For thousands of years, people have witnessed in awe the way a gecko is able to climb up trees and walls with little difficulty; Aristotle himself observed these critters and quoted that they were able to "run up and down a tree in any way, even with the head downwards" (Autumn, 2002) It is not until very recently that scientists were able to truly understand the biomechanics of the gecko's ability. Continue Reading...
Fourteen billion years ago a violent explosion, known as the Big Bang forged two types of particles: matter and antimatter. If what continued followed cosmic theory, then our universe should have been just filled with light. The theories state that equal amounts of antimatter and matter should have been created; the antimatter and matter particles should have annihilated each other, producing light. Clearly, this did not happen. Instead, our universe is dominated by stars, galaxies, black holes, pulsar, planets, and moons ? all composed of matter particles. Since the cosmic theories are wrong, what actually happened during the Big Bang that resulted in the dominance of matter over antimatter? What can explain why the Sun is shining, why the galaxies are moving, and why we are living?Continue Reading...
Pretend for a second that it is 60 million years ago. You are a crocodile enjoying some quiet time on the banks of a river while waiting for a delicious meal to swim by. The heat beats down on you in the hot sunny afternoon of the neotropical rain forest. All of a sudden you hear a noise in the tall grasses behind you. Spinning around you see nothing but the tall trees waving in a small breeze. Then, in a split instant Titanoboa cerrejonensis strikes out at you from behind the tall grass, and gobbles you up before you can even think about fighting back ? a painful ending to another ordinary day in the rain forest. Continue Reading...
Apparently, sperm have preferences, too.
No, you did not read that wrong. And no, I did not just pull that out of thin air. As any teenage girl knows, most hormonally imbalanced teenage boys prefer to gawk at the most attractive members of the opposite sex, to put it mildly. Well, new studies have shown that sperm behave in the same way, however reluctant the general female population may be to believe it.Continue Reading...
As children, most of us have played the game Simon Says. Human see. Human do. You see someone else perform an action, you learn to copy it. Yet for many years, scientists have pondered over how human beings seem to be so adept at just that: copying others. Now, a new study from the Journal of Neuroscience speculates that humans have specialized brain cells, called mirror neurons, which help you to do what copycats do best. Continue Reading...
Partying, drinking, sex, drugs: the "typical" risky behavior associated with being a teenager. Growing up, the general consensus coming from our parents was always that adolescents engage in dangerous activities because their brains are not fully developed; wait a few more years, they would lecture. But now, thanks to recent research, the perfect comeback for their allegations is in the works. Continue Reading...
Vitamin D has long been hailed as the Sunshine Vitamin. Found in many forms, Vitamin D is created naturally in the human body. However, we do not produce enough of the compound ourselves to satisfy daily recommendations. Thus, to reach daily intake requirements, we either have to consume a lot of fruits and vegetables or soak up the sun. The benefits of the vitamin are countless, ranging from improved calcium absorption to modulation of the immune system. Continue Reading...
For centuries, the issues of obesity and metabolic disorders such as diabetes have plagued the people of the United States. With as much as 64.5% of the American adult population overweight or obese, the dilemma has reached epidemic status. As a result, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has set a goal of cutting back obesity rates to less than 15% by 2010. Yet with levels augmenting every year, this reduction poses a daunting task. For decades, thousands of diet pills and numerous dieting methods have been prescribed, but to no avail. More and more, ending this epidemic seems impossible. Researchers at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass., however, may have finally found an answer.Continue Reading...
"@#$%!"
Hit your funny bone? Got kicked in your shin? Jammed your finger in the door? Like instinct, foul-mouthery tends to kick in the moment after experiencing particularly excruciating pain. Swear words streaming out of your mouth, clutching your wounded body part, you hobble towards the medicine cabinet in search of the alleged cure-alls - Advil, Tylenol, or Bayer. But don't reach for those bottles just yet; by now, you could have already alleviated that pain without knowing so. Continue Reading...
You may have heard the infamous phrase "Grades, fun, or sleep, pick two." If you didn't pick sleep, now would be a good time to reconsider. Although scientists debate how sleep affects learning and memory, it has been known for a long time that sleep is necessary for proper brain function. New studies using fruit flies show that sleep weakens or severs the synapses in the brain, making way for new information.Continue Reading...
Imagine yourself as a photon, given off from the sun some 2 billion years in the past and hurtling into the vastness of our universe at approximately 186,000 miles per second. Usual for a photon, you are traveling at the exact same speed as you were 2 billion years ago due to the vacuum of space. Suddenly though, you are tugged - no - grabbed up by a vast gravitational force and you come face to face with... a black hole.Continue Reading...
Eliot Spitzer, Jimmy Swaggart, Hugh Grant and Jerry Springer: what do these men have in common? They are all infamous for being Johns. Everyone knows someone like him: stereotypically, he is narcissistic, chauvinistic and womanizing. In the mildest form, he is perhaps the guy who shamelessly flirts with all the girls. Or maybe he's the guy who's notorious for his record of infidelity. But, the most well-known definition of a "John," as provided by Urban Dictionary, is a man "who uses the services of a prostitute" (Urban Dictionary: John, n.d.)Continue Reading...
Most people envision the future with flying cars and robotic maids. While most people will concur that both futuristic inventions are far off, the robotics field has come a very long way. Japan has recently led the way in this field with the creation of the cybernetic human, HRP-4C (China Daily, 2009). What will Japan’s cybernetic human do? Well, its first job will be to Japan’s new supermodel as it walks the catwalk. Developers at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology are currently perfecting HRP-4C’s strut for the future fashion shows. Continue Reading...
Ever experienced a moment when you wished you could just disappear? What if there was a cloak that could make you invisible? Just wrap yourself with the cloak and nobody will be able to see you. Does this sound strangely familiar? Well, for those of you that have read the Harry Potter series, this cloak probably sounds extremely similar to Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak. No longer is Potter's Invisibility Cloak a work of fiction. Scientists at Duke University claim they are placing the final touch on their version of the Invisibility Cloak, which will be finished in six months. It is a wonder that modern technology has advanced so far that it can even change fiction into reality. Continue Reading...
Imagine walking into your room to use your laptop, iPod touch, or desktop computer, and instead of connecting to your home wireless network via wifi, you turn on your light switch. Researchers at Boston University are researching a new method of wireless communication, using varying light intensities to transmit data, in contrast to the common radio waves we use today. Boston engineering professor Thomas Little leading the research states, "The technique used is to flash the light on and off, or modulate the light to transmit data." The light pulses that Little is thinking about are pulses so rapid that they cannot be detected by the human eye, only detectable by electronic sensors. Continue Reading...
Are you the type of person who simply cannot tolerate gossip? Do you not comprehend why millions of people are engrossed by the lives of D-listed celebrities? Do you scoff at those who avidly subscribe to gossip magazines or cannot function without their daily dosage of Perez Hilton? Do you cringe every time you see your classmates huddled in groups, dynamically analyzing the latest break up or hook up? If you answered yes to any of the questions above, you may be rather dismayed to learn that gossiping is actually a useful social function that can contribute to one's well being. Continue Reading...
Imagine a world where gas and other fossil fuels will be a thing of the past - where a 'simple' reaction that requires just atoms to begin, produces no chemical after-products, and generates minutely radioactive waste with a half-life of several millionths of a second will provide much of the world with inexpensive power. Even better, in the event of a total meltdown, hazardous radioactive isotopes will only be a danger to anything within a few square feet. Sound too good to be true? Well, that's what physicists first thought too. Continue Reading...
Zzzt Zzzt. It is 2015. An experimental car engine starts and revs up to 10,000 rpm and hums quietly; out of the exhaust pipe, where one would expect carbon monoxide, pours water. Technicians cheer as the first usable hydrogen fuel-cell powered car engine comes to life. Welcome to the world of Hydrogen Fuel Cells. Continue Reading...
The house looks like it could have come right out of a fairytale story, or been transported through time. It has a futuristic dome shape, and it looks completely modern but for one thing; it is made out of trees whose shapes have been manipulated into the shape of the house, a process commonly called arborsculpture. Arborsculpture in itself is not a new concept. Arborsculpture has been present since people began pruning their trees, to make their trees look aestheticaly pleasing. The art of Bonsai trees is also a form of arborsculpture. However, applying arborsculpture to architectural designs is an innovative idea that has been explored only recently. Continue Reading...
You’re standing anxiously outside the back door of your school one day, waiting for your friend to hurry up so you can make the 4:00 movie, when all of a sudden the neighborhood bullies stalk around the corner. They’ve beaten you up before, and, given the annoyed looks on their face, you have no doubt that in a few minutes you’ll probably be a streak on the pavement. Just then, you remember the new gadget you bought at the store the other day. You take out a pair of black gloves, put them on, and before the bullies have a chance to comprehend the situation you’re scampering up the vertical wall of your school, safe and out of reach. Continue Reading...
Global warming and other environmental issues have made an impact all around the world. A simple walk around the neighborhood can show anybody the changes being made. There are more signs in parks that remind people to not litter. Community service groups such as boy scouts or youth groups are out picking up trash. Even big time corporations, often stereotyped as nature’s enemy, are putting in an effort. Factories are practicing “green chemistry”; automobile companies are researching in hybrid cars. Despite this, many problems still exist in the world of environmental science. Plastic, a material used in many products, has been held responsible for the cause of everything from the green house effect to taking up a major part of the landfill. Fortunately, Tecnaro, a chemical company in Germany, has taken the initiative in constructing an environmentally friendly plastic. Continue Reading...
Who would have thought that whales could help solve the world?s energy crisis? Actually, they can?t?at least, not with the conventional source of energy used today. And more specifically, whale flippers are what have been pushing us into the world of limitless supplies of energy. Recently, Frank Fish, a biologist at West Chester University, and others have discovered a new way to design wind turbines that maximizes their efficiency in harnessing energy. These turbines are modeled after whale flippers, which turned out to have a much more clever design than scientists had ever thought. Continue Reading...
Asking that special someone out on a date can be a daunting task for some people. “What if he/she says no?” “What can I do to ensure success?” These are only a few of the nervous thoughts that might be playing through the minds of some individuals before they pose the ultimate question: “Will you go out with me?” However, recent scientific research has shown that men may have less control than they might think over the response they receive. A study completed by Prokosch et al. of the University of California has shown that intelligent men may be more appealing to women than those less intellectually endowed. Continue Reading...
Before sitting down to cram for the next big physics test, consider this: recent studies show that students who have a genuine interest in developing their abilities are less likely to do well in class than are students who solely wish to outperform their peers. So what does this mean? That, despite having a “nobler” motivation, some students may not earn the highest grades in the class? Somehow, it all seems unfair. Continue Reading...
In the Atlantic Ocean, researchers have discovered a phenomenon that they have named “Meddies.” meddies are basically discs of water that originate from the Mediterranean and develop a rotation as they move into the Atlantic Ocean. The discs grow to immense sizes and create portions of the Atlantic Ocean with varying salinities and temperatures. The increased salinity of the discs is a result of the discs being from the Mediterranean, where surface water evaporates quickly to leave extremely salty water. Once the meddies hit the Atlantic Ocean, their movement speed decreases and they begin to mix with the surrounding ocean water. Due to the enormous size and temperature differences of the meddies, researchers have predicted a change in the ocean's heat exchange and the earth's climate. Continue Reading...
The Large Hadron Collider is a creation of the aspirations of scientists at the European particle physics laboratory, CERN, in Switzerland. The LHC's purpose is to recreate the Big Bang and see the beginnings of the Universe and analyze where the Universe is heading. This article will analyze how physicists came up with the idea of the LHC and how it will help answer fundamental questions about the Universe. Being the most complex scientific apparatus ever built, answers to unravel the universe's inner workings will not come easily. The problems expected to be encountered and the process of discovery will also be discussed in this article. Continue Reading...
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) have created a buzz earlier this year when the new research was introduced. iPS cells are reprogrammed adult somatic cells which are structurally and functionally identical to embryonic stem cells. This new type of stem cell was thought of as the future of stem cell research and patient treatment. The idea of a limitless supply of stem cells which did not involve the use of human embryos excited scientists. However, the need for embryo based stem cell research did not cease due to the woeful inefficiency of the reprogramming process. Continue Reading...
The Science Frontiers 8th Period Activity is new with the 2008/2009 school year at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.