While those in the city may be using Botox to clear up skin imperfections and combat the common signs of aging, researchers at Columbia Medical University are out to find another use for the toxin; playing the role of sidekick in cancer-combating treatments.
As news of newborn leopards spreads like wildfire across the United States, news from South America reveals a few dozens other births; of stars, that is.
As if news from the outback weren’t terrifying enough, with a species of spiders larger than 8 inches long, it turns out that the cities may have even larger spiders on their hands. In a recent study published this morning in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers in Sydney Australia found that one species of arachnids, Nephila plumipes more commonly known as the golden orb-weaving spider, seem to be doing much better as urban dwellers. The inner city species, which is found in shrubland all across Australia’s east coast, was found to have higher fat content, larger sizes and even increased egg capacities, as females of the species had enlarged ovaries which the researchers weighed as part of their studies.
Although they may not be on exhibit quite yet, two precocious clouded leopard cubs are bringing in quite a crowd as onlookers coo at the cutest baby pictures ever sent out on the internet. Both males, the cubs named Koshi and Senja were born earlier this summer, on June 6, at the Houston Zoo in Texas and appear to be perfect in every way possible. Active, and yet adorably coy, the two brothers became the talk of the town and the internet this morning as zoo staff released photos of the boys rough-housing and cuddling without a care in the world.
Japanese Researchers at the University of Tsukuba have found that the best batteries may in fact come from living matter. Plants harness the sun’s power through the chemical process of photosynthesis, so why can’t we power our batteries on the same principle?
As a Southern Californian, and more importantly a Latino, the stinging heat of a habanero or the terrifying feint burning of a ghost pepper are not unknown adventures on my palette. Staples in many Asian and Latin American cuisine, chilies have become the most widely grown spice crop worldwide in recent decades, and the secret lies in the heat—something researchers say may be the answer to longer life-expectancy. Recently published in the journal Cell, University of California Berkeley’s Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology Andrew Dillin revealed that the active ingredient that gives chilies their spicy heat (Capsaicin) may in fact regulate metabolism and longevity in life spans of humans.
Sifting through archival data from NASA’s Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) satellite, a team of astronomers have discovered the brightest X-ray source in the galaxy Messier 82 is a rare pulsating black hole nearly 12 million light-years away, according to a study published in this week’s issue of the journal Nature. Thought to have been a midsize black hole for over a decade, a rare occurrence for most, the black hole named “M82 X-1” emitted rhythmic pulsations of X-rays that helped astronomers pinpoint its location and measure its size.
Making a bit of innovation out of nature’s abundant inspiration, engineers at the University of Illinois recently published in the journal PNAS that they have created new camouflaging technology based on the evolutionarily derived abilities of octopi and their close relatives cuttlefish.
