Romain Garrouste, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN) – Sorbonne Universités
If some insects could save the world, others do their best to seriously complicate life on earth. Among them the prize perhaps goes to the bed bug, which after decades of absence has returned to our homes, hotels and public facilities to seriously disturb us.
These intrepid little insects aren’t picky about where they set up shop – luxury suites and hospitals, public housing and rich neighbourhoods are all equally attractive to them. Given that bed bugs like to hang out where people congregate in the largest numbers, however, they prefer the city over the country.
So why have bed bugs returned, why are they so successful and what solutions exist to help us get rid of them? And beyond our fears and phobias, what is the true impact of these little demons?
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- Scris de: Iosif A.
For the first time ever, working muscle tissue was created from stem cells. Engineering muscle from non-muscle could open the door to a host of advanced treatment and research opportunities.
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- Scris de: Chelsea Gohd
Richard Gunderman, Indiana University
Match the following figures – Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Guglielmo Marconi, Alfred Nobel and Nikola Tesla – with these biographical facts:
- Spoke eight languages
- Produced the first motor that ran on AC current
- Developed the underlying technology for wireless communication over long distances
- Held approximately 300 patents
- Claimed to have developed a “superweapon” that would end all war
The match for each, of course, is Tesla. Surprised? Most people have heard his name, but few know much about his place in modern science and technology.
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- Scris de: Iosif A.
From medieval witch hunts in Europe to contemporary “witch doctors” in Tanzania, belief in witchcraft has existed across human societies throughout history. Anthropologists have long been fascinated by the phenomenon, but have struggled to study it with quantitative methods – our understanding of how and why it arises is therefore poor.
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- Scris de: Iosif A.
Gérard Dubey, Télécom École de Management – Institut Mines-Télécom
What exactly do we mean by an “enhanced” human? When this possibility is brought up, what is generally being referred to is the addition of human and machine-based performances (expanding on the figure of the cyborg popularised by science fiction). But enhanced in relation to what? According to which reference values and criteria? How, for example, can happiness be measured? A good life? Sensations, like smells or touch which connect us to the world? How happy we feel when we are working? All these dimensions that make life worth living. We must be careful here not to give in to the magic of figures. A plus can hide a minus; something gained may conceal something lost. What is gained or lost, however, is difficult to identify as it is neither quantifiable nor measurable.
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- Scris de: Iosif A.
Bernard Wood, George Washington University and Michael Westaway, Griffith University
The question of where we humans come from is one many people ask, and the answer is getting more complicated as new evidence is emerging all the time.
For most of recorded history humankind has been placed on a metaphorical, and sometimes literal, pedestal. Sure, modern humans were flesh and blood like other animals.
But they were regarded as being so special that in the Linnaean taxonomy that prevailed well into the second half of the 20th century they were given their own family, the Hominidae.
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- Scris de: Iosif A.
The notion of “signal processing” might seem like something impenetrably complex, even to scientists. However, the fact is that most of them have already being doing it for a long time, albeit in an unconscious way. Acquiring, shaping and transforming data, cleaning it for the sake of improved analysis and extraction of useful information – all of this is what experimental science is about. And by adding ideas of modelling and algorithms, you can arrive at an ensemble of methods that constitutes a scientific discipline in its own right.
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- Scris de: Iosif A.
Daryl O'Connor, University of Leeds
When people experience stress, the adrenal glands that sit on top of the kidneys release a steroid hormone called cortisol. However, our latest study shows that people who have experienced high levels of trauma in childhood, and who have attempted suicide, tend to release less cortisol when put under stress. These findings build on our earlier work that showed that the stress response system may be “faulty” or “damaged” in people who have recently tried to take their own life.
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- Scris de: Iosif A.
În prezent singurul mecanism de reglare homeostatică a masei de grăsime din organism este constituit de sistemul leptinic (leptina, un hormon, a fost descoperit în 1994). O echipă de cercetători de la University of Gothenburg din Sweden a publicat recent rezultatele unui studiu pe şoareci care indică existenţa unui alt sistem de reglare a grăsimii.
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- Scris de: Iosif A.
Cunoașterea a două limbi străine în loc de una se dovedește benefică pentru copiii de grădiniță, întrucât acest lucru conduce la dezvoltarea unui control superior al impulsurilor – capacitatea de a opri o reacție impulsivă și de a alege un răspuns mai adecvat situației.
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- Scris de: Universitatea din Oregon
Vrei să dispui de un creier eficient chiar și la bătrânețe? Vrei să te protejezi de senilitate și probleme cardiovasculare? Vei găsi în continuare un alt supliment motivațional – legătura exercițiului fizic cu volumul creierului.
Sănătatea creierului descrește pe măsura înaintării în vârstă. Descreșterea se referă la volumul său, care se micșorează cu aproximativ (în medie) 5% pe decadă după 40 de ani. La bătrânețe, peste 70, vei avea garantat un creier mai mic decât astăzi, după cum se întâmplă, de altfel, și cu mușchii care se atrofiază treptat.
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- Scris de: Seramis Sas, Ph.D
Vocile familiare pot îmbunătăți activitatea de procesare a limbii vorbite printre copiii școlari, conform unui studiu realizat de NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Cu toate acestea, avantajul unei voci familiare constă în faptul că acest lucru ajută copiii să proceseze și să înțeleagă cuvinte pe care deja le cunosc, nu și cuvinte noi care nu se află în vocabularul lor.
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- Scris de: NYU Steinhardt
Conform unui studiu realizat de NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, copiii bilingvi procesează mai bine informațiile privind persoana care vorbește, fiind mai eficienţi în a distinge vocile, comparativ cu colegii lor monolingvi. Rezultatele, publicate în revista Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, sugerează un alt avantaj al vorbirii mai multor limbi, dincolo de beneficiile cognitive cunoscute deja.
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- Scris de: Susannah V. Levi
Una dintre ideile fundamentale din mecanica cuantică este aceea că obiectele cuantice, cum ar fi fotonul ori electronul, sunt în acelaşi timp şi particulă, şi undă. Într-adevăr, realitatea pe care ne-o dezvăluie mecanica cuantică este greu de digerat pentru o minte obişnuită cu o realitate de zi diferită, unde obiectele par a fi doar obiecte, iar undele doar unde...
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- Scris de: Iosif A.
Curbarea spaţiu-timpului generează "forţe mareice" care se exercită asupra funcţiei de undă a unui sistem cuantic. Folosind un interferometru cu impuls dual cercetători de la Universitatea Stanford şi Universitatea din Birmingham au măsurat modificările apărute ca urmare a acestor forţe. Pe scurt, cercetătorii au observat că introducerea unui corp cu masă în apropierea unui sistem cuantic produce modificări ale spaţiu-timpului măsurabile, identificând pentru prima oară efectele gravitaţiei asupra unui sistem cuantic.
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- Scris de: Iosif A.