10 SCIENCE FACTS NEWS
Big-brained mammals are more likely to go extinct
For millions of years, mammals with large brains have had the upper hand when it comes to surviving extinction, but a new study has found the opposite is now true. By examining the relationship between brain size and endangerment status in 160 species, researchers found that mammals with larger brains relative to their body mass were more likely to be at risk.
A flower has grown in space
After successfully growing lettuce onboard the International Space Station last year, Commander Scott Kelly and his crew have shown off the first flower to be grown in space. The zinnia plant was grown using the station’s Veggie system, specifically designed for growing crops in microgravity.
We have said farewell to Philae lander
The little spacecraft that successfully landed on Comet 67P in November 2014 has now gone into eternal hibernation. The lander has remained silent since July 2015, and is now facing conditions from which it is unlikely to recover, so ground control has given up sending commands.
History could last forever in 5D glass
Scientists at the University of Southampton have developed a new way to store digital data that will preserve it for billions of years, even at high temperatures. Using an ultrafast laser, they etched tiny nanostructures inside discs of glass, encoding information in five dimensions – their position in 3D space as well as their size and orientation – altering the way light reflects off them. The change in
reflected light can then be analysed to determine the information they hold.
Bananas are helping to diagnose skin cancer
The black spots that appear on bananas as they age are caused by the enzyme tyrosinase, which also causes the tell-tale spots of the skin cancer melanoma. This information has helped researchers in
Switzerland develop a new imaging technique for measuring tyrosinase levels, which they were able to test on the fruit before trying it on humans.
Horses can read human emotions
By showing horses photographs of positive and negative human facial expressions, researchers at the
University of Sussex have proved these animals can distinguish between happy and angry emotions. When shown an angry face, the horses looked more with their left eye – a behaviour associated with
processing threatening stimuli – and experienced a rapid increase in heart rate, associated with stress.
Climate change will make transatlantic flights longer
You’ll get through more movies than usual on future flights from Europe to North America, as climate change slows down some journeys across the Atlantic. Scientists at the University of Reading have calculated that the jet stream – high-altitude winds blowing from west to east across the ocean – is speeding up, creating stronger headwinds for westbound flights. The good news though, is that eastbound flights will speed up, as stronger tailwinds help push aircraft towards Europe.
Spiderman’s feet are not big enough
Ever wondered why you can’t scale walls like your favourite superhero? Researchers at the University of Cambridge have revealed that in order to climb a smooth vertical surface, humans would need impossibly big feet as they would require adhesive pads covering 40 per cent of their body, or roughly 80 per cent of their front. They concluded that the maximum size an animal could be in order to climb walls is that of a gecko.
Brain folds are the result of crumpling
In the womb, our brains are initially smooth structures, only developing folds when the foetus is about 20 weeks old. To work out how these folds form, scientists created a gel model of a foetal
brain, and immersed it in a solution to make it expand. This revealed that as the outer part of the brain grows faster than the rest, it crumples to form folds.
Hair follicles gradually turn into skin
As we age, our hair follicles slowly stop growing new hair, and now scientists in Tokyo know why. Age-related damage to our DNA triggers the destruction of the protein Collagen 17A1, causing stem cells inside the hair follicles to transform into skin, shrinking the follicles until they disappear.