university

This Adorable Jumping Spider Can’t Actually See Its Own Most Vivid Color

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Jumping spiders may have exceptional eyes, but one adorable species seems to have a curious lack in the vision department. New experimental evidence suggests that a jumping spider called Saitis barbipes has no photoreceptors capable of perceiving the color red.   What makes this so strange is that S. barbipes – like many jumping spiders … Read more

Beetle Larvae on US University Campus Found to Jump in a Completely Unknown Way

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While most of us avoid creepy-crawlies at all costs, entomologists – scientists who study insects – need to actively go looking for them. “My colleague noticed a dead tree in the middle of our university campus,” entomologist Adrian Smith from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences told ScienceAlert.   “If you’re an entomologist, when you … Read more

Former Google CEO invests in computing help for university scientists | Science

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Scientists at universities perform much of the world’s cutting-edge scientific research—often while relying on shaky, homemade computer software written by students and postdocs. Schmidt Futures, a philanthropic organization founded by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Wendy Schmidt, his spouse, hopes to remedy that situation by investing $40 million over the next 5 years to … Read more

Scientists Taught a Goldfish How to Drive Its Tank Around, And It’s Adorable

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Goldfish may have short memories but, according to an Israeli university study, they might be able to drive. Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev found that a goldfish’s innate navigational abilities allowed it to steer a robotic vehicle towards a terrestrial target if given a food reward.   To conduct their unusual experiment, the … Read more

‘Icemageddon’ Strikes Alaska in Record Bout of Extreme Weather

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Extreme weather in Alaska that has brought record high temperatures and torrential downpours has left authorities in the far northern US state warning of “Icemageddon”. Huge sheets of ice are blocking roads and choking traffic in Fairbanks, Alaska’s second largest city, reported the state’s transportation department, which has coined the neologism – a play on … Read more

What if Math Is a Fundamental Part of Nature, Not Something Humans Came Up With?

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Nature is an unstoppable force, and a beautiful one at that. Everywhere you look, the natural world is laced with stunning patterns that can be described with mathematics. From bees to blood vessels, ferns to fangs, math can explain how such beauty emerges.   Math is often described this way, as a language or a … Read more

Crows Are So Smart They Seem to Understand The Concept of Tool Value

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A new study has demonstrated crows can assign value to their tools just like we do. “Many of us will fuss about a brand-new phone, making sure it does not get scratched, dropped or lost. But we may handle an old phone with a cracked screen quite carelessly,” said behavioral ecologist Barbara Klump now at … Read more

Scientists Just Identified a Brand New Muscle Layer in The Human Jaw

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It turns out there are still exciting new discoveries to be made in a field as well-studied as human anatomy: researchers have confirmed the existence of a layer of muscle in the human jaw that has until now eluded anatomists.   This new muscle is a deeper, third section of the masseter muscle. It’s the most prominent … Read more

Here’s Why The World Will Be Holding Its Breath During The JWST Launch

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When the immense sound of the Ariane 5 rocket rumbles across Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana, it will signal the end of a journey decades in the making. Perched atop the rocket will be the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the most sophisticated and complex observatory ever constructed.   An enormous mirror 6.5 meters across, … Read more