Experiment

A group of researchers made gene-edited hamsters that were meant to be less aggressive. The researchers used CRISPR, a gene-editing platform, to remove a gene they believed was responsible for aggressive behavior in hamsters. However, the genetic modification had a much different effect. Instead of being more docile, the hamsters became overly aggressive. Scientists accidentally made angry and aggressive gene-edited hamsters Image source: stockcrafter / AdobeHamsters have been at the heart of many animal…

Fiat can charge this car wirelessly as it drives In an attempt to field test the revolutionary electric charging method of dynamic induction, the Italian-American conglomerate Stellantis N.V. recently created the “Arena Del Futuro” test track. The company stated that this radically new pilot test track has been built by A35 Brebemi, the direct motorway link between Brescia and Milan, in collaboration with Stellantis and other international partners, public institutions and universities. And it aims to test the idea of…

A bystander uses a Bitcoin ATM in San Salvador, El Salvador, on May 16, 2022.Alex Pena | Anadolu Agency | Getty ImagesEl Salvador bet its economic salvation on bitcoin, but so far the gamble isn't paying off like President Nayib Bukele hoped it would.The government's crypto coffers have been cut in half, bitcoin adoption nationwide isn't really taking off, and crucially, the country needs a lot of cash, fast, to meet its debt payments of more than $1 billion in the next year. This comes as the price of bitcoin has fallen…

Have you ever met a perfect stranger and felt like you 'clicked' almost immediately? Well, that feeling of chemistry might actually be chemistry.An Israeli study recruited twenty pairs of same-sex, platonic friends who said they clicked when they met.   Using an electronic nose (and volunteers who heroically agreed to sniff T-shirts worn overnight), the study concluded that the pairs of friends smelled more similar than randomly paired strangers. Plenty of other mammals sniff each other to decide whether to play with,…

These days, peeing on your food plants may be considered a gross and wacky gardening hack, despite the practice having been proven beneficial for thousands of years.But our modern squeamishness has meant gardeners and farmers alike must resort to expensive fertilizers to provide their crops with the much-needed nutrients found free in our pee.  Yet some of the farmers most in need of these additional nutrients often don't have access to fertilizers. Many farmers, like those in remote regions of the Republic of Niger, are…

When you think of echolocation, you probably think of bats or dolphins. But echolocation has also been used as a way for blind people to navigate, too. Despite the skill’s usefulness, few blind people have actually learned how to use echolocation. Now, though, researchers say humans can learn echolocation in as little as 10 weeks. Which could make it a viable skill for people with vision impairments. Humans can learn echolocation in just 10 weeks, experiment shows Image source: corbacserdar / Adobe The…

With enough training, most humans can learn how to echolocate, using their tongue to make clicking sounds and interpreting the echoes that come back, reflected from the surrounding environment.  In as few as 10 weeks, researchers have been able to teach participants how to navigate obstacles and recognize the size and orientation of objects using the rebounding calls of their clicks. The experiment, the results of which were published in 2021, involved 12 participants who'd been diagnosed as legally blind during their…

New results from the Baksan Experiment on Sterile Transitions (BEST) experiment confirm anomaly suggesting new physics possibility.Sterile neutrino, physics fundamentals among interpretations of anomalous results.New scientific results confirm an anomaly seen in previous experiments, which may point to an as-yet-unconfirmed new elementary particle, the sterile neutrino, or indicate the need for a new interpretation of an aspect of standard model physics, such as the neutrino cross section, first measured 60 years ago. Los…

A new breakthrough has allowed physicists to create a beam of atoms that behaves the same way as a laser, and that can theoretically stay on "forever".This might finally mean the technology is on its way to practical application, although significant limitations still apply.  Nevertheless, this is a huge step forward for what is known as an "atom laser" – a beam made of atoms marching as a single wave that could one day be used for testing fundamental physical constants, and engineering precision technology.Atom lasers…

A strange gap between theoretical predictions and experimental results in a major neutrino research project could be a sign of the elusive 'sterile' neutrino – a particle so quiet, it can only be detected by the silence it leaves in its wake.  It's not the first time the anomaly has been seen, adding to previous experimental data hinting at something odd in the world of neutrino research. This time around, it's been detected at the Baksan Experiment on Sterile Transitions (BEST).Unambiguous evidence of the hypothetical…