Deciphering the patterns of human settlements on the Ordos Plateau
The Ordos Plateau, a distinctive geomorphic entity in China, has been a cradle of human civilization since the late Paleolithic era. Its unique geographical and climatic conditions have fostered a rich tapestry of human history, reflected in the sett.....»»
Robot dogs armed with AI-targeting rifles undergo US Marines Special Ops evaluation
Quadrupeds being reviewed have automatic targeting systems but require human oversight to fire. Enlarge / A still image of a robotic quadruped armed with a remote weapons system, captured from a video provided by Onyx Industries......»»
Court Keeps DMCA Subpoena Shortcut Closed, Restricts Piracy Settlements
Earlier this year, a Hawaiian District Court blocked movie companies' efforts to unmask alleged BitTorrent pirates using a DMCA subpoena 'shortcut'. The filmmakers asked the court to reconsider its position but without success; the 'DMCA shortcut' wi.....»»
Using algorithms to decode the complex phonetic alphabet of sperm whales
The allure of whales has stoked human consciousness for millennia, casting these ocean giants as enigmatic residents of the deep seas. From the biblical Leviathan to Herman Melville's formidable Moby Dick, whales have been central to mythologies and.....»»
What are nanoplastics? An engineer explains concerns about particles too small to see
It's become common to read that microplastics—little bits of plastic, smaller than a pencil eraser—are turning up everywhere and in everything, including the ocean, farmland, food and human bodies. Now a new term is gaining attention: nanoplastic.....»»
Laboratory and natural strains of intestinal bacterium turn out to have similar mutational profiles
Understanding mutational processes in a cell offers clues to the evolution of a genome. Most actively, mutation processes are studied in human cancer cells, while other genomes are often neglected......»»
Cybercrime stats you can’t ignore
In this article, you will find excerpts from various reports that offer stats and insights about the current cybercrime landscape. Behavioral patterns of ransomware groups are changing GuidePoint Security | GRIT Q1 2024 Ransomware Report |.....»»
Self-adaptive system for temperature control: A dynamically controllable strategy for healing wound tissue
Skin functions as a sophisticated sensorial system in the human body, capable not only of detecting environmental stimuli—such as temperature, pressure, strain, and vibration—but also of actively responding to these changes. Among these, the temp.....»»
As business districts evolve post-pandemic, repurposing old or empty spaces should be on the drawing board
The COVID-19 pandemic and the hybrid work patterns it fostered have changed the way we think about office space, and central business districts in general. While fears of urban center "ghost towns" may have been premature, many cities around the worl.....»»
Debates on campus safety in response to Palestine solidarity activism show we need strategies to navigate discomfort
Canada's House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights will soon begin hearings on antisemitism and Islamophobia. The process comes partly in response to claims that university and college campuses are unsafe spaces......»»
How "apocalypse" became a secular as well as religious idea
The exponential growth of artificial intelligence over the past year has sparked discussions about whether the era of human domination of our planet is drawing to a close. The most dire predictions claim that the machines will take over within five t.....»»
Saturday Citations: Parrots on the internet; a map of human wakefulness; the most useless rare-earth element
We field a torrent of science news updates every week and on Saturday morning, we highlight three or four of them based on the observed preferences of a panel of dogs as shown by the Paired-Stimulus Preference Assessment, a standardized evaluation of.....»»
How evolving landscapes impacted First Peoples" early migration patterns into Australia
New research led by the University of Sydney offers fresh understanding of the migration patterns of Australia and New Guinea's First Peoples, and where they lived in the 40,000 years following humanity's arrival on the then combined continent. The w.....»»
Boeing"s Starliner joins select club of crewed US spaceships
Throughout the annals of American space exploration, a select few spacecraft have had the distinction of carrying human beings beyond Earth......»»
Microsoft plans to lock down Windows DNS like never before. Here’s how.
ZTDNS brings the best of both worlds to DNS: encryption and fine-grained control. Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Translating human-readable domain names into numerical IP addresses has long been fraught with gaping secur.....»»
We still don’t understand how one human apparently got bird flu from a cow
A genetic analysis and case report reveal new insights and big gaps in our knowledge. Enlarge / Holstein dairy cows in a freestall barn. (credit: Getty | ) The US Department of Agriculture this week posted an unpublished.....»»
Aligned peptide "noodles" could enable lab-grown biological tissues
A team of chemists and bioengineers at Rice University and the University of Houston have achieved a significant milestone in their work to create a biomaterial that can be used to grow biological tissues outside the human body......»»
NASA is helping protect tigers, jaguars, and elephants—here"s how
As human populations grow, habitat loss threatens many creatures. Mapping wildlife habitat using satellites is a rapidly expanding area of ecology, and NASA satellites play a crucial role in these efforts. Tigers, jaguars, and elephants are a few of.....»»
Wildfires in wet African forests have doubled in recent decades, large-scale analysis finds
A new study presents the first large-scale analysis of fire patterns in West and Central Africa's wet, tropical forests. The number of active fires there typically doubled over 18 years, particularly in the Congo Basin. The increases are primarily du.....»»
Human activity is causing toxic thallium to enter the Baltic Sea, finds new study
Human activities account for a substantial amount—anywhere from 20% to more than 60%—of toxic thallium that has entered the Baltic Sea over the past 80 years, according to new research by scientists affiliated with the Woods Hole Oceanographic In.....»»
Study finds human noise negatively impacts cricket survival and reproduction
As the sun sets and the sweltering heat gives way to a balmy evening, there's one sound that fills the air, both beloved and bothersome: the rhythmic symphony of chirping crickets. However, human-generated noise can mask the harmony of the cricket so.....»»