightning bolt and staying alive is something to be proud of. Sparky first caught the eye of Fish and Wildlife officials in 2013, when Karen Viste-Sparkman saw … Continued

Tech News

Roman Toilets Weren’t as Sanitary as We Thought 

Good plumbing is an overlooked, but vital, part of modern life. One of the first civilizations to really get a handle on it was the Romans. So why did the prevalence of parasites during Roman times increase compared to the Iron Age? Research just published in the journal Parasitology indicates that Roman toilets and bath … Continued

Tech News

Ötzi the Iceman’s Gut Bacteria Can Help Us Trace Early Human Migration

The 5,300-year-old natural mummy dubbed Ötzi the Iceman, discovered in 1991, is still teaching us things. A multidisciplinary team of scientists at European Academy of Bozen have studied Ötzi’s gut bacteria to learn more about early human migration patterns. Ötzi the Iceman did not have a lucky life. He had hardened arteries, he was infected … Continued

ScienceBiology

Scientists Gave Praying Mantises Tiny 3D Glasses to Prove They Have 3D Vision

Scientists outfitted praying mantises with 3D glasses made of beeswax to confirm that the insects have 3D vision. But they couldn’t show the mantises the equivalent of IMAX films. A group of scientists at Newcastle University just published their findings on mantis vision in Scientific Results and shared some hilarious images of spectacled bugs with … Continued

Tech News

Scientists Think Dinosaurs Danced to Impress Lovers, Terrorize Foes

If you thought Jurassic World had the craziest picture of dinosaur behavior, get ready to be reminded that reality can always get weirder. Researchers have found evidence that dinosaurs danced, both to terrify their enemies and impress their would-be lovers. That’s the conclusion of a group of international scientists, led by Martin Lockley at the … Continued

Tech NewsDesign

Young People Used These Absurd Little Cards to Get Laid in the 19th Century

Victorians loved to communicate via calling card. It was the proper, dignified way to communicate with other people. But wouldn’t you know, young people just had to mess it up. Check out these oh so risque Victorian flirtation cards. Calling cards came into widespread use in the mid-1800s, when the middle class was trying to … Continued

Tech News

Experts Argue That Cancer Screening Doesn’t Save Lives

We live in a society that trumpets the benefits of early cancer detection and campaigns to get people tested. If a new analysis is correct, that could change completely. What if cancer screening became largely a thing of the past, because we’ve learned it doesn’t reduce the number of deaths? An analysis recently published in … Continued

ScienceBiology

We’ve Been Completely Wrong About How Cats Get Their Black-and-White Spots

For quite some time, scientists had a working theory of why certain piebald (patchy black-and-white) mammals look the way they do. They assumed the coloring is a directed pattern that involves pigmented cells instigating a controlled expansion. Turns out, it’s all just random. Scientists at the University of Bath and the University of Edinburgh have … Continued

SciencePhysics & Chemistry

These Sugar-Based Anti-Reflective Fake Moth Eyeballs Are Not for Eating

Do a quick scan of the journal Applied Physics Letters today, and you’ll find that researchers from Belarus and France have fabricated an anti-reflective coating made from sucrose and modeled after moth eyeballs. It could be manipulating microwaves one day, but right now, it’s just incredibly neat. Though we usually see them clustered around light … Continued

Tech News

Is “Emotion Training” the Next Brain Training? Let’s Hope Not

News broke today that Lumosity — the company behind all those brain-training games that are supposed to make you smarter — had to fork over $2 million for being 99% bullshit and 1% cutesy commercials. Coincidentally, a team of Israeli scientists announced that “emotion training” might be possible. Based on recent experimental results, researchers at … Continued

io9Movies

7 Reasons It Sucks to Be a Superhero Girlfriend

Wives and girlfriends of superheroes aren’t as hard-done-by as parents of superheros, but they’re a close second. Not only do they inevitably have a rough time, but everybody (including fans) hate them—which is no surprise. Each superhero girlfriend has a large number of factors working against her. 7. She’s Cast Before a Chemistry Check This … Continued

Tech News

One Day We Could Treat Ebola By Turning Its Own Mutation Against It

Mutated viruses have long been the bogeyman of science fiction films, but in the case of Ebola, mutation could be its downfall. New research suggests the virus’s own tendency to mutate could one day lead to an effective treatment. Researchers at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute believe they might have discovered a potential way to … Continued

Tech News

New Maps Identify Possible Hot Spots for Bat-Transmitted Diseases

Bats are suspected, although not proved, to have been the origin of multiple human diseases, including Ebola and rabies. New maps show the hot spots where outbreaks are most likely to occur, and which diseases are most likely to be transmitted from bats to humans. One of those is the region of the devastating 2014 … Continued