scientific breakthroughs

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Audio Stimulus Gets Cheetahs to Mate

Man-altered bioacoustics work as an aphrodisiac for cheetahs

(Newser) - Man’s ingenuity has altered nature’s rhythms for the better at the San Diego Zoo, where an African cheetah cub was born after zookeepers helped her dad turn on her mom, the North Country Times reports. Park scientists used bioacoustics—human-altered animal sounds—to stimulate mating after they discovered...

Scientists Track Meteor to Earth for First Time

Discovery is like first clue to asteroid 'Rosetta Stone'

(Newser) - Scientists have accomplished a first by tracking an asteroid from space into Earth's atmosphere and down to a Sudanese desert, Wired reports. A team of searchers found about 280 small chunks of the meteor, all of a type never before collected. "This is like the first step toward a...

Scientists Teleport Data on Tiny Scale

Send information between atoms a meter apart

(Newser) - It’s not quite worthy of the Starship Enterprise, but Maryland scientists have managed to teleport data on an atomic scale, LiveScience reports. The researchers transmitted information between atoms a meter apart without the data actually crossing that space—a development that could help create speedy quantum computers and highly...

Brain Looks Beyond Eyes to Recognize Faces: Scientists

New research shows that eyebrows, noses are key to distinguishing people

(Newser) - Want to make yourself hard to recognize? Get a nose job and shave your eyebrows, say facial-recognition experts, who have yet to fully understand—or agree upon—how we “see” or “read” faces. Psychologists and neuroscientists, fueled by the need to quickly and correctly identify people in the...

Silver Bits Boost Solar Power
 Silver Bits Boost Solar Power 
Jan 9, 2009 2:45 PM CST

Silver Bits Boost Solar Power

Particles allow cells to absorb more light, researchers say

(Newser) - Scientists believe they’ve found a way to make less expensive, more efficient solar cells: Just add silver, the Economist reports. Standard cells, which rely on a thick layer of pricey silicon, are costly. Problem is, thinner cells absorb less red light, reducing electricity output by 20%. Sprinkling a few...

Japanese Scientists Can Read Your Mind

They find a way to extract images directly from the brain

(Newser) - The Thought Police could eventually exist in reality, if they can just figure out how to harness new technology developed by Japanese researchers, the Daily Yomuri reports. The team managed to re-create images that people were looking at—using only subjects' recorded brain activity. This is the first successful display...

Scientists Map DNA of Woolly Mammoth

Neanderthals, early humans could be next

(Newser) - Scientists have pieced together the nearly complete genome of the woolly mammoth from a hair strand found in Siberia, National Geographic reports. It's the first time scientists have decoded the nuclear DNA of an extinct species. The development makes it theoretically possible for the mammoths to roam the earth again...

Scaffolding Gets Scientists Closer to Growing a Heart

Biodegradable frame supports stem cells, may pave way for creating whole organs

(Newser) - Scientists have developed a biodegradable scaffold on which heart tissue can be grown in the lab, possibly paving the way for the creation of whole organs, the Independent reports. In the meantime, the goal is to produce living patches for mending damaged hearts. The flexible polymer matrix ensures growing cells...

Tobacco Could Treat Cancer
 Tobacco Could Treat Cancer 
Sep 4, 2008 12:00 PM CDT

Tobacco Could Treat Cancer

Plant's virus can carry therapeutic genes into damaged cells

(Newser) - Tobacco may be able to redeem itself. A modified virus from the plant can inject gene therapy into diseased cells to treat cancer, viruses, and genetic disorders, Wired reports. The virus’ tubular shape can be hollowed out and used like a tiny syringe to inject RNA molecules inside a cell....

Scientists Close In on Antidote to Neurotoxin

Cure would block feared bioweapon that causes paralysis

(Newser) - Scientists are one step closer to developing an antidote to botulinum, a potentially devastating biological weapon, the BBC reports. Terrorists have tried, so far unsuccessfully, to deploy the neurotoxin, which is also the culprit in botulism and the secret behind Botox. A botulinum vaccine already exists, but the new drug...

Cold Virus Joins Cancer Fight

Brain tumors may yield to targeted infection

(Newser) - Scientists are trying to beat some of the most untreatable forms of cancer by employing another undefeated ailment: the common cold. A research team in Seattle has "modified the viruses so they can selectively target the tumor cells, replicate inside them and kill them," says one of the...

Sea Slugs Inspire New Brain Implant Technology

Findings could apply to people with Parkinson's and spinal cord injuries

(Newser) - Sure, it’s a warty creepy-crawly that lurks at the bottom of the ocean, but the sea cucumber has inspired scientists to create a new material that could be used in implanted brain electrodes to help people with Parkinson’s disease, reports the BBC. The creature stiffens its skin when...

Scientist Makes Wonder Material from Rice Husks

Cheap 'aerogel' would slash electricity needs, bomb-proof buildings

(Newser) - Rice husks might be the key to lowering electricity use, bomb-proofing buildings and making products—from airplanes to tennis rackets—lighter. A Malaysian scientist says she’s found a cheap way to create aerogel, the world’s lightest solid, from discarded rice husks. The material combines incredible insulating power and...

Move Over, Heisenberg: Electron Caught on Film

Elusive negative charge stars in Swedish researchers' breakthrough video

(Newser) - Electrons are tiny, fast, and, until recently, impossible to capture on film. But a short, super-slow-mo video offers the first direct look at the wily subatomic particle. Coaxing the reclusive electron into the limelight took major maneuvering by Swedish scientists, LiveScience reports. The paparazzi of physicists caught the negative particle...

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