Weekly recaps

Recap / Best of Last Week—giant trees in the UK, removing plastic from water, using gene therapy to treat brain cancer

It was a good week for biological research, as a team of botanists found that giant sequoia trees are thriving in the U.K—the trees were imported to the U.K. starting approximately 160 years ago and now serve as an excellent ...

Week 12 2024 in Other Sciences
Recap / Best of Last Week—exception to heat law, adding AI-generated bass to music, sea ice to slow down

It was a good week for physics research as a team led by a group at the University of Massachusetts Amherst reported an exception to a 200-year-old scientific law governing heat transfer—they found an example showing that ...

Week 11 2024 in Other Sciences
Recap / Best of Last Week—neutering dogs shortens lifespan, AI emotional support app, exercise reduces Parkinson's symptoms

It was a good week for biology research as a multi-institutional team of evolutionary biologists conducted a genetic study that showed a Stone Age strategy that prevented inbreeding—unrelated families living together. Also, ...

Week 10 2024 in Other Sciences
Recap / Best of Last Week—plant can reduce food insecurity, robot to care for elderly, 'Chinese dragon' fossil identified

It was a good week for biology research as a team of botanists at Pennsylvania State University discovered that a common plant could help reduce food insecurity. Called Carolina azolla, the plant is able to double its biomass ...

Week 09 2024 in Other Sciences
Recap / Best of Last Week—new clues about moon's history, AI hardware improvements, COVID death toll reanalyzed

It was a good week for space science as a multi-institutional team of astronomers and astrophysicists found telescopic evidence that the black hole at the center of the Milky Way is spinning itself (and warping spacetime) ...

Week 07 2024 in Other Sciences
Recap / Best of Last Week—newborn great white shark, Avocado the robot, diets that can alter immune system

It was a good week for the biological sciences as an evolutionary ecologist at the University of California, Riverside, working with a filmmaker from Malibu Artists Inc., observed and reported the first-ever sighting of a ...

Week 06 2024 in Other Sciences
Recap / Best of Last Week—syphilis already in the new world, a hypersonic heat shield, smallest knot ever created

It was a good week for the study of human history as a team of anthropologists affiliated with several institutions in the U.S., working with a colleague from the National Register of Peruvian Archaeologists, says that early ...

Week 05 2024 in Other Sciences
Recap / Best of Last Week—map of possible earthquakes, unique robot grows itself, VA most efficient hospital system

It was a good week for geoscience research as a team led by the U.S. Geological Survey created a new map that shows where damaging earthquakes are most likely to occur in the U.S. Among other things, it shows that nearly ...

Week 04 2024 in Other Sciences
Recap / Best of Last Week—protein responsible for cancer, fingerprints not unique, how dietary restrictions slow aging

It was a good week for biology as a team of biochemists at the University of California, Riverside, tamed a chaotic protein believed to be responsible for fueling 75% of all cancers. Called MYC, the protein is responsible ...

Week 03 2024 in Other Sciences
Recap / Best of Last Week—giant predator worms, new type of transistor, complex sentences make brain work harder

It was a good week to start off the new year as an international team of natural and Earth scientists found evidence of giant predator worms that lived more than a half-billion years ago in North Greenland—fossils proving ...

Week 02 2024 in Other Sciences
Recap / Best of Last Week—SLIM enters moon orbit, smart devices running AI, neural correlates of mind wandering

The last week of 2023 was a good one for space research as officials at Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, announced that its "Smart Lander for Investigating Moon" (SLIM) moon lander, had entered the moon's orbit—the craft ...

Week 01 2024 in Other Sciences
Recap / Best of Last Week–cause of large mammal decline, AI good imitator but not innovator, alcohol patterns and liver disease

It was a good week for research on environmental impacts on human history as a team of geologists, oceanographers and historians affiliated with several entities found evidence suggesting that North America's first people ...

Week 51 2023 in Other Sciences