Conventional wisdom suggests that people with the most demanding jobs would have the most trouble sleeping. However, a new study by researchers at the University of South Florida reveals that the relationship between work demands and a good night’s rest is more nuanced. In fact, their results show that having too few job demands can...
A bright, sunny, cloudless day might seem like the optimal setting for solar cells. But too much sun, and too much heat, can actually reduce the efficiency of photovoltaics. As operating temperature rises by 1 degree Celsius, traditional silicon-based solar cells will lose about 0.5% efficiency. In a typical photovoltaic plant, where modules operate nearly...
First, the bad news: Nothing is free. Moving the world energy system away from fossil fuels and into renewable sources will generate carbon emissions by itself, as construction of wind turbines, solar panels and other new infrastructure consumes energy—some of it necessarily coming from the fossil fuels we are trying to get rid of. The...
Earth is currently in the midst of a mass extinction, losing thousands of species each year. New research suggests environmental changes caused the first such event in history, which occurred millions of years earlier than scientists previously realized. Most dinosaurs famously disappeared 66 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous period. Prior to...
Virtual 3D tours on real estate websites, such as Zillow and Redfin, allow viewers to explore homes without leaving the comfort of their couch. Sometimes the homes in these tours are staged, but other times they contain evidence of current residents’ lives. University of Washington (UW) researchers were curious about whether personal belongings visible in...
In the wake of Elon Musk’s noisy takeover of Twitter, people have been looking for alternatives to the increasingly toxic microblogging social media platform. Many of those fleeing or hedging their bets have turned to Mastodon, which has attracted hundreds of thousands of new users since Twitter’s acquisition. Like Twitter, Mastodon allows users to post,...
With wings spanning nearly 16 feet, a new species of pterosaurs has been identified from the Atlantic coast of Angola. An international team, including two vertebrate paleontologists from SMU, named the new genus and species Epapatelo otyikokolo. This flying reptile of the dinosaur age was found in the same region of Angola as fossils from large...
The National Science Foundation recently awarded $1,197,134 to a collaborative team, led by University of Massachusetts Amherst professor of computer science Rick Adrion, to integrate computer science into every classroom and reach every student in the Springfield Massachusetts Public elementary schools. The curriculum, called CSforAll, will reach approximately 11,000 Kindergarten through fifth-grade students in the district’s...
Psychedelic compounds found in ‘magic mushrooms’ are increasingly being recognised for their potential to treat health conditions such as depression, anxiety, compulsive disorders and addiction. However, very little is known about how such compounds have evolved and what role they play in the natural world. To address that, scientists from the University of Plymouth...
An odor machine, so-called olfactometer, makes it possible to smell in VR environments. First up is a “wine tasting game” where the user smells wine in a virtual wine cellar and gets points if the guess on aromas in each wine is correct. The new technology that can be printed on 3D printers has been...
