News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
panda It’s a myth that extra belly fat in middle age is due to a slowing metabolism – and now we know what really causes the dreaded spread we can also fix it Health 9 March 2022 By Sara Novak Antonio Sortino FEW of life’s milestones are as unappealing and unceremonious as arrival in middle age. … Read more
Two teams of engineers have taken separate approaches to enable drones to carry out research or rescue operations with a reduced risk of crashing Technology 9 March 2022 By Alex Wilkins The RMF-Owl is designed to be collision-tolerant for subterranean exploration De Petris et al. Prototype drones capable of navigating dangerous and unpredictable environments without … Read more
Vital cooling systems for controlling nuclear waste at the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant are offline, leading to concerns that radioactive waste might escape Physics 9 March 2022 By Matthew Sparkes A drone image of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Pripyat, Ukraine, taken on 7 March 2022 Russia MOD/EYEPRESS/Shutterstock Fears of a potential radiation … Read more
A study of the extinct Christmas Island rat suggests we cannot bring back the woolly mammoth and other lost species without important differences Life 9 March 2022 By Michael Le Page An illustration of the Christmas Island rat Joseph Smit/Public Domain It is impossible to bring extinct animals back to life exactly as they were, … Read more
The Cambrian Explosion – around 541 million years ago – was when life and organisms really got going on planet Earth. Now new research has revealed how that explosion of life has left behind traces deep within Earth’s mantle. For scientists, it shows the connected interplay between Earth’s surface and what lies beneath, as … Read more
An AI tool developed by DeepMind can help historians restore ancient Greek texts with 72 per cent accuracy, and date inscriptions to within 30 years of their true age Humans 9 March 2022 By Carissa Wong The Celsus Library in the ancient city of Ephesus, Turkey Mazur Travel/Shutterstock An artificial intelligence algorithm developed as part … Read more
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has hit the southern port city of Mariupol particularly hard, as new satellite photos show. The Russian military has been besieging Mariupol for a week now, pounding the city with barrages of missiles and artillery. These weapons are hitting civilian as well as military targets; for example, one of Mariupol’s … Read more
Using a laser to strike rocks and a built-in microphone, NASA’s Perseverance rover has measured changes in the speed of sound on Mars due to temperature affecting the atmosphere Space 9 March 2022 By Alex Wilkins An illustration of NASA’s Perseverance rover NASA/JPL-Caltech The speed of sound on Mars has been measured for the first … Read more
Organs soon run out of energy while they are between donor and recipient, but an electric field could keep them running and improve survival Health 9 March 2022 By Clare Wilson Microscope images showing tissue damage in human donor kidneys without electrical treatment (top left and right) and less damage with treatment (bottom left and … Read more
Prototype pillow contains an inflatable chamber that connects to an external pump and motor, enabling it to expand and deflate like human lungs Health 9 March 2022 By Carissa Wong A huggable pillow that mimics breathing has reduced anxiety as effectively as guided meditation for people who were about to take a mathematics test. Interactive … Read more