A researcher at the NASA Ames Center has developed a proof of concept device which can convert an iPhone into a chemical sensor capable of detecting ammonia, chlorine gas, and methane. The chem sniffing device is a small silicon chip (no bigger than a…
Read Full ArticleThe Vatican joins the search for alien life
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences is holding a conference on astrobiology, the study of life beyond Earth, with scientists and religious leaders gathering in Rome this week. For centuries, theologians have argued over what the existence of life elsewhere in the universe would mean…
Read Full ArticleNASA Discovers Large Lunar Ice Field
A team of NASA scientists announced Friday the discovery of a large amount of water on the moon’s south pole. “Indeed, yes, we found water. And we didn’t find just a little bit, we found a significant amount,” said Anthony Colaprete, a principal project…
Read Full ArticleParkinson’s dopamine killers identified
Researchers have found an essential key that could lead to new treatments and possibly a cure for Parkinson’s disease. They have identified the protein that kills dopamine-producing cells in the brain—and a way to disable it. Parkinson’s disease sufferers lack a sufficient amount of…
Read Full ArticleCurry spice ‘kills cancer cells’
An extract found in the bright yellow curry spice turmeric can kill off cancer cells, scientists have shown. The chemical – curcumin – has long been thought to have healing powers and is already being tested as a treatment for arthritis and even dementia.…
Read Full ArticleChimpanzees’ grief caught on camera in Cameroon
More than a dozen chimps stand in silence watching from behind their wire enclosure as Dorothy, a chimp in her late 40s who died of heart failure, is wheeled past them. The chimps are from the Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center in Cameroon. Locals from…
Read Full ArticleHow Plagiarism Software Found a New Shakespeare Play
Plagiarism-detection software was created with lazy, sneaky college students in mind – not the likes of William Shakespeare. Yet the software may have settled a centuries-old mystery over the authorship of an unattributed play from the late 1500s called The Reign of Edward III.…
Read Full ArticleJupiter’s Moon Europa Has Enough Oxygen For Life
New research suggests that there is plenty of oxygen available in the subsurface ocean of Europa to support oxygen-based metabolic processes for life similar to that on Earth. In fact, there may be enough oxygen to support complex, animal-like organisms with greater oxygen demands…
Read Full ArticleFirst black hole for light created on Earth
An electromagnetic “black hole” that sucks in surrounding light has been built for the first time. The device, which works at microwave frequencies, may soon be extended to trap visible light, leading to an entirely new way of harvesting solar energy to generate electricity.…
Read Full Article‘Magnetic electricity’ discovered
Researchers have discovered a magnetic equivalent to electricity: single magnetic charges that can behave and interact like electrical ones. The work is the first to make use of the magnetic monopoles that exist in special crystals known as spin ice.Writing in Nature journal, a…
Read Full Article