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ENGLAND, United Kingdom (Reuters) — Scientists have solved the mystery of mosquito flight using super-high speed cameras and computer analysis to understand the unique mechanisms the insect uses to stay airborne. Despite solving the bumble bee paradox some time ago, which stated the bumble bee should not be able to fly under normal rules of aerodynamics, until now science has been unable to explain how mosquitoes managed to flap their wings through such a short […]
By Valerie Dekimpe PARIS, France (AFP) — In the ruthless world of dating, plain-looking men instinctively know that being funny, smart or poetic helps to compensate for a less-than-stellar exterior. That gut feeling has now gained scientific validation from an unusual study published Wednesday. Average-looking men become more alluring when women sense the man has an imaginative spark, it found. But for women, sadly, there may not be the same boost. Indeed, one experiment suggests that […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — An asteroid stretching 650 meters (2,000 feet) across is on track to whoosh past Earth on Wednesday at a safe — but uncomfortably close — distance, according to astronomers. “Although there is no possibility for the asteroid to collide with our planet, this will be a very close approach for an asteroid this size,” National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement. Dubbed 2014-JO25, the asteroid will come […]
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Google on Tuesday launched a re-imagined version of its free Earth mapping service, weaving in storytelling and artificial intelligence and freeing it from apps. “This is our gift to the world,” Google Earth director Rebecca Moore said while giving AFP an early look at the new version of the program that lets people range the planet from the comfort of their computers, smartphones or tablets. “It’s a product that […]
by Marlowe Hood Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The leopard population in a region of South Africa once thick with the big cats is crashing, and could be wiped out within a few years, scientists warned Wednesday. Illegal killing of leopards in the Soutpansberg Mountains has reduced their numbers by two-thirds in the last decade, the researchers reported in the Royal Society Open Science journal. “If things don’t change, we predict leopards will essentially […]
by Ursula Hyzy Agence France-Presse TARA, Japan (AFP) — The key to the survival of the world’s threatened coral reefs may lie in the waters surrounding a small volcanic island off the coast of Japan, scientists say. The seabed of Shikine island is a “living laboratory” for researchers aboard the schooner Tara, a French-led scientific expedition, who are looking for clues to help protect coral from the damaging effects of climate change. While coral reefs […]
LONDON, England (Reuters) — Small transparent spheres filled with natural or flavored water could help provide a solution to London’s plastic waste problem, according to the start-up company based in the British capital that manufactures them. With many cities around the world struggling to dispose of vast numbers of used plastic water bottles, the biodegradable ‘Ooho balls’ have begun quenching the thirst of consumers at special events in San Francisco and London. The balls, which […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — An asteroid as big as the Rock of Gibraltar will streak past Earth on April 19 at a safe but uncomfortably close distance, according to astronomers. “Although there is no possibility for the asteroid to collide with our planet, this will be a very close approach for an asteroid this size,” the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said in a statement. Dubbed 2014-JO25 and roughly 650 meters (2,000 feet) across, the asteroid […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — France and Japan want to recover pieces of a Martian Moon and bring them back to Earth, the head of France’s National Center for Space Studies (CNES) said Thursday. The Martian Moons Exploration project would launch a probe in 2024 destined for Phobos, the largest and closest of two moons circling the Red Planet. Paris and Tokyo signed a preliminary agreement on Monday, and will make a final decision before the […]
CALIFORNIA, United States (Reuters) — Researchers at California’s Stanford University are studying how birds morph their wings during flight in the hopes of engineering more versatile drones in the future. The scientists use a projector to beam patterns of overlapping light on the bird, a parrotlet. A camera, synced with the projector, then records its flight. Using a set of algorithms, the researchers can then create a 3D reconstruction of the bird’s movement. Already the […]
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (Reuters) — Renata Rojas has longed to visit the wreck of the Titanic since she was a girl, decades before the ill-fated passenger liner was discovered on the seabed three decades ago. Next year, the 49-year-old New York banker and diving enthusiast should finally realize her dream, and she is shelling out more than $105,000 (USD) for the privilege. “I don’t own an apartment. I don’t own a car. I haven’t gone […]
by Jean-Louis SANTINI / Maggy DONALDSON Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — An ice-encrusted moon orbiting Saturn appears to have the conditions necessary for life, NASA announced Thursday, unveiling new findings made by its unmanned Cassini spacecraft. Cassini has detected hydrogen molecules in vapor plumes emanating from cracks in the surface of Enceladus, a small ocean moon coated in a thick layer of ice, the US space agency said. The plumes have led […]
