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Categories: Geoscience: Earthquakes, Offbeat: General

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Offbeat: General
Published

Scientists find that small regions of the brain can take micro-naps while the rest of the brain is awake and vice versa      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

For the first time, scientists have found that sleep can be detected by patterns of neuronal activity just milliseconds long, 1000 times shorter than a second, revealing a new way to study and understand the basic brain wave patterns that govern consciousness.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

How astronomers are using pulsars to observe evidence of dark matter      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Tantalizing evidence of potential dark matter objects has been detected with the help of the Universe's 'timekeepers'. These pulsars -- neutron stars which rotate and emit lighthouse-like beams of radio waves that rapidly sweep through space -- were used to identify mysterious hidden masses. Pulsars earned their nickname because they send out electromagnetic radiation at very regular intervals, ranging from milliseconds to seconds, making them extremely accurate timekeepers.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Sun-like stars found orbiting hidden companions      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Astronomers have uncovered what appear to be 21 neutron stars in orbit around stars like our Sun. The discovery is surprising because it is not clear how a star that exploded winds up next to a star like our Sun.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General
Published

Weather experts discover new effect of storm -- in a teacup      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study reveals that Storm Ciaran cut an invisible path of mayhem across southern Britain last autumn, destroying any possibility that 20 million people could have a proper cup of tea at breakfast. The storm's record-breaking low pressure meant the boiling point of water was below the crucial 100 degrees Celsius required for a decent cuppa.

Biology: General Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals Offbeat: Space Space: Exploration Space: General
Published

Food aroma study may help explain why meals taste bad in space      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study on common food aromas may help explain why astronauts report that meals taste bland in space and struggle to eat their normal nutritional intake. This research has broader implications for improving the diets of isolated people, including nursing home residents, by personalizing aromas to enhance the flavor of their food.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: General Space: The Solar System
Published

New analysis of Cassini data yields insights into Titan's seas      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study of radar experiment data from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn has yielded fresh insights related to the makeup and activity of the liquid hydrocarbon seas near the north pole of Titan, the largest of Saturn's 146 known moons.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

Bizarre 'garden sprinkler-like' jet is spotted shooting out of neutron star      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A strange 'garden sprinkler-like' jet coming from a neutron star has been pictured for the first time. The S-shaped structure is created as the jet changes direction due to the wobbling of the disc of hot gas around the star -- a process called precession, which has been observed with black holes but, until now, never with neutron stars.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

NASA's Webb investigates eternal sunrises, sunsets on distant world      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have finally confirmed what models have previously predicted: An exoplanet has differences between its eternal morning and eternal evening atmosphere. WASP-39 b, a giant planet with a diameter 1.3 times greater than Jupiter, but similar mass to Saturn that orbits a star about 700 light-years away from Earth, is tidally locked to its parent star. This means it has a constant dayside and a constant nightside -- one side of the planet is always exposed to its star, while the other is always shrouded in darkness.

Computer Science: General Mathematics: Modeling Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

A new neural network makes decisions like a human would      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers are training neural networks to make decisions more like humans would. This science of human decision-making is only just being applied to machine learning, but developing a neural network even closer to the actual human brain may make it more reliable, according to the researchers.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Scorching storms on distant worlds revealed      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international study reveals the extreme atmospheric conditions on the celestial objects, which are swathed in swirling clouds of hot sand amid temperatures of 950C. Using NASA's powerful James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), researchers set out to capture the weather on a pair of brown dwarfs -- cosmic bodies that are bigger than planets but smaller than stars.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

Cosmic wrestling match      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Our universe is around 13.8 billion years old. Over the vastness of this time, the tiniest of initial asymmetries have grown into the large-scale structures we can see through our telescopes in the night sky: galaxies like our own Milky Way, clusters of galaxies, and even larger aggregations of matter or filaments of gas and dust. How quickly this growth takes place depends, at least in today's universe, on a sort of wrestling match between natural forces: Can dark matter, which holds everything together through its gravity and attracts additional matter, hold its own against dark energy, which pushes the universe ever further apart?

Offbeat: General
Published

Origins of creativity in the brain      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New results could ultimately help lead to interventions that spark creative thought or aid people who have mental illnesses that disrupt these regions of the brain.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

Vivid portrait of interacting galaxies marks Webb's second anniversary      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Two for two! A duo of interacting galaxies commemorates the second science anniversary of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, which takes constant observations, including images and highly detailed data known as spectra. Its operations have led to a 'parade' of discoveries by astronomers around the world.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Energy: Technology Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: General
Published

A chemical claw machine bends and stretches when exposed to vapors      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have developed a tiny 'claw machine' that is able to pick up and drop a marble-sized ball in response to exposure to chemical vapors. The findings point to a technique that can enable soft actuators--the parts of a machine that make it move--to perform multiple tasks without the need for additional costly materials. While existing soft actuators can be 'one-trick ponies' restricted to one type of movement, this novel composite film contorts itself in different ways depending on the vapor that it is exposed to.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Computer Science: General Mathematics: General Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General Physics: General Physics: Optics
Published

Neural networks made of light      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists propose a new way of implementing a neural network with an optical system which could make machine learning more sustainable in the future. In a new paper, the researchers have demonstrated a method much simpler than previous approaches.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Environmental: General Geoscience: Geochemistry Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General
Published

Scientists create computer program that 'paints' the structure of molecules in the style of Piet Mondrian      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have created a computer program that 'paints' the structure of molecules in the style of famous Dutch artist, Piet Mondrian. Researchers are opening eyes and minds to the beauty of molecular structure, as well as posing new questions about the form and function of the molecules themselves.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

How the 'heart and lungs' of a galaxy extend its life      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Galaxies avoid an early death because they have a 'heart and lungs' which effectively regulate their 'breathing' and prevent them growing out of control, a new study suggests. If they didn't, the universe would have aged much faster than it has and all we would see today is huge 'zombie' galaxies teeming with dead and dying stars. That's according to a new study that investigates one of the great mysteries of the Universe -- why galaxies are not as large as astronomers would expect.

Anthropology: Cultures Anthropology: Early Humans Anthropology: General Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology
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'A history of contact': Geneticists are rewriting the narrative of Neanderthals and other ancient humans      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Using genomes from 2,000 living humans as well as three Neanderthals and one Denisovan, an international team mapped the gene flow between the hominin groups over the past quarter-million years.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

Learning dance moves could help humanoid robots work better with humans      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Engineers have trained a humanoid robot to perform a variety of expressive movements, from simple dance routines to gestures like waving, high-fiving and hugging, all while maintaining a steady gait on diverse terrains. This work marks a step towards building robots that perform more complex and human-like motions.