Tim Barribeau, Author at Gizmodo

Why blind mole rats don’t get cancer

There are two species of rodents known for their long lives and abilities to avoid cancer. First is the infinitely creepy looking naked mole rat. Less well known, and just as subterranean, is the blind mole rat. We know something of how naked mole rats are cancer resistant, but what about these fuzzy, blind guys?…

io9 Tim Barribeau

The climate disaster that destroyed the ancient Harappan Civilization could soon destroy India

More than 3000 years ago, the Harappan Civilization was one of the largest and most powerful in the world — and it was brought low by climate change — specifically, monsoons in the area stopped and desert took over. Now the same thing appears to be happening right now with monsoons elsewhere in Asia. https://gizmodo.com/climate-change-ended-one-of-the-great-ancient-civilizat-5914091…

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Power your pacemaker with your heartbeat

One of the big downfalls of the pacemaker (apart from their newly discovered vulnerability to hacking) is that every couple of years you have to open up a person again in order to install a new set of batteries. So why not tap the body to power this device directly? A paper being presented at…

io9 Tim Barribeau

Genetically modified tomatoes could save you from heart disease

A tomato genetically modified to produce a certain peptide has managed to do a pretty good job of lower plaque build up in the arteries of mice — so one day, you could help your heart simply popping down some produce. This research is being presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2012, and…

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In an unsurprising development, smoke-free laws have lead to fewer hospitalizations

Two studies released this week have shown that laws to prevent smoking in workplaces have meant that fewer people are being sent to the hospital. And yet somehow these laws are still contentious. First is an article published in the Archives of Internal Medicinethat specifically links a decrease in incidence of myocardial infarction in one…

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Finally, science invents a painless bandaid!

There’s nothing worse than pulling off a bandaid, especially when it yanks nearby hair out with it. Thankfully, researchers have developed a new kind of medical tape that stays attached to your skin, but can be removed without any pain or damage. Biomedical Engineers from Harvard and MIT have been working with the problem of…

io9 Tim Barribeau

This Elephant Speaks Korean

You may the whale who mimicked human speech. Well, it looks like we’ve got another contender for the “trying to speak like a human” title. This elephant has learned to speak Korean. Koshik is an Asian elephant at Everland Zoo in South Korea, and appears to have learned to mimic a handful of words in…

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The oceans used to be filled with noise

There’s a theory that all the noise that we’re pumping into the seas — sonar, drilling, and more — may be disorienting for sea mammals like whales that navigate by sound. But there’s something else that humans already did to the ocean, according to a new study. We killed off almost all the mammals that…

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A simple idea that could prevent future nuclear disasters like Fukushima

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011 was caused in part by flooding that killed the power generators needed to maintain the plant’s monitoring and cooling system. So, how could you prevent something like this in the future? How about by making systems that are self-powering, relying on the energy produced by the plant itself?…

io9 Tim Barribeau

Exercise may be the key to preventing brain shrinkage in old age

A research article published in Neurology found that people in their seventies who were more physically active showed less brain shrinkage over the course of three years. Unfortunately, socially and mentally stimulating situations didn’t seem to have an effect, but something as simple as going for a walk a few times a week lead to…

io9 Tim Barribeau

Unlocking the fractal patterns in cauliflower

Cauliflower are awesome. In addition to being straight up delicious, the pattern of bumps and nobs on its surfaces follow a fractal pattern. While it’s most obvious with Romanesco broccoli, it’s also present in the standard white stuff. And now, thanks to a new scientific paper, we have the formula behind it. Published in the…

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Two ways to forget bad memories, according to a new scientific study

Despite having spent late nights ruminating over stupid things you’ve said, it is actually possible to make yourself forget bad memories. In fact, not only is it possible, but the brain actually has two very different systems for doing it. In a study, scientists asked volunteers to memorize associations between pairs of words, and then…

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In just four generations, we’ve massively slashed human mortality

We’re living longer — that’s no surprise. But what is astonishing is just how much longer we’re living than our predecessors, and how short of a time it’s taken to happen. According to new research in PNAS, the last four generations of humans have seen an improvement in mortality that outdoes any of the previous…

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How do you explain the hummingbird’s bizarre tongue?

Last year, high-speed footage of hummingbirds drinking overthrew the centuries-old notion that the birds feed using capillary action. Instead, it turns out the birds trap the nectar by curling their tongue around it. Now, new research in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B has shown that there might have been some truth in those…

io9 Tim Barribeau

New study suggests animal intelligence is a lot more complicated than we realized

How do you calculate how smart an animal is? Sure, you could run rigorous tests and try to quantify the nature of “intelligence”, but the quick and dirty trick is often just a comparison between brain and body mass. However, since this is a ratio, shouldn’t evolution that changes body size also alter smarts? A…

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Now you can have knives just like Homo erectus used to make

Israeli designers Ami Drach and Dov Ganchrow have combined the most ancient and modern of tools, taking stone blades and axes, and modifying them with modern techniques. This project, dubbed BC-AD, saw its most recent iteration at the 2012 Budapest Design Week, where the tools were shown off. Each lithic was individually three dimensionally scanned,…

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The mystery of the black Martian glass — solved at last?

Last year, a Martian meteorite slammed into the Moroccan desert. Now, an analysis of the meteorite has been published in Science Express, and these black pieces of stone and glass give us an incredible look at the ancient history of the planet. https://gizmodo.com/chunks-of-mars-have-crashed-down-in-africa-5876927 The researchers believe the Tissint Martian Meteorite was ejected from Mars some…

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Mice can learn to sing together in harmony

Mice have just been added to a pretty selective group. Like humans and some birds, they can learn songs. At least, that’s according to a new article published in the journal PLoS ONE. Unfortunately, the scientists haven’t trained the mice use their ultrasonic songs to replicate the Queen of the Night aria or anything, but…

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New environmental project logs pollution, neighborhood by neighborhood, house by house

Want to give yourself a major guilt trip for destroying the environment? A new project will release the street-by-street, building-by-building CO2 emissions for cities to help people identify where the pollution is actually coming from. Dubbed the Hestia Project, so far only Indianapolis has been mapped, but Phoenix and Los Angeles are in the works…

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New study proves Jurassic Park could never happen

We can all blame Jurassic Park for getting our hopes up that we could bring the dinosaurs using amber-preserved DNA. It turns out DNA won’t last nearly long enough for that, but it does hang around longer than we previously knew. By analyzing hundreds of bones of the extinct moa in New Zealand, scientists were…

io9 Tim Barribeau

Tim Barribeau

Why blind mole rats don’t get cancer

The climate disaster that destroyed the ancient Harappan Civilization could soon destroy India

Power your pacemaker with your heartbeat

Genetically modified tomatoes could save you from heart disease

In an unsurprising development, smoke-free laws have lead to fewer hospitalizations

Finally, science invents a painless bandaid!

This Elephant Speaks Korean

The oceans used to be filled with noise

A simple idea that could prevent future nuclear disasters like Fukushima

Exercise may be the key to preventing brain shrinkage in old age

Unlocking the fractal patterns in cauliflower

Two ways to forget bad memories, according to a new scientific study

In just four generations, we’ve massively slashed human mortality

How do you explain the hummingbird’s bizarre tongue?

New study suggests animal intelligence is a lot more complicated than we realized

Now you can have knives just like Homo erectus used to make

The mystery of the black Martian glass — solved at last?

Mice can learn to sing together in harmony

New environmental project logs pollution, neighborhood by neighborhood, house by house

New study proves Jurassic Park could never happen

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