Are tears a turnoff for guys?

A new research study published in Science shows that chemosignals present in tears can impact the emotions of others.


As usual, I've been absent since forever. Having a million things to work on and plan isn't how I envisioned my life when I was younger; I thought it would be more of me swimming in a pile of money while playing super Nintendo all day, but that doesn't seem realistic at this point.

But the science must go on...

A new study published by Noam Sobel and his research team from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel shows that female tears may contain a pheromone-like signal; One that can induce certain physiological responses in males.

Fungi found growing in remains of the Chernobyl reactor.

Fungi have been found growing in the remains of the Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station and surrounding areas. Their secret: use the radiation to grow!

After nearly two weeks without writing anything of substance due to overbearing exams, I'm finally back in action! To jump directly back into science, we'll be discussing a very weird property of certain fungi that have been found living in the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. They've not only figured out how to live with radiation levels many times that of the normal background, but they've also found a way to use it as an energy source for growth!

How to Breathe Water...and Not Die?

Newly designed scuba suit allows diving to great depths, all by breathing in ...water?

Posted by Alexandru Nicolae

So a good friend of mine showed me this wonderful link to a news article discussing a new type of scuba suit. This one is quite different and allows the wearer to avoid decompression sickness, more commonly called the bends, when diving to extreme depths by allowing the user to breathe....a liquid?!

Flying Snakes....RUN!

Warning. If you're afraid of snakes, look away.

Posted by Alexandru Nicolae

I've been extremely busy lately with school, having barely enough time for sleep let alone writing proper blog entries. So until my exams are finished I'm going to be posting some short (but interesting) videos on the "wow" part of science.

I present to you flying snakes! In reality, the species shown here, Chrysopelea paradisi, is really gliding and not flying. They can glide about 10 meters and use their characteristic undulating motion for a bit of extra propulsion. And get this, they can use this to escape from predators, or even attack arial prey!

On a side note, for some reason DARPA is interested in this research. Are they planning to make arial undulating search-and-destroy drones? Only time and a lot of phobias will tell.

Video Credit: Dr. Jake Socha, youtube channel:

References:

Socha JJ, Dempsey TO, LaBarbera ML. (2005). A 3-D kinematic analysis of gliding in a flying snake, Chrysopelea paradisi. J Exp Bio; 209: 1817-1833
doi:10.1242/jeb.01579

Multiple Sclerosis patient dies after controversial new treatment

A controversial and yet unproven treatment has claimed the life of a Canadian patient suffering from MS.

There has been a lot of buzz recently over a suggested treatment for patients suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS). A recent, yet obscure, research paper published by Zamboni P. et al. (2009) has suggested that multiple sclerosis, a debilitating neurological disease that can leave one with severely impaired movement and motor function, is caused by blocked or impaired veins in the head / neck that lead to problems in blood flow. The paper thus suggests that treatment for MS would be possible by opening up these blocked veins.