Imagine a scientist from a small university who has spent a decade creating a unique data set by collecting thousands of measurements of a prairie ecosystem that is adapting to climate change. Despite struggles with funding and the time-consuming demands of her teaching duties, she publishes her first piece in what she intends to be a series of papers on this ecosystem. As a supplement to the paper, she shares her data on the Web. A year later she finds that a large, well-funded research group has downloaded her data and, without contacting her, published multiple papers that … Read More → "Why scientists need to learn how to share"

According to the US Department of Defense, corrosion costs the Navy approximately US$7 billion every year. That’s certainly an incentive for developing a method of keeping military vehicles from rusting. Now, researchers from the Office of Naval Research and The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory may be onto something. They’re looking into the use a powder that could allow scratched or chipped paint to “heal like human skin.”

The powder, … Read More → "Military vehicles could soon feature self-healing paint"

Research conducted by scientists at the University of Houston puts your phone one step closer to tell you when you’re sick. Jiming Bao, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Richard Willson, Huffington-Woestemeyer Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, together developed a gold-lined glass slide with holes that will be blocked in the presence of bacteria. The concept is still being developed, but Willson … Read More → "Researchers are making a smartphone lens that can spot sickness"

The auto industry in the US hit a few speed bumps over the past few years, and while many factories have closed, it’s good to see that some workers, like this industrial robot arm, have managed to find work elsewhere. Instead of building sedans, this arm now lathes solid blocks of maple into lovely wooden stools.

The Totoro stool collection was designed on a computer in 3D … Read More → "Woodworking robot used to build cars and trucks"

Are you enjoying this article? Do you find it relevant to your life? I’d like to take all the credit for that, but new research suggests your positive reaction may simply reflect its physical presentation.</ … Read More → "The surprising power of symmetry"

The National Security Agency has many secrets, but here’s a new one: the agency is refusing to say how much water it’s pumping into the brand new data … Read More → "Why does the NSA want to keep its water usage a secret?"

Pop-Up House measures a total of 150 sq m (1,614 sq ft), and the interior features a large combined open space that contains kitchen, dining and living room areas. Elsewhere in the home are two bathrooms, a master bedroom, two additional bedrooms, an office, and a terrace.

The structure is simple to build and comprises a spruce wood frame, laminate veneer wooden floor, and expanded polystyrene insulation blocks, and everything is held … Read More → "Sustainable home can be built in four days using only a screwdriver"

One of agricultural biotechnology’s great success stories may become a cautionary tale of how short-sighted mismanagement can squander the benefits of genetic modification.

After years of predicting it would happen — and after years of having their suggestions largely ignored by companies, farmers and regulators — scientists have documented the rapid evolution of corn rootworms that are resistant to Bt corn.

Until Bt corn was genetically altered to … Read More → "Voracious worm evolves to eat biotech corn engineered to kill it"

The gravity loading countermeasure skinsuit is a collaborative project with researchers from King’s College London (KCL), working on a design provided by MIT with help from the European Space Agency (ESA). The goal of the project is to provide a more efficient method of maintaining bone and muscle mass during long term missions in space, aboard for example the International Space Station (ISS).

Having evolved under the pressure of Earth’s gravity, human … Read More → "King’s College London develops skinsuit to prevent muscle and bone loss in space"

As you’ve probably heard, yesterday a team of scientists identified evidence of cosmic inflation right after the Big Bang, a finding which helps explain how the entire Universe originated. Amazing as that sounds, it’s way more important than you even imagine.

To truly grasp the significance, let’s start … Read More → "Why the big bang discovery is even more important than you think"