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science

TECH: Underwater Drones

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Underwater Drones

Aerial drones have buzzed their way into almost every aspect of the modern world, from photography and television news coverage, to environmental monitoring and archaeology. And many of the concepts developed for aerial drones are being adopted and adapted to work in a very different environment — underwater. Here’s a look at 23 of the many ways that drones are being used beneath the waves, by oceanographic scientists, archaeologists, militaries, commercial divers, photographers and undersea explorers. By Tom Metcalfe – Full Story at Live Science

SCIENCE: There Was a Rainbow Dinosaur

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Rainbow Dinosaur

Despite its fearsome, Velociraptor-like skull, a 161-million-year-old dinosaur the size of a duck would have been a shining, shimmering and splendid sight to behold — mostly because it sported gleaming, iridescent feathers that were rainbow-colored, a new study finds. Iridescent feathers glistened on the dinosaur’s head, wings and tail, according to an analysis of the shape and structure of the creature’s melanosomes, the parts of cells that contain pigment. “The preservation of this dinosaur is incredible — we were really excited when we realized the level of detail we were able to see on the feathers,” study co-researcher Chad Eliason, … Read more

Scientists Find “Mordor Under the Sea”

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Mordor under the sea

Today in news best suited for sneaky little Hobbitses and Shire-folk, scientists unveiled a map of a faraway volcanic realm that has a distinct look of Mordor about it. Unfortunately for any ring bearers, the molten landscape has probably been hidden underwater for millions of years. The “Tolkienesque” region of submarine volcanoes buried beneath the sea south of Australia was discovered by a team of researchers from the University of Adelaide in Australia, the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Australia. The team employed 3D seismic reflection, a geo-mapping technique that … Read more

SCIENCE: Great Barrier Reef Sea Turtles Almost All Female

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sea turtle - pixabay

A population of green sea turtles is turning almost entirely female due to changes in the environment, scientists have found. Temperature change in the Great Barrier Reef is causing the turtles to turn from male to female. The transformation has led scientists to be concerned about the species’ future – with just 0.2 per cent of the turtles being male in some areas. Environment temperatures play a key role in determining the sex of green sea turtles. The proportion of female hatchlings increases when nests are in warmer sands, while cooler temperatures is known to produce more male turtles. For more than … Read more

FOR WRITERS: Artificial Wombs

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test tubes and beakers - pixabay

FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Alicia Nordwell: In honor of National Tech Day – artificial wombs: How would an artificial womb change the ‘humanity’ of the babies grown this way? What might genetic manipulation might lead to in terms of more than purifying the DNA for characteristics? What might be done with “abandoned” genetic materials that are used to create babies? Who would they belong to? What are their legal rights from conception or would they lack of human interaction during gestation make them more prone to be viewed as a product? Today we peer into the … Read more

SCIENCE: We May Now Know Why Gay Men Tend To Have Older Brothers

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brothers - pixabay

Scientists believe they may now know why gay men tend to have more older brothers. A new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Anthony Bogaert—the culmination of more than 20 years of research—shows that antibodies to one particular protein may be responsible. Bogaert, a human sexuality researcher at Brock University in Canada, first began looking at what is now known as the “older brother effect” in 1996. Basically, what Bogaert and his collaborators found is that having older brothers increases the chances a man will be gay. In 2006, they published a study showing that … Read more

SCIENCE: Asexual Worm Species Has Survived for 18 Million years

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worm - pixabay

A species of asexual translucent worm has been discovered by scientists. Diploscapter pachys hasn’t had sex in roughly 18 million years, when it parted from its parent species, by exclusively practicing asexual reproduction. The species has survived for the entire time by copying itself, while still maintaining fairly high genetic diversity. The revelation has taken scientists by surprise – with asexual species usually dying out due to genetic mutations. Biologist David Fitch of New York University said: “It has been a longstanding mystery in biology how some asexual animals have survived for so many generations. By Benjamin Butterworth – Full … Read more

Sci Fi: Welcome to Octlantis

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octopus

The idea of undiscovered underwater cities isn’t as far-fetched as you might think. It just turns out they’re built by octopuses. Earlier this month, scientists published a paper describing a site in Australia’s Jervis Bay, near Sydney, where 10 to 15 gloomy octopuses (yes, that’s really what they’re called) live at “high density” and exhibit “complex social interactions” towards one another. The species, also known as Octopus tetricus, communicate, fight and even “evict” one another from their dens in a settlement formed around exposed rock patches. In other words, it’s basically an octopus city, which biologists are calling “Octlantis,” according … Read more

SCIENCE: Earth’s First Flower Was Bisexual

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Bisexual Flower

The first flower to ever exist on earth, 140 million years ago, was bisexual. Scientists have discovered a dinosaur-age flower which was the ancestor of all flowers on earth – and it has both male and female reproductive parts. In botanical science, flowers with both pollen-producing and seed-producing capabilities are called bisexual or – rather sweetly – perfect. Researchers led by Hervé Sauquet, an associate professor at France’s University of Paris-Sud, virtually reconstructed the flower, according to Live Science. By Josh Jackman – Full Story at Pink News

SCIENCE: Your Brain is a Multiverse

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brain

Scientists studying the brain have discovered that the organ operates on up to 11 different dimensions, creating multiverse-like structures that are “a world we had never imagined.” By using an advanced mathematical system, researchers were able to uncover architectural structures that appears when the brain has to process information, before they disintegrate into nothing. Their findings, published in the journal Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, reveals the hugely complicated processes involved in the creation of neural structures, potentially helping explain why the brain is so difficult to understand and tying together its structure with its function. The team, led by scientists … Read more