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What happens if you die on a cruise ship?

Cruise ships are floating cities. They carry thousands of people from port to port, while life passes on the shore. And with that many people on board, it’s inevitable that sometimes, someone dies. But what happens to your body, if you die on board a cruise ship, days away from port? What kind of problems…

io9 Keith Veronese

Why are dolphins smarter than most other mammals?

Everyone knows that dolphins are smarter than most other creatures -– but now we have the genetic evidence to prove it. A recent analysis of the bottlenose dolphin’s genome has shown that, like humans, a good portion of its genetic makeup is devoted to the development of its nervous system. The discovery shows that intelligence…

io9 George Dvorsky

Nanoscale Microwave Transmitters Will Transform Your Phone

To pump out all the radio-frequency signals that let you make phone calls and consume the internet wirelessly, your phone uses small chunks of silicon to create microwaves. Science had pushed the little things as far as they could—but now a nanoscale version promises to make your phone smaller, cheaper and better-performing. A team of…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Have we found the genetic basis for intelligence?

To date, geneticists have identified plenty of genetic markers that are correlated with intelligence. Taken individually, however, these account for a paltry 1% of the variation in IQ scores. But now, an international team of scientists has identified a set of genes that appear to amplify each other’s effects — resulting in a synergistic boost…

io9 George Dvorsky

Stress-Induced Depression Is Real

Stress breeds depression. Anecdotally, we all know that’s the case, but scientifically speaking it’s been a hypothesis that has until now remained unproven. A new study, however, reveals that chronic stress affects us at the genetic level, in turn creating very real brain changes associated with depression. A team of researchers from Yale University has…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Google’s Artificial Brain Loves to Watch Cat Videos

Hidden away within Google’s X laboratory, where all kinds of secret projects are underway, its engineers have been working on creating an artificial brain. With 16,000 computer processors and freedom to learn whatever it chooses from the internet, though, it turns out that the brain does just what you do online: watch cat videos. The…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Researchers create a new male contraceptive that you apply like lotion

It’s been a half-century since the advent of a reliable birth control option for women, and we’ve developed virtually nothing similar for men. But now, owing to research done at Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, an innovative new treatment holds promise as a reversible birth control option for men -– a…

io9 George Dvorsky

Scientists twist light to transmit an astounding 2.5 terabits of information per second

Researchers in the United States and Israel have created infinite-capacity wireless vortex beams that can carry 2.5 terabits per second – that’s enough to transmit seven full Blu-ray movies every second. This may be the fastest wireless network ever created, a breakthrough that could revolutionize the development of faster wireless and fiber-optic networks. Scientists have…

io9 George Dvorsky

Australians find a vampire-like mosquito that breeds and lurks beneath cities

As if blood-sucking insects weren’t nasty enough, Australian researchers have discovered an offshoot of the Culex molestus mosquito that has adapted to urban environments, breeding and lurking about in dark crevices and pipes found beneath cities. And unlike other mosquitoes, this one can lay its eggs before requiring its first blood feast. Most species of…

io9 George Dvorsky

Voice Recognition Software Can Diagnose Parkinson’s

“Siri, do I have Parkinson’s?” That might sound flippant, but actually new research shows that it’s possible to detect Parkinson’s symptoms simply by using algorithms to detect changes in voice recordings. Parkinson’s, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system, is usually diagnosed through analysis of symptoms along with expensive medical imaging to rule out…

Health Jamie Condliffe

A family dog could keep your kids from getting asthma

Animals get a hard rap when it comes to cleaning. They trigger allergies, leave fuzz everywhere, and gleefully destroy furniture. Now it looks like having them around might serve some long term good — especially if you have young children. Research being presented at 2012 General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology has shown…

io9 Tim Barribeau

More evidence that a drink (or two) won’t hurt your unborn baby

While going off on a tequila bender is decidedly not a good thing if you’re carrying an unborn child, there’s an increasing body of evidence that suggest low to moderate drinking might not be the worst thing imaginable for your baby. A cohort of five papers have just been published from Denmark, looking at maternal…

io9 Tim Barribeau

Your preference for beer shows that you’re into casual sex — and other fun facts pulled from dating sites

Online dating sites are not only a boon for people looking to start relationships — they’re also proving to be extremely beneficial for people who like to crunch lots of data. Some psychologists and mathematicians are taking the copious amounts of information that you’re putting into these sites to get a better sense of our…

io9 George Dvorsky

Love activates the same region in the brain as drug addiction

Cynics of the world have long complained that love is an abstract concept, something conjured by poets and the hopelessly romantic. But the suggestion that love is a cultural invention is out of synch with the latest research. Neuroscientists working out of Concordia University in Canada appear to have shown that love and sexual desire…

io9 George Dvorsky

The Technique that Silicon Valley Geeks are Using to Hack the Voices Inside Their Heads

Self-help schemes come and go, but a new framework has attracted the attention of a number of Silicon Valley techies — especially computer scientists and programmers. Called Internal Family Systems (IFS), it’s an integrated approach to individual psychotherapy that breaks conscious thoughts into individual, manageable parts that can be reprogrammed. And given its systematic methodology,…

io9 George Dvorsky

Allergies Could Have Evolved to Protect Us

Summer’s virtually here, which means soon many of us will be incapacitated through sneezes, coughs, and itchy eyes. While allergies are a pain in the ass, they may not be the misguided immune responses many scientists have believed them to be. In fact, a new theory is emerging which suggests that they may have evolved…

Tech News Jamie Condliffe

Why Nigerian Scammers Say They’re From Nigeria

We all get them: scam emails that claim to be able to make us millionaires overnight. But why are they so terribly unconvincing? And why do they even admit to being based in places like Nigeria? A Microsoft researcher claims to have the answer. In particular, we’re talking about the offers to cut you into…

Privacy & Security Jamie Condliffe

Burying greenhouse gases underground could cause earthquakes

As the Arctic ice continues to fade away, some scientists have come up with radical solutions to the problem of greenhouse gases. One of these ideas is large-scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CSS), burying those troublesome gases underground — but now it looks like that notion could cause more trouble than it’s worth. Mike Orcutt…

io9 George Dvorsky

10 of the Deadliest Proteins on Earth

Proteins are the building blocks of life, and the reason we’re all here on this planet. So it’s weird to realize that proteins can be some of the deadliest poisons of all. We’ve already told you about the most dangerous chemicals — but some proteins that are found in nature can be the deadliest substances…

io9 Keith Veronese

Could a cyberwar ever be ethical?

The Atlantic has published a fascinating article about how the ongoing digital revolution is changing the face of war, and how military and government leaders are failing to adopt a new ethics to match. Written by cyberwar and emerging technology experts Patrick Lin, Fritz Allhoff, and Neil Rowe, the essay makes the case that just-war…

io9 George Dvorsky

What happens if you die on a cruise ship?

Why are dolphins smarter than most other mammals?

Nanoscale Microwave Transmitters Will Transform Your Phone

Have we found the genetic basis for intelligence?

Stress-Induced Depression Is Real

Google’s Artificial Brain Loves to Watch Cat Videos

Researchers create a new male contraceptive that you apply like lotion

Scientists twist light to transmit an astounding 2.5 terabits of information per second

Australians find a vampire-like mosquito that breeds and lurks beneath cities

Voice Recognition Software Can Diagnose Parkinson’s

A family dog could keep your kids from getting asthma

More evidence that a drink (or two) won’t hurt your unborn baby

Your preference for beer shows that you’re into casual sex — and other fun facts pulled from dating sites

Love activates the same region in the brain as drug addiction

The Technique that Silicon Valley Geeks are Using to Hack the Voices Inside Their Heads

Allergies Could Have Evolved to Protect Us

Why Nigerian Scammers Say They’re From Nigeria

Burying greenhouse gases underground could cause earthquakes

10 of the Deadliest Proteins on Earth

Could a cyberwar ever be ethical?

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