News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
There are few bigger questions than how life first got started on Earth, but trying to put in the detective work almost 4 billion years after the event is understandably hard going for scientists. Now it looks as though we might have found another clue. New research focuses specifically on peptides, smaller versions of … Read more
The bottom of the Arctic Ocean, below the permanent sea ice, is not a friendly place for life. Down there in the cold dark, nutrients and vegetation are sparse; it’s expected that any life that does manage to eke out an existence under these conditions would be likewise thin on the ground. Scientists were … Read more
Over the past year, you may have seen something called delta-8 THC or “delta 8” appear in convenience stores and pharmacies alongside CBD gummies, oils, and lotions. Delta-8 THC is a hemp-derived compound that’s closely related to delta-9 THC – what’s commonly called THC and which is the psychoactive component of cannabis that’s responsible for … Read more
Microorganisms have adapted to one of the harshest environments on Earth, a sulphurous and acidic lake that is considered an analogue to ancient lakes on Mars Space 28 January 2022 By Chen Ly A volcanic crater in Costa Rica with an extremely harsh lake known as Laguna Caliente Justin Wang Bacteria have adapted to survive … Read more
Most people are familiar with the five senses (touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste), but not everyone knows that we have an additional sense called interoception. This is the sense of our body’s internal state. It helps us feel and interpret internal signals that regulate vital functions in our body, like hunger, thirst, body temperature, … Read more
Wherever there is sand and an atmosphere, prevailing winds may whip the grains into undulating shapes, pleasing to the eye with their calming repetition. Certain sand waves, with wavelengths between 30 centimeters (almost 12 inches) and several meters (around 30 feet), are known as megaripples: they’re between ordinary beach ripples and full dunes in size, … Read more
Scientists have been doing some great work when it comes to peering back through billions of years to figure out what ancient Earth would have looked like, and a new study reveals that the earliest conditions on our planet were probably even more hostile than originally imagined. In particular, researchers now think that we’ve … Read more
A vast system of canyons that dramatically scars the face of Mars could be harboring reserves of hidden water. An unusually high quantity of hydrogen has been detected in the heart of the 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles) of canyons known as Valles Marineris, nicknamed the Grand Canyon of Mars. We know this thanks to new … Read more
The deadly tornado outbreak that tore through communities from Arkansas to Illinois on the night of 10-11 December 2021, was so unusual in its duration and strength, particularly for December, that a lot of people including the US president are asking what role climate change might have played – and whether tornadoes will become more … Read more
By Chris Stokel-Walker Settle in for a lengthy read Anna Berkut Almost no one reads the long and complicated terms and conditions (T&C) agreements found on websites and apps, but now an artificial intelligence (AI) can pick out the important bits for you. These legal documents are famously impenetrable – a 2019 study of 500 … Read more