Science Megathread

[Frodo]

Any of you remember from history class about those knotted strings of records the Inca kept?  It seems archaeologists have found a way decode them:

Untangling an Accounting Tool and an Ancient Incan Mystery



By WILLIAM NEUMAN
JAN. 2, 2016

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

Scientists move one step closer to turning water into hydrogen fuel, affordably:
Researchers reveal a new mechanism to create hydrogen fuel that could power environmentally clean cars.

By Eva Botkin-Kowacki, Staff writer
JANUARY 5, 2016

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

Signs of Modern Astronomy Seen in Ancient Babylon

By KENNETH CHANG
JAN. 28, 2016

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

Virgin Galactic unveils new spaceship

 



By Rachel Crane and Amanda Barnett, CNN
Video by Claudia Morales, CNN
Updated 9:58 PM ET, Fri February 19, 2016

(CNN)

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

Two related articles I want to share:

Neanderthals, humans may have longer history of mating

You must be logged in to read this quote.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Denisovan DNA Found in Modern-Day Melanesians

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

Hybrid system could cut coal-plant emissions in half:
Combining gasification with fuel-cell technology could boost efficiency of coal-powered plants.

David L. Chandler | MIT News Office
April 4, 2016

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

Scientists observe first signs of healing in the Antarctic ozone layer:
September ozone hole has shrunk by 4 million square kilometers since 2000.



Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office
June 30, 2016

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

Using nanotechnology to give fuel cells more oomph

by David Salisbury | Aug. 8, 2016, 10:09 AM

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

400-year-old Greenland shark ‘longest-living vertebrate’



By Rebecca Morelle
Science Correspondent, BBC News
12 August 2016

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

We could use this technology in the United States, as we steadily shut down the older nuclear power plants -it could even become the backbone of our energy sector with renewables playing a supplementary role:

Nuclear developers have big plans for pint-sized power plants in UK

By Susanna Twidale | LONDON
Mon Aug 22, 2016 10:10am EDT

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

More history than science, but still:

Ship found in Arctic 168 years after doomed Northwest Passage attempt

Exclusive: Perfectly preserved HMS Terror vessel sank during disastrous expedition led by British explorer Sir John Franklin



Paul Watson in Vancouver
Monday 12 September 2016 11.59 EDT

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

A 'Jurassic Park' remake is going to look so different:

Dinosaur's camouflage pattern revealed

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

Laser Scans Unveil a Network of Ancient Cities in Cambodia

By JULIA WALLACE
SEPT. 19, 2016

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA —

You must be logged in to read this quote.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

Theory of human migration originating in Africa is conclusively confirmed:

A Single Migration From Africa Populated the World, Studies Find

Carl Zimmer
SEPT. 21, 2016

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

Cold Tolerance Among Inuit May Come From Extinct Human Relatives

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

Indian firm makes carbon capture breakthrough

You must be logged in to read this quote.

------------------------------------------------------

NRG, JX Nippon Open $1 Billion Clean Coal Power Project in Texas

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

Apparently sea surface temperatures today are indistinguishable from those at the peak of the last interglacial.  

From the abstract, highlighting the portion I did not know already:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

Passports may eventually become a thing of the past:

Australia Is Replacing Passports With Facial Recognition Tech

You must be logged in to read this quote.

How soon before the United States follows suit?

[Frodo]

Seems risky to me.

And isn't one important feature of US passports the datachip?

The newer passports yes -but since these are physical passports, they can still be lost, stolen, or confiscated.  

[Frodo]

Long Before Making Enigmatic Earthworks, People Reshaped Brazil’s Rain Forest



By JOANNA KLEIN
FEB. 10, 2017

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

Skulls found in China were part modern human, part Neanderthal; possibly new species

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

Ozone treaty taking a bite out of US greenhouse gas emissions

WASHINGTON D.C. --

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

Experiments cast doubt on how the Earth was formed

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

The algae that terraformed Earth


The biomolecules were contained in oil extracted from deeply buried rock


By Roland Pease
BBC Radio Science Unit

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Frodo]

3,700-year-old Babylonian tablet rewrites the history of maths - and shows the Greeks did not develop trigonometry



Sarah Knapton, Science Editor
24 August 2017 • 7:00pm

You must be logged in to read this quote.