News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
From Earth’s vantage point in one of the Milky Way’s spiral arms, the structure of our galaxy is pretty difficult to reconstruct. That’s because gauging the distance to something in space when you don’t know its intrinsic brightness is really, really hard. And there are a lot of objects in the Milky Way whose brightness … Read more
Many people have experienced reductions in stress, pain, and anxiety, and sometimes even euphoria after exercise. What’s behind this so-called ‘runner’s high’? New research on the neuroscience of exercise may surprise you. The runner’s high has long been attributed to endorphins. These are chemicals produced naturally in the body of humans and other animals … Read more
According to the first global analysis of plant diversity, the world’s flora is growing increasingly uniform, even on isolated islands like Australia. For decades now, scientists have been warning the world we are headed for a new geological epoch, called the ‘Homogecene’, when unique life forms become overshadowed by more adaptable species that can live … Read more
Rather than engineering robotic solutions from scratch, some of our most impressive advances have come from copying what nature has already come up with. New research shows how we can extend that approach to robot ‘minds’, in this case by getting a robot to learn the best route out of a maze all by itself – even … Read more
When you think of snails, sharp jagged teeth are not usually what comes to mind. But you might have to reconsider because these squishy mollusks have terrifying lickity-bits when you look close enough under the microscope. Snails use their weird-as-heck toothed-tongues called a radula to lick through all sorts of surfaces to feed, including grinding through … Read more
The Universe is too heavy. According to our measurements of the normal matter in the Universe, there’s not nearly enough of it to account for the strength of the gravitational effects we can see. Whatever is making up the rest of the mass is nothing we can detect directly, and the quest to figure … Read more
It hasn’t even been on Mars a full year, and NASA’s Perseverance rover is making excellent surprise discoveries. Amid a number of findings announced this week at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, scientists have revealed that the Jezero Crater formed from molten volcanic magma – and that organic molecules have been discovered in rocks … Read more
December’s cold moon, the longest full moon of the year, will debut this Saturday night (December 18), making it the last full moon before the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. To catch the cold moon at its fullest, look up at 11:36 pm EST (0432 UTC on December 19). If you miss that moment, you’ll … Read more
After a decade of documenting and observing Indonesian shrews on the island of Sulawesi, researchers have published their findings and detailed 14 new species – the biggest discovery of new mammals listed in a single paper since 1931. Specifically, we’re talking about 14 new endemic species of the shrew genus Crocidura. Using genetic and … Read more
An experimental vaccine successfully eliminated aging cells from the bodies of mice, helping to prolong the rodents’ lives and reverse some signs of age-related disease. The researchers say the experiment is a step on the road to a similar vaccine for humans, but could it really work? “I think the data was extremely strong… I think … Read more