Imagine placing a flat piece of plastic on a warm surface and watching it fold itself into a fully functional robot without human hands, motors or complex assembly. It may sound like science fiction, but researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) demonstrated exactly that with a tiny, origami-inspired robot designed to assemble itself…
Carl Friedrich Gauss (Image: Wikipedia) Most people assume that if an idea sounds complicated, it must also be profound. Carl Friedrich Gauss, one of the greatest mathematicians in history, was not convinced. “When a philosopher says something that is true then it is trivial,” he observed. “When he says something that is not trivial then…
Brazil is dealing with one of its worst dengue fever outbreaks in years, and scientists are trying something unusual to bring the numbers down. Instead of just relying on vaccines and mosquito spray, health teams are releasing genetically modified mosquitoes into several cities, hoping these lab-bred insects will help shrink the population of disease-spreading mosquitoes…
Seagrass meadows could help nourish millions, new study finds Underwater fields of seagrass could play an important role in fighting malnutrition among vulnerable coastal communities, according to new research published in Cell Reports Sustainability. The study was carried out by scientists from Stockholm University and Project Seagrass. It found that fish caught in seagrass meadows…
Are Milky Way’s coldest stars actually alien megastructures? New study explores Some of the coldest objects currently listed as stars in the Milky Way may not be stars at all. A new study by astrophysicist Amirnezam Amiri from the University of Arkansas suggests that these extremely cold objects could instead be giant energy-harvesting structures built…
Two people can look at the exact same run of bad luck and walk away with completely different conclusions. One decides the world is chaotic and nothing can be predicted. The other starts looking for the pattern hiding underneath the noise. Abraham de Moivre, the French mathematician who spent much of his career pricing gambling…
An adult rattlesnake rests with juveniles at a den under remote observation in Colorado (AP file photo) Many people believe that baby rattlesnakes are more dangerous than adult ones because they cannot control the amount of venom they inject when they bite. A new study has now challenged this long-held belief.Researchers from Loma Linda University…
For years, scientists thought Greenland sharks were basically blind. These deep-sea creatures live in the freezing dark waters of the Arctic and often have parasites clinging to their eyes, so it seemed obvious that their vision was pretty much gone. But a new study from researchers at the University of California, Irvine, says that assumption…
Elon Musk has laid out another far-reaching vision for SpaceX, saying the company could return humans to the Moon within the next few years and eventually move thousands of people beyond Earth. Speaking during an interview with Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Musk described plans that would go far beyond short astronaut missions, including permanent settlements…
The clock or the calendar is not truly required for you to be on time. According to a recent experiment conducted by a physicist, time emerges and changes by itself, regardless of the ticking hands or flipping pages. According to a study published on June 11 in the journal Physical Review Research, Giovanni Barontini, a…