George Dvorsky

Newly discovered titanosaur was one of the largest land animals ever

Introducing Yongjinglong datangi, a titanosaur that lumbered across the fields of China during the Early Cretaceous period some 100 million years ago. The specimen discovered, a juvenile not yet fully grown, measured nearly 60 feet in length, making it one of the largest species to ever walk the Earth. The image above illustrates an Alamosaurus,…

Bioengineered monkeys with human genetic diseases have almost arrived

Looking to create more accurate experimental models for human diseases, biologists have created transgenic monkeys with “customized” mutations. It’s considered a breakthrough in the effort to produce more human-like monkeys — but the ethics of all this are dubious at best. Yup, scientists know that mice models suck. Though they’re used in nearly 60% of…

Physics experiment suggests magnets with only one pole actually exist

Though predicted to exist, magnetic monopoles — hypothetical elementary particles with only one magnetic pole — have never been detected by scientists. But physicists have just accomplished the next best thing by actually creating their own synthetic version of these bizarre magnetic particles in the lab. As any grade 3 student can tell you, every…

Senior U.S. spies warn of future security threats

A senior American spy chief has released his assessment of the most troubling threats facing the US — a list that includes terrorism, hackers, WMD proliferation, pandemics, extreme weather events — and the militarization of space. The report, titled “Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community,” was presented by James Clapper on Wednesday to…

This sound system is so powerful no human could survive hearing it

Tremble at the sight of this huge sound horn inside the Large European Acoustic Facility (LEAF). It’s an ESA-built device that subjects satellites to the same levels of noise produced by rockets as they take off and fly through the atmosphere. Located in Noordwijk, Netherlands, and part of ESA’s ESTEDC Test Center, it’s one of…

Medical breakthrough could lead to functional artificial skin

Swiss researchers have achieved a major breakthrough in the development of bioengineered skin. The new grafts, which are about to undergo clinical trials, work a lot like the real thing — because they actually contain functioning blood vessels and lymph capillaries. The breakthrough was made by Daniela Marino and her team from the Tissue Biology…

This mesmerizing timelapse shows an entire year’s worth of weather

Behold EUMESAT’s first annual global weather overview! Over the course of eight minutes, the narrated video reviews all the global weather 2013 had to offer, from arctic blasts to super-typhoons. The video was put together by EUMETSAT using images taken by European, Japanese, and U.S. satellites. The background was provided by NASA’s Blue Marble Project.…

Lockheed takes a major step toward bringing lasers to the battlefield

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin has successfully demonstrated a 30-kilowatt fiber optic laser for military applications. It’s one of the most powerful lasers ever seen — and a major step forward to getting directed-energy weapons on the battlefield. Described as a “weapons grade” laser, the 30-kilowatt beam combines many fiber lasers operating a slightly different wavelengths…

This famous brain was cut into 2,400 slices and uploaded to the cloud

Henry Molaison had one of the most unique brains known to neuroscience. Now, six years after “H.M.’s” death, his brain has been sliced, digitized, uploaded, and made available to scientists for further study. Back in 1953, surgeons performed an operation on Molaison in an effort to alleviate his terrible seizures. A team led by William…

Physicists say energy can be teleported ‘without a limit of distance’

A team of physicists has proposed a way of teleporting energy over long distances. The technique, which is purely theoretical at this point, takes advantage of the strange quantum phenomenon of entanglement where two particles share the same existence. The researchers, who work out of Tohoku University in Japan, and led by Masahiro Hotta, describe…

A map showing gender inequality around the world

By using data pulled from the United Nations Development Program, Time has compiled a map showing just how far the world has to go to reach gender equality. The numbers on the map correspond to each country’s Gender Inequality Index (GII), a figure derived from a number of factors, including the maternal mortality rate, the…

Merging galaxies can contain multiple active supermassive black holes

Japanese astronomers have learned that merging galaxies can contain at least a pair of active and luminous supermassive black holes. Typically, only one of the two black holes are activated like this, leading the astronomers to speculate that something unique is happening in the environment to get them going. Astronomers theorize that collisions and mergers…

Mexico’s axolotl ‘water monster’ may be extinct in the wild

The iconic axolotl — a salamander-like creature capable of extraordinary regenerative abilities — has disappeared from its only known natural habitat in Mexico’s few remaining lakes. These aquatic creatures are basically salamanders that never grew up. Also known as ‘water monsters,’ they’re a neotenal species whose adult members never lose their gills, allowing them to…

Humans have been controlling fire for at least 300,000 years

Archaeologists working at Qusem Cave in Israel have uncovered a 300,000 year-old hearth. It’s the earliest evidence of repeated fire building over a continuous period by humans. Anthropologists estimate that humans first discovered fire about a million years ago. What we don’t know, however, is when our ancestors first starting using it on a regular…

No, this isn’t the stormy surface of a remote gas giant, but rather a swirling vortex atop a heated soap bubble. Shot by a high-speed camera, the image is helping scientists understand how these spinning complex structures form, whether they be in a bubble, a tropical storm or Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. Image: Hamid Kellay.

A New Scientific Model that Defines Alien Intelligence

Should we ever detect an extraterrestrial civilization, or any kind of alien life for that matter, it’s a safe bet they’ll look very different from us. They’ll also probably think in a way that’s completely foreign to what we’re used to. Here’s how experts believe we might be able to predict what the minds of…

Scientists say the Black Death ‘could happen again’

An international team of researchers has discovered that two of the deadliest pandemics in history, the Plague of Justinian and the Black Plague, were caused by strains of the same plague. They warn that mutated — or even bioengineered — versions of the bacteria could lead to future outbreaks. Above: Pieter Bruegel’s The Triumph of…

How fast are we really moving through space?

It might seem like a simple question, but as this TED-Ed video beautifully illustrates, the task of measuring an object’s speed as it’s traveling through space is far more complicated than it looks — even if you’re aboard the starship Enterprise.

The world’s first magma-powered geothermal plant

Introducing ICCP-1, the world’s first magma-enhanced geothermal system. Located in Iceland, it’s an important proof-of-concept that could lead to a revolution in the energy efficiency of high-temperature geothermal areas across the globe. Back in 2009, as part of the Icelandic Deep Drilling Project (IDDP), workers at the Krafla geothermal plant in northeast Iceland unexpectedly struck…

This ancient tablet says Noah’s Ark was round

A recently deciphered 4,000-year-old clay tablet from ancient Mesopotamia is providing new details about the mythological tale of Noah and his ark, including detailed instructions on how the massive, round floating vessel was to be built. The tablet, which went on display at the British Museum on January 24, is the subject of a new…