Science

Science

[:es]After decades of effort, scientists are finally seeing black holes—or are they?[:]

The observations are already challenging astrophysicists’ assumptions about how black holes form and influence their surroundings. The smaller black holes detected by LIGO and, now, the European gravitational wave detector Virgo in Italy have proved heavier and more varied than expected, straining astrophysicists’ understanding of the massive stars from which they presumably form. And the…
Science

[:es]Galloping sea lions could inspire land-sea robots[:]

Some robots swim and dive through the water; others scurry across the land. Now, researchers want to build a machine that can do both. Their inspiration? The California sea lion.
Science

[:es]How voracious antlions engineer deadly sand traps[:]

You’d never know it by looking at the dragonflylike adult antlion, but its wingless larvae—fingernail-size eating machines with huge, poison-filled jaws—build deadly sand traps to capture tiny insects, including ants. Now, scientists know precisely how they do it: As the hapless prey falls into its pit, an antlion at the bottom uses its head to…
Science

[:es]Slowdown in plate tectonics may have led to Earth’s ice sheets[:]

In seafloor trenches around the world, slabs of old ocean crust fall in slow motion into the mantle, while fresh slabs are built at midocean ridges, where magma emerges at the seams between separating tectonic plates. The engine is relentless—but maybe not so steady: Beginning about 15 million years ago, in the late Miocene epoch,…
Science

[:es]Watch an AI robot walk with a broken leg, thanks to a brain that never stops learning[:]

Watch the two simulated robots above, and you’ll notice a big difference. Even though both of their “brains” have evolved over 300 generations to allow them to walk, only one succeeds; the other falls flat on its back.
Science

[:es]Shrine of decapitated heads suggests violence against foreigners in ancient Mexico[:]

Fifteen hundred years ago, Mexico’s Teotihuacan was a multicultural metropolis, enlivened by the diverse dress, foods, and dialects of its immigrant groups. Artifacts show the city of more than 100,000 depended on a steady stream of foreigners, who brought skilled labor and exotic goods from across Mesoamerica. But after Teotihuacan faded, during a period of…
Science

[:es]Geoengineers inch closer to Sun-dimming balloon test[:]

For years, the controversial idea of solar geoengineering—lofting long-lived reflective particles into the upper atmosphere to block sunlight and diminish global warming—has been theoretical. It’s starting to get real: Today, after much technical and regulatory wrangling, Harvard University scientists are proposing a June 2021 test flight of a research balloon designed to drop small amounts…
Science

[:es]Protein found in fingertip ‘capsules’ may be critical to our sense of touch[:]

Can you tell the difference between high – and low –thread-count sheets just by touching them? Thank usherin, a protein found in a mysterious structure in your fingertips. Usherin also helps us see and hear, suggesting a deep molecular connection among our most important senses.
Science

[:es]Psychology’s replication crisis inspires ecologists to push for more reliable research[:]

Ecologists love to study blue tits. The birds readily nest in boxes in the wild and have striking plumage that seems ideal for testing ideas about the evolutionary point of the ornamentation. Dozens of studies have reported that male coloring is substantially different from that of females, that females choose mates based on differences in…