George Dvorsky

Will Scientists Ever Solve the Mystery of Consciousness?

We still have no idea how the brain produces conscious awareness. In this excellent short video produced by The Economist, various experts are called upon to explain the “hard problem” that is consciousness, and how scientists might solve this profound mystery. For the video, The Economist gathered together an impressive collection of philosophers and scientists,…

Scientists Urge Caution in Wake of “Transmittable” Alzheimer’s Claim

A provocative new paper published in Nature suggests that neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s may be transmissible through certain medical procedures. It’s an alarming claim—but one that will require more proof if it’s to be accepted by the scientific community. Protein Problems To understand how the researchers came to this conclusion it’s important…

Saturn Dominates Dione in this Striking New Photo From NASA

Saturn’s satellite Dione is less than half the size of our moon, and it orbits a planet which features a radius nine times that of Earth. It’s a stark contrast in size that’s beautifully conveyed in a picture recently captured by the Cassini space probe. This gorgeous image was taken by Cassini at a distance…

World’s Largest Camera Will Show Us the Universe Like We’ve Never Seen It

The U.S. Department of Energy has green-lit the construction of a 3.2-gigapixel digital camera for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). Once complete, the instrument will be used by astronomers to study everything from the Big Bang to the motions of nearby asteroids. The LSST is expected to detect tens of billions of objects over…

Chinese Beekeepers Actually Have a Good Reason for Hanging Hundreds of Beehives Off a Cliff

Beekeepers from China’s Hubei province have attached over 700 beehives to the face of a steep cliff in the Shennogjia Forestry Reserve. It’s an awesome—if not intimidating—sight, but it’s an effort to create new habitat for the endangered species. As reported in Xinhua, these beehives were set up by beekeepers on Muyu Village’s Guanmen Mountain,…

It’s Gonna Cost at Least $110,000 to Repair King Tut’s Damaged Mask

Earlier this year, King Tut’s famous burial mask was damaged during a botched cleaning attempt. Experts are now contemplating the best way to restore the ancient relic. Back in January, the Egyptian Museum admitted that members of its staff accidentally knocked off the mask’s blue and gold beard while trying to change the display’s light…

Archaeologists Have Made Another Amazing Discovery Near Stonehenge

Last year, archeologists announced the discovery of the Durrington Walls “superhenge,” a remarkable structure located just two miles from Stonehenge. The same team have now found evidence of an even older structure at the site—a ritual arena comprised of over 90 megalithic stones. Constructed some 4,500 years ago, Durrington Walls is one of the largest…

The World Is Running Out of an Essential Snakebite Anti-Venom

Doctors Without Borders is warning that global stocks of a critical snakebite treatment are poised to run out next year—a troubling development that could put tens of thousands of lives at risk. The last batch of one of the world’s most effective snakebite treatments, known as Fav-Afrique, is set to expire in June 2016. This…

How SETI Will Understand Messages Broadcast by an Alien Intelligence

Imagine the day when we finally receive a signal from an extraterrestrial intelligence, only to find that there’s a message embedded within. Given that we don’t speak the same language, how could we ever hope to make sense of it? We spoke to the experts to find out. Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence, aka “CETI”, is…

This Social Network Turns Your Personality Into an Immortal Artificial Intelligence

By learning everything there is to know about you and your online habits, social network ETER9 promises a kind of digital immortality wherein an artificially intelligent agent continues to post on your behalf long after you’re dead. The future is creepier than we ever imagined. ETER9, a startup launched by Portuguese developer Henrique Jorge, is…

7 Ways That World War I Could Have Started Before 1914

The First World War was instigated by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, but it’s no small miracle that a general European war didn’t happen earlier. Here are 7 international crises in the years before 1914 that could have started a global-scale conflict. For most Europeans, the century leading up to the First World War…

A Rare Cross-Sectional View of a Super Typhoon

Atsani is the the sixth super typhoon to make an appearance during the 2015 West Pacific Tropical Season, which already surpassed the normal average of four. Prior to achieving its super status, CloudSat’s imager collected information about the storm, allowing for this incredible cross-sectional view. Atsani’s current trajectory puts it on a collision course with…

Sleep Drug Modafinil Affirmed by Scientists as a Safe and Effective Brain Booster

Off-license users of modafinil—a drug developed to treat various sleep disorders—have known for some time that it doubles as a surprisingly effective cognitive enhancer, and with very few side effects. A new systematic review shows it’s true, raising some important ethical questions about the use of smart drugs. Modafinil, which is sold under such brand…

ISIS Militants Have Beheaded a Prominent Syrian Archaeologist

Known as one of the most important pioneers in 20th Century Syrian archaeology, Khaled al-Asaad has reportedly been executed by ISIS militants near the ancient city of Palmyra. According to the Syrian state news agency Sana and the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Asaad was beheaded on Tuesday August 18 at a square outside…

Long-Lost Nazi Train Packed With $1B in Gold Allegedly Discovered in Poland

We’ll believe it when we see it, but two men, one a Pole and one a German, say they know the location of a heavily armored Nazi train that was rumored to be hidden away in a tunnel during the dying days of the Second World War—a train that could contain upwards of 300 tons…

This is the First Salamander Ever Found Preserved in Amber

Paleontologists working in the Caribbean have uncovered the first-ever salamander preserved in amber. It’s a discovery that’s shedding light not just on salamander evolution, but the ancient geology of the Caribbean itself. “I was shocked when I first saw it in amber,” noted George Poinar, Jr., a professor emeritus in the Orgeon State University College…

Good Lord, Scientists Have Discovered Skydiving Spiders in the Jungles of South America

As if arachnophobes didn’t already have enough to worry about, biologists working in Panama and Peru have discovered a nocturnal hunting spider capable of steering while in free fall—an unprecedented adaptation in tree-dwelling spiders that’s offering fresh insights into the evolution of flight. The spider, which belongs to the genus Selenops, joins a very small…

These Previously Unseen Photos Bear Witness to the Carnage of World War II

History website Argunners has published a series of previously unseen photos recently uncovered from the archives of an American four-star general who served in Europe during the Second World War. The images show a war-torn Europe as American forces move towards Berlin. These photos were uncovered in the archives of Brigadier General Charles Day Palmer.…

How Deep Are Greenland’s Glacial Lakes?

By analyzing satellite photos, geologists are able to measure the depth of the lakes that form on glaciers during the summer months. Fascinatingly, the process that produces these lakes is also responsible for their remarkable depth. Satellite images of Greenland’s Jakobshavn Glacier reveal a network of lakes strewn across the top of its surface. These…

Scientists have identified one of the earliest flowering plants on Earth. Montsechia vidalii likely lived and reproduced below water. The discovery of the 130-million-year-old fossil suggests aquatic plants were common in the evolution of flowering plants, and that aquatic habitats facilitated their diversification. Photo credit: Gomez et al., 2015/PNAS | Illustration: O. Sanisidro, B.G., and…