Science

An international team of archaeologists has provided a window into one of the most exciting periods in human history — the transition between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. A suspected speartip made from material sourced more than 60 miles (100 km) east of Pod Hradem Cave. Image credit: Miroslav Kralik. The …

A new species of cottontail rabbit (genus Sylvilagus) has been described from the lowlands of western Suriname by Portland State University Professor Luis Ruedas. The Suriname lowland forest cottontail (Sylvilagus parentum). Image credit: UOL / IUCN. Prof. Ruedas made the discovery after studying rabbit specimens at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center …

Nuclear fusion is the process that powers the sun, but closer to home scientists are trying to develop fusion reactors that could provide immense amounts of energy. These reactors are big and (currently) inefficient, but a NASA-funded startup called Princeton Satellite Systems is working on a small-scale fusion reactor that …

A new image of Saturn’s yin-yang moon, Iapetus, was recently captured by NASA’s Cassini probe, currently in its ‘Grand Finale’ phase. This image of Iapetus was taken with Cassini’s narrow-angle camera on March 11, 2017. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute. Iapetus, also known as Saturn VIII, …

In 1859, Charles Darwin included a novel tree of life in his book ‘On the Origin of Species.’ Now, a Rutgers University-led research team wants to reshape Darwin’s tree. The authors discuss their proposal in a paper published online in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution. A 2016 representation …

In a study to examine how effective different varieties of onion are at killing cancer cells, a team of scientists at the University of Guelph has found that not all of them are created equal. According to Murayyan et al, Ontario-grown red onions have the strongest cancer-fighting power. Image credit: …

A new study led by University of Oxford researchers has found that alcohol consumption, even at moderate levels, is associated with increased risk of adverse brain outcomes including hippocampal atrophy — a form of brain damage that affects memory and spatial navigation. The study was published online in the journal …

The gas giant Jupiter is not only the most massive planet in our Solar System, but it’s also the oldest, according to an international team of planetary researchers from the Institut für Planetologie at the University of Münster in Germany and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the United States. …

Researchers from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and elsewhere have identified seven risk genes for insomnia. Insomnia is one of the most common health problems. Image credit: Dan Fa. Insomnia is among the most frequent complaints in general practice. Even after treatment, poor sleep remains a persistent vulnerability for many people. A …

None of us is as wise as all of us, when it comes to diagnostics. So it makes sense to involve deep learning in medicine wherever we can. Think of what IBM’s Watson can do today. Now imagine an AI capable of deep learning — one specifically built for medicine, …