When many people think of watermelon, they likely think of Citrullus lanatus, the cultivated watermelon with sweet, juicy red fruit enjoyed around the world as a dessert. Indeed, watermelon is one of the world’s most popular fruits, second only to tomato – which many consider a vegetable. But there are six other wild species of watermelon,...
Roland Ebel of the Sustainable Food Systems Program at Montana State University conducted a research project to determine the extent to which an ancient Aztec agricultural technique could benefit 21st century horticultural needs. Specifically, Ebel examined the use of “chinampas” with the hope of discovering their modern utility. A chinampa is a raised field on...
Dartmouth engineering researchers have developed a new approach for detecting a speaker’s intent to mislead. The approach’s framework, which could be developed to extract opinion from “fake news,” among other uses, was recently published as part of a paper in Journal of Experimental & Theoretical Artificial Intelligence. Although previous studies have examined deception, this is...
Robots can take just three hours to successfully learn techniques which can be used to support teachers in a classroom environment, according to new research. The study, published in Science Robotics, saw a robot being programmed to progressively learn autonomous behaviour from human demonstrations and guidance. A human teacher controlled the robot, teaching it how to...
A research team led by Professor Michiteru Kitazaki from the Toyohashi University of Technology, Associate Professor Tomohiro Amemiya from the University of Tokyo, and Professor Yasushi Ikei from Tokyo Metropolitan University have developed a virtual walking system. This system records a person walking, then re-plays it to another user through the oscillating optic flow and...
If you’re at a desk with a pen or pencil handy, try this move: Grab the pen by one end with your thumb and index finger, and push the other end against the desk. Slide your fingers down the pen, then flip it upside down, without letting it drop. Not too hard, right? But for...
A recent study from North Carolina State University finds that people are likely to blame robots for workplace accidents, but only if they believe the robots are autonomous. “Robots are an increasingly common feature in the workplace, and it’s important for us to understand how people view robots in that context – including how people...
Whether it’s walking down a dark street at night or fighting off grizzly bears on the trail, pepper spray is an effective tool to fend off an attacker and get safely away. But have you ever thought about what gives this personal-defense-in-a-can its bite – is it just weaponized hot sauce? The American Chemical Society...
A University of Southern California (USC) scientist and colleagues have identified a new species of giant flying reptile that once soared over what is now North America. The creature is similar to the largest pterosaurs known, yet key characteristics gleaned from a cache of bones unearthed in Canada show it’s actually part of a new...
Tyrannosaurus rex, one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs on the planet, had an air conditioner in its head, suggest scientists from the University of Missouri, Ohio University and University of Florida, while challenging over a century of previous beliefs. In the past, scientists believed two large holes in the roof of a T. rex‘s skull —...
