Alphaverse.com

Wired: Science
Understanding the latest research and theories.

Research Reveals Early Signs of Autism in Some Kids
BALTIMORE — Some infants headed for a diagnosis of autism, or autism spectrum disorder as it’s officially known, can be reliably identified at 14 months old based on the presence of five key behavior problems, according to an ongoing long-term study described March 11 at the International Conference on Infant Studies. These social, communication and motor [...]
Big Earthquakes Cause Premature Births
A new study of a 2005 earthquake in Chile supports the surprising hypothesis that pregnant women who experience earthquakes during the first trimester of their pregnancies have increased risk of premature birth and slightly smaller babies. While the drops in birth weight and gestation time are relatively small, they are big enough to suggest that earthquakes [...]
Video: Cold, Little Comet Is No Match for Big, Hot Sun
A small, newly discovered comet will not get a chance to enjoy its fame for long. digg_url ="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/03/little-comet-meet-big-sun/"; As you can see in this image sequence obtained by NASA’s Solar and Heliosopheric Observatory, the comet is on a collision course with the sun. Things will not end well for the comet, which will burn. The comet is believed [...]
Solar Slumber May Have Been Caused by Magnetic Flows
Newly reported observations of gas flows on the solar surface may explain why the sun recently had such an extended case of the doldrums. From 2008 through the first half of 2009, the sun had a puzzling dearth of sunspots, flares and other storms, extending the usual lull at the end of the 11-year solar activity [...]
Desperate Efforts to Save Endangered Bats May Fail
A fierce attempt to keep endangered Virginia big-eared bats alive in captivity has shown just how difficult that noble task may be. The effort was prompted by the discovery of white nose syndrome, an extremely virulent disease that has killed more than a million bats since 2007, in one of the handful of caves where Virginia [...]
The ’70s Photos That Made Us Want to Save Earth
<< previous image | next image >> Two years after Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency, the new institution sent out 100 photographers to document the nation’s environment writ large. Now, those photos have made it out of the root cellar of the National Archive and onto Flickr Commons, where they are getting a wider viewing [...]
You Are a Tamagotchi: Turning Your Health Into a Game
In the mid 1990s, a craze swept Japan and crested its way onto American shores: Kids were going crazy for the Tamagotchi, an egg-shaped digital pet. Every few hours, users would press a couple buttons to feed their Tamagotchi, play with it, or clean it up. The game was simple, but intensely rewarding. Users cried [...]
Quantum Computing Thrives on Chaos
Embracing chaos just might help physicists build a quantum brain. A new study shows that disorder can enhance the coupling between light and matter in quantum systems, a find that could eventually lead to fast, easy-to-build quantum computers. Quantum computers promise superfast calculations that precisely simulate the natural world, but physicists have struggled to design the [...]
Your Chilean Sea Bass Dinner Deprives Killer Whales
A one-of-a-kind killer whale population appears to be threatened by human appetites for Antarctic toothfish, better known to restaurant-goers as Chilean Sea Bass. As fishing fleets patrol their waters, catching what was their primary source of food, the whales are vanishing. It’s not certain whether they’ve only moved on, or are dying out, or both. But [...]
Arctic Reindeer Go Off the Circadian Clock
Reindeer adapt to the Arctic’s endless summer light and winter dark by silencing their circadian clock. The adaptation may be a general one that helps Arctic animals make the most of their weird environment. “If you are being driven through a subjective day and night by an internal timer, you may be in ‘night mode’ when [...]

Powered by FirstRSS Plugin