News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
On Nov. 10, 2013, Europe’s GOCE satellite fell to Earth. GOCE is short for Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer. Its mission was to map Earth’s gravitational field. GOCE did this for four years. Then it ran out of fuel. Controllers weren’t sure where GOCE would fall back to Earth or linger in … Read more
By Chris Stokel-Walker A table tennis-playing robot can keep up a rally against humans, but like many amateur players, it struggles when attempting fancier shots. Yapeng Gao, Jonas Tebbe and Andreas Zell at the University of Tübingen in Germany began by designing a computer simulation in which a virtual robot arm equipped with a table tennis racket … Read more
Investors have pulled out of a project to drill the Cambo oil field in the North Sea. Does this mark the end of new oil and gas extraction in the region? Environment | Analysis 10 December 2021 By Adam Vaughan Greenpeace Norway activists in kayaks campaigning to stop drilling in the Cambo oil field www.espenmills.no … Read more
Scepticism in Western countries around Russia’s vaccine reflects politics not science – the Sputnik V vaccine has the highest protection against symptomatic disease of any covid-19 vaccine Health 10 December 2021
Roboticists often copy nature, crafting humanoid robots for household chores, worm-style machines for crawling through tunnels and four-legged contraptions that look like cheetahs for running and leaping. But they usually design an animal-like robot body first and then train an AI to control it. In living creatures, though, the body and brain evolve together to … Read more
Outlawing the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2008 and mandating low-nicotine cigarettes for others will help New Zealand reach its smoke-free vision, but vaping will still be an issue Health | Comment 10 December 2021 By Alice Klein Cigarettes may soon be difficult for young people in New Zealand to access Roberto Sorin/Shutterstock … Read more
Attackers could gain access to printers and manipulate designs of parts such as aircraft propellers in ways that are difficult to detect Technology 10 December 2021 By Matthew Sparkes 4D printed ceramic samples on display at a tech fair Xinhua / Alamy Stock Photo 4D printing, a new technology that creates parts that change shape … Read more
Domesticated turkeys in Nigeria come in a variety of colours, and those with lavender-coloured feathers are more fearful than black-feathered birds Life 10 December 2021 By Christa Lesté-Lasserre A domestic turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) with dark plumage Graham Prentice/Alamy The feather colours of certain kinds of turkeys can predict how they cope with life on the … Read more
How can a cellist play like an angel? Why am I engrossed in my book when others struggle with reading? And while we’re at it, can you tell me why my child won’t stop screaming? Now neuroscience offers the answers—or so say the news headlines. The brains of musicians “really do” differ from those of … Read more
SpaceX successfully launched its 28th rocket of the year early Thursday morning (Dec. 9), ferrying an X-ray observatory into space for NASA. A used Falcon 9 rocket blasted off at 1 a.m. (0600 GMT) from Pad 39A here at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). The mission marked the fifth … Read more