science

When Roses Bloom in Northern California, Researchers Take Notice

Medicine & Technology While the presence of small pink roses may seem like an innocuous blossom, researchers from the University of California, Santa Cruz are finding that as little creatures appear they signal warmer waters to come. No, these pink roses aren’t flora species, they’re hot pink sea slugs found traditionally in southern California tide pools. But as they’ve migrated north, researchers now believe that coastal water temperatures are on the rise, and this could have serious implications farther up on the food chain.

The Chicks With All of the Tricks—Spatial Strategies & Number Mapping

When it comes to cognition, there are few answers on the origins of many behaviors. Neurobiology and social anthropology help researchers understand the development of speech, the correlation of objects or words with physical entities, and even the emergence of faiths. However, when it comes to something as simple as a number line, which is virtually a universal means of discerning small numbers from larger numbers, researchers are stumped. And looking to nature for the answer, a new study published this week in the journal Science, discovered just how universal these number lines are.

Is Climate Change To Blame for These Blooming Pink Nudibranchs?

While they be fun to look at, a new sight in northern California tide pools are causing quite a bit of concern as the shades of oceanic blue are filled with one-inch blotches of hot pink. The culprits, known as Hopkin’s Rose Nudibranch (Okenia rosacea), are sea slugs common to the warmer waters of southern California. But as water temperatures shift, researchers fear that their migration further up the coast may be a sign of what’s to come.

SMAP Launch Promises New View of Earth’s Soil—From Space

As climate change issues intensify, and many countries face continuing droughts, NASA’s newest mission plans to offer a bit of assistance in confronting a drying Earth. Sent into orbit just this morning, Saturday Jan. 31 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission plans to give researchers and farmers vital information about the moisture of any given soil on the face of the Earth.

Think That Chicks Are Just Plain Cute? Well It Turns Out That They Have a Knack for Numbers Too

While it may take children a couple of years to learn the true values of arithmetic, a new study conducted by ethologist Dr Rosa Rugani, from the University of Padova, reveals that newborn chicks can not only recognize number patterns but also place them in ascending order from left to right. In fact, while the cognitive ability to count may seem like an acquired trait taught to us in school, Rugani’s recent experiments prove that even those with bird brains can display a knack for “number mapping”.

When It Comes to Controversy, Science and the American Public Disagree

While most of the general public may not want to spend their life crunching numbers or mixing chemicals in a lab, often science breaches the great divide. While there may be a few points of contention, the good news at least is that most Americans believe that science and scientists are invaluable resources for information. In fact in a new public opinion poll released yesterday by the Pew Research Center and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 79 percent of those interviewed said that they believed in the important nature of science. But when it came to controversial topics like climate change and GMOs, the stats and the public opinion were not nearly as generous.

Watch This Spider Spin a Web That Makes Tech Designers Envious

Looking to boost the integrity of nanofilaments, important in commercial manufacturing and technology, researchers from Oxford University recently investigated how the filaments are spun in nature. Pulling inspiration from outside in their gardens, the researchers from the UK captured female Uloborus plumipes commonly known as “feather-legged lace weavers” and watched them spin their webs.

Ever Wonder How Spiders Spin Such Long Webs? Researchers at Oxford Use Microscopy to Find the Answer

Looking just outside into their gardens for a bit of inspiration, one group of Oxford University researchers has sought out to discover how common spider species spin such long, ornate fiber while only being a few nanometers thick. Hoping to reveal nature’s secret, which may someday revolutionize the technological industry as manufacturers find new ways of commercially spinning nano-scale filaments, the researchers captured female Uloborus plumipes commonly known as “feather-legged lace weavers” and watched them spin their webs.

NASA Climate Research Satellite Launch Postponed Due to Fast Winds

Fast winds over California postponed a NASA satellite launch today, but researchers with the space agency say that the mission is far from over. Set to launch this morning, Jan. 29, the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) spacecraft developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory may have had a setback but it still has plans to map the world in a way researchers have never done before.

Opportunity Rover Celebrates 11 Years on Mars

NASA's Opportunity Mars Rover is celebrating a new milestone of eleven years on the Red Planet. But in spite of its fortitude, the rover which is only about the size of a riding lawn mower, was originally only designed to explore the Martian surface for about 90 days, along with her twin rover, Spirit.

Clearing Up the Smoke—Editorial On E-Cigarettes Study & Public Opinion

In a recent article published by our writers entitled “Just a Bunch of Hot Air? The Truth About Vaping” our journalist investigated new research published by the New England Journal of Medicine regarding e-cigarettes and health implications associated with vaping. Readers have said that the article propagated fear tactics to decidedly speak against vaping, and with so many questions having recently arisen in response to the article, the editorial staff has decided that it is best to clear up the subject here.

SMAP Craft Set to Move to Launch Pad

NASA has moved the Soil Moisture Active Passive spacecraft to the launch pad in preparation for a January 29 launch, in its first ever attempt to take scientific measurements of the Earth on a global scale.

Scientists Can Now Unboil Eggs

Did you ever wish you could unboil those eggs you just finished boiling, just so that you could use them in some other culinary masterpiece? Well, maybe someday you can thanks to a team of scientists at the University of California.
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