Researchers from the US Army Aberdeen Proving Ground Research Laboratory have stumbled upon a process for generating hydrogen that may reinvigorate the hydrogen fuel industry. While testing a high-strength aluminium alloy, they observed hydrogen gas bubbling on the surface of the alloy after water was poured over it. This is unusual, because aluminium exposed to water oxidises, creating a protective barrier that prevents further reactions from occurring. However, the reaction just kept producing hydrogen, taking less than three minutes to achieve almost 100 percent efficiency, and signals the possibility of an affordable, efficient source of hydrogen for fuel cells and other energy applications. The team was able to power a small remote-controlled tank using the process and is looking to undertake field-testing to ensure it works in a practical setting. To find out more go to Nano aluminium offers fuel cells on demand – just add water.
arthropod accountants
New research suggests that bumblebees can be taught how to recognise nothing as an amount, having previously demonstrated the ability to count as high as four. The findings were presented by biologist and bee enthusiast, Scarlett Howard from Melbourne's Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology at the recent Behaviour 2017 meeting in Portugal. Most human cultures have developed the ability to count, but animals and human infants use a form of counting called subitizing — a process of rapid and accurate judgments of amounts performed for small numbers of items. While a few animals can do this, the concept of zero is rarely considered part of this process, and is considered a complex, high level concept, not expected to be seen in an insect. The researchers suggest that the ability to count from one to four might help the bees keep track of landmarks as they travel over long distances, but how would the concept of 'zero' be of much use? To find out more go to
Flowers can be traced back to an ancient ancestor
Although most species of plants on Earth have flowers, the evolutionary origin of flowers is shrouded in mystery. Flowers are the sexual organs of more than 360,000 species of plants alive today, and are derived from a single common ancestor which is believed to date back to between 140 and 250 million years ago. As no fossil has been found dating back 140 million or more years, scientists have only had a limited sense of what this ancestor would have looked like, until now. A new study by an international team of botanists has achieved the best reconstruction to date of this ancestral flower. The research, published in Nature Communications, relies not on fossils, but by studying the characteristics of 800 of its living descendant species, and by comparing the similarities and differences among related flowering plants, it is possible to infer the characteristics of their recent ancestors. To find out more go to The ancestral flower of angiosperms and its early diversification.
90 percent chance Earth will exceed 2° C warming by 2100
The Earth is very likely to exceed warming of 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, according to a study published in Nature Climate Change. Researchers from the University of Washington in America estimated that there is only a 5 percent chance that the planet will warm by less than 2 degrees — which many people believe is a "tipping point" that we should avoid by limiting greenhouse gas emissions — and only a 1 percent chance that warming will be kept at 1.5 degrees or below. The research focused on three parameters that underpin the scenarios for future greenhouse gas emissions: total world population, gross domestic product per person and the amount of carbon emitted for each dollar of economic activity, known as carbon intensity. Using statistical projections for each of these quantities based on 50 years of past data in countries around the world, the study finds a median value of 3.2° C warming by 2100, and a 90 percent chance that warming this century will fall between 2.0 to 4.9° C. To find out more go to Less than 2 °C warming by 2100 unlikely.
Sugar linked to sadness
In a new study, scientists have found a possible link between a diet high in sugar and common mental disorders. The World Health Organisation recommends that we reduce our daily intake of added sugars, excluding sugar that is found in fruit, vegetables and milk, to less than 5 percent of total energy intake. However, people in the UK currently consume about double that, and Americans triple. Sweet foods and beverages, such as cakes and soft drinks, contribute around three quarters of added sugars, with the rest from other processed foods like ketchup. At the same time, one in six people worldwide suffers from a common mental disorder, such as a mood or anxiety disorder. Could there be a link between high sugar intake and common mental disorders? Previous studies suggest that there may be. The latest study, published in Scientific Reports, tested whether sugar intake from sweet food and drinks could predict new and recurrent mood disorders, and found that men without a mood disorder who consumed over 67 grams of sugar had a 23 percent increased risk of suffering from a mood disorder five years later, compared with those who ate less than 40 grams. They also found that men and women with a mood disorder and a high intake of sugar from sweet food and drinks were at higher risk of becoming depressed again five years later, compared with those who consumed less suga. To find out more go to Sugar intake from sweet food and beverages, common mental disorder and depression: prospective findings from the Whitehall II study.
Latest dinosaur looks just like a cassowary
Scientists have identified a newly discovered dinosaur that bares a remarkable resemblance to a modern-day bird, the cassowary. In fact, the similarities are so strong that palaeontologists are now studying the flightless bird in order to better understand how its ancient doppelgänger may have behaved. This latest dinosaur, called Corythoraptor jacobsi is classified as an oviraptoridae, a group of bird-like, herbivores and omnivores. An almost complete skeleton was found under a train station in Ganzhou, southern China. The most striking similarity between Corythoraptor jacobsi and the cassowaries that live in New Guinea and Australia is the distinctive head crest or casque, and by comparing the two species, the researchers think they might have a better idea why these two creatures evolved in this way. To learn more check out High diversity of the Ganzhou Oviraptorid Fauna increased by a new “cassowary-like” crested species.
Death from space
An international team of astronomers has detected the most powerful kind of cosmic explosion called gamma-ray bursts, also known as 'death from space', and are related to the explosion of massive stars 50 times the size of our sun, and can release as much energy in a matter of seconds as our sun would emit over its entire lifetime.
Scientists believe the explosions happen when a dying star collapses to become a black hole, releasing a blast of particle jets outward as a beam, whose intensity is only surpassed by that of the Big Bang itself.
The intense flashes are believed to occur all the time — thankfully in galaxies billions of light years away from Earth, but are very difficult to observe as they are usually over in seconds. This incredibly bright burst, however, was aimed directly at Earth, enabling our telescopes to pick it up and respond in real time.
To find out more check out Gamma-ray Burst Captured in Unprecedented Detail.
Hacking the planet's climate to save it
Scientists have proposed a 'cocktail' of technology-based climate hacks that could help to cool our warming planet. The controversial approach — called geoengineering — would use tools to deflect solar radiation away from the planet and reversing the warming trend. By modelling how sulphate particles scatter the sun's rays in the atmosphere and simultaneously thinning out sunlight-reflecting clouds to reduce warming, the scientists found that temperatures could be brought back to pre-industrial levels without drastically increasing rainfall. Geoengineering technologies have been around for decades, but are untested and potentially dangerous as there's a lot we don't know about the potential effects of such dramatic action. Scientists who have suggested such technologies also warn that messing around with the planet's atmosphere may not be a good idea, and if anything goes wrong we could make things worse. To find out more check out Could "cocktail geoengineering" save the planet?
US company implants microchips in its employees
Three Square Market (32M), a snack stall supplier based in Wisconsin has become the first company in the US to roll out microchip implants for all its employees. Entirely optional, the company is planning to implant over 50 of its staff with radio-frequency identification chips the size of a rice grain between their thumb and forefinger. Once implanted, the chips will allow employees to perform a range of common office tasks with an effortless wave of their hand. The chips use near-field communication technology, and are similar to ones already in use in contactless credit cards, mobile payment systems, and animal tag implants, and will cost around US$300 each to implant, which the company says it will pay. Employees will no longer need to carry around keys, ID cards, or smartphones to operate or authenticate with other systems. The chips will not include GPS, so the company will not be able to track their movements, but they could provide a huge amount of data about what employees do and when — like how often they take breaks or use the bathroom, what kind of snacks they buy. To find out more go to Three Square Market Microchips Employees Company-Wide.
How's your origami?
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are teaming up with the crowdsourcing site Freelancer to find origami experts to design radiation shielding that can protect spacecraft from dangerous galactic cosmic rays (GCRs). Their origins are still a mystery, but GCRs — high-energy protons and atomic nuclei — are one of the biggest obstacles to long-haul space exploration owing to the risk of cancer from prolonged exposure to them. Shielding against GCRs is much more difficult than shielding against terrestrial radiation because a greater mass of shielding is required to block them, and is a huge priority for NASA. By using the principles of origami, NASA believes there may be a way of amassing the required volume of shielding due to how effectively and intricately the paper-folding art manages to collapse and conceal its structures. To find out more go to NASA's Space Radiation Program Element and the Freelancer website.