Recent advances in computer graphics are making it possible to create computer-generated (CG) representations of human beings that are difficult to distinguish from their real-world counterparts. “Digital human face detection in video sequences via a physiological signal analysis,” a paper published today in the Journal of Electronic Imaging (JEI), presents a viable, innovative way to discern between...
People usually start gradually graying in their thirties. Once crossing the age of 50, one will be hard-pressed to successfully disguise one’s white hair crown without paying monthly visits to a hairdresser. However, medical reports suggest the process of hair color loss, which scientists call canities or achromotrichia, can be greatly accelerated by persistent acute...
Scientists, including those from the University of Colorado Boulder, have finally scaled the solar system’s equivalent of the Rocky Mountain range. In a study published yesterday in Nature Astronomy, researchers from the United States and Japan unveil the possible origins of our cosmic neighborhood’s “Great Divide.” This well-known schism may have separated the solar system...
Deep below the Earth’s surface lies a thick rocky layer called the mantle, which makes up the majority of our planet’s volume. While Earth’s mantle is too deep for humans to observe directly, certain meteorites can provide clues to this unreachable layer. In a study recently published in Science Advances, an international team of scientists,...
The discovery will thrill lovers of gold watches and heavy jewelry. The objects of their desire may someday become much lighter, but without losing any of their glitter. Especially in watches, a small amount of weight can make all the difference. No one wants to wear a heavy watch on their wrist, even if it’s...
The number of active users of Facebook (those people who have logged onto the site in the previous month) has reached an historic high of 2.45 billion. To put this in some context, approximately 32% of the global population now use the social media platform, and the trend line of participation is still going up....
More than half of Earth’s rivers freeze over every year. These frozen rivers support important transportation networks for communities and industries located at high latitudes. Ice cover also regulates the amount of greenhouse gasses released from rivers into Earth’s atmosphere. A new study from researchers in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Department...
Tiny mealworms may hold part of the solution to our giant plastics problem. Not only are they able to consume various forms of plastic, as previous Stanford research has shown, they can eat Styrofoam containing a common toxic chemical additive and still be safely used as protein-rich feedstock for other animals, according to a new...
The survival of Earth’s life is not a battle of humans versus nature. In last week’s Science, an independent group of international experts, including one from Michigan State University (MSU), deliver a sweeping assessment of nature, concluding victory needs both humans and nature to thrive. “Pervasive human-driven decline of life on Earth points to the...
Chemicals commonly used in smartphone, television, and computer displays were found to be potentially toxic and present in nearly half of dozens of samples of household dust collected by a team of toxicologists led by the University of Saskatchewan (USask). The international research team, led by USask environmental toxicologist John Giesy, is sounding the alarm...
