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The brain’s neurons tend to get most of the scientific attention, but a set of cells around them called astrocytes – literally, star-shaped cells – are increasingly being viewed as crucial players in guiding a brain to become properly organized. … Continued

Gardens persist for 150 years after those who planted them were removed.   –Chelsey Armstrong In the 1930s, an archeologist from the Smithsonian wrote a short paper remarking on the exquisite vegetation around First Nation villages in Alaska. The villages’ … Continued

Google Earth is already a powerful tool for observing our planet, but today it’s getting a major upgrade with the introduction of a new 3D time-lapse feature. Described by Google Earth director Rebecca Moore as the biggest update to Google … Continued

In a new first for genetic engineering, scientists have developed a single-celled synthetic organism that grows and divides much like a normal cell, mimicking aspects of the cell division cycle that underlies and generates healthy living cellular life. The achievement, … Continued

When faced with a problem, people tend to use solutions that involve adding new elements rather than considering subtracting existing components. In other words, people tend to choose complicated solutions even when removing things is ideal. For instance, removing stoplights … Continued

A protoplanet in the early solar system spawned a unique type of meteorite. A lonely meteorite that landed in the Sahara Desert in 2020 is older than Earth. The primeval space rock is about 4.6 billion years old, and is the … Continued

Do they really need a human touch? By Victoria Masterson In Pinduoduo’s Smart Agriculture Competition, four technology teams competed with traditional farmers over four months to grow strawberries. Data analysis, intelligent sensors and greenhouse automation helped the scientists win. Fourth Industrial … Continued

Quantum computers should soon be able to beat classical computers at certain basic tasks. But before they’re truly powerful, researchers have to overcome a number of fundamental roadblocks. After decades of heavy slog with no promise of success, quantum computing … Continued

Groundbreaking research finds that the human brain creates multi-dimensional neural structures. The brain continues to surprise us with its magnificent complexity. Groundbreaking research that combines neuroscience with math tells us that our brain creates neural structures with up to 11 dimensions when … Continued

The state of South Australia is the future. For one hour, on October 11, all of its electricity was generated by solar power, the first time this feat was achieved by any major jurisdiction in the world. So reports Richard Davies of … Continued

NORMAL’ IS NOW AN OXYMORON After 7 months of riding the pandemic rollercoaster, I recently experienced some penny-drop moments that I wanted to share with you. First, I realised that I need to embrace the fact that there will be … Continued

The intricate arrangement of base pairs in our DNA encodes just about everything about us. Now, DNA contains the entirety of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” as well. A team of University of Texas Austin scientists just vastly improved the … Continued

Climate change scenarios are everywhere. These data-driven exercises in mapping out multiple visions of a warmer future appear in corporate sustainability reports, investment portfolio analyses, and consultancy offerings. Scenario analysis can be a great way of structuring one’s thinking about … Continued

Maricá, near Rio de Janeiro, is using its own digital currency to fund one of the world’s largest basic income programs. Moacir Conceição Ramos used to work on private yachts off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. Before the pandemic, … Continued

In a bid to lessen the blow of COVID-19, the town of Tenino has started issuing its own wooden dollars that can only be spent at local businesses. Will it work? Wayne Fournier was sitting in a town meeting when … Continued

States that resemble sleep-like cycles in simulated neural networks quell the instability that comes with uninterrupted self-learning in artificial analogs of brains. No one can say whether androids will dream of electric sheep, but they will almost certainly need periods … Continued

Goats in Wales; coyotes in San Francisco; rats, rats, everywhere: With much of the world staying home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, animals have ventured out where normally the presence of people would keep them away. Under the … Continued

In order to develop solar panels that generate electricity at night, you just need them to operate in the exact opposite way solar panels work during the day. One of the problems with solar panels is that they don’t generate … Continued

Tiny ‘xenobots’ assembled from cells promise advances from drug delivery to toxic waste clean-up A book is made of wood. But it is not a tree. The dead cells have been repurposed to serve another need. Now a team of … Continued