The first documented instance of ducks being able to mimic sounds has researchers reviewing the evolution of vocal language learning in birdsAustralian musk ducks can imitate sounds including human speech, with one bird recorded repeatedly saying “you …
Gravity in Multiply Connected Space
Author Greg Egan has a new book out, and wrote up an explainer behind the math: “A space that is connected (in the sense that there is always a path between any two points), but not simply connected, is known as a multiply connected space, because ther…
“ブルー”カーボンクレジットは海洋生態系の回復に役立つ：注目のカーボンクレジット市場とその課題
海草、マングローヴ林、湿地には大量の炭素が蓄積されている。こうした「ブルーカーボン」を擁する海洋生態系は、これまで気候変動の被害者とみなされてきたが、解決策の重要な一部にもなる。カーボンクレジットの需要は2030年までに15倍に増加し、市場価値は500億ドルにのぼるとされている。陸上での植林プロジェクトに比べて後れを取る海洋での取り組みは、ブルーカーボンクレジットを通して生態系を回復できるだろうか？
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The quiet search for dark matter deep underground
In which the author travels to South Dakota to visit a gold mine—housing LUX.
21st-century storms are overwhelming 20th-century cities
Infrastructure that wasn’t built to handle warmer, wetter climate is increasingly risky.
Can you solve it? The magic of the Borromean rings
You will nail this oneThe image above is the Borromean rings, three interlinked rings that have the curious property that when any one of the rings is removed, the other two are no longer linked.The rings are studied by mathematicians and have long bee…
New Company Raises Hundreds of Millions of Dollars for Anti-Aging Research
MIT’s Technology Review reports on “Silicon Valley’s latest wild bet on living forever,” the newly-formed Altos Labs which it describes as “an ambitious new anti-aging company…
“Altos is pursuing biological reprogramming technology, a way to rejuven…
River of life: zoo’s yearly count finds seals thriving on Thames
Hundreds of dozing seals show how much cleaner the river is since it was declared dead in the 1950s“This is a sushi conveyor belt,” says the boat’s skipper, Stuart Barnes, as we watch the customers, dozens of harbour seals slumbering on sandbanks at th…
Offices may harbour asthma risks, new research suggests
Study at Birmingham lung disease service points to printer toner and cleaning products as potential triggersWorking in offices can give people asthma from exposure to substances such as printer toner and cleaning products, according to new research by …
People able to freeze embryos, sperm and eggs for up to 55 years
Ministers said the change from a 10-year limit was needed because of the trend towards later parenthoodPeople who want to start a family will be able to freeze their eggs, sperm and embryos for up to 55 years in an overhaul of fertility rules intended …