과학 기사

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the COVID-19 coronavirus global emergency is now a pandemic. The UN health agency urged countries worldwide to "double-down" on their efforts to curtail the spread of the infectious disease, which has swept into at least 114 countries and killed over 4,000 people in less than three months....

Though many single-celled lifeforms have evolved to survive without oxygen, multicellular organisms have always been believed to need it to live. Now, scientists in Tel Aviv, Israel, have found that Henneguya salminicola, a parasite, which spends its life attached to the muscle tissue of fish, has adapted to living without oxygen....

Celebrated annually on March 14, Pi ("π”) Day is a universal favorite with students and teachers. Though the American holiday, which honors the numerical constant representing the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, typically begins with a classroom discussion of the symbol, it usually ends with a slice or two of delicious pie. The event is commemorated every March 14 because the irrational number, which continues infinitely without repetition or pattern, is widely recognized as 3.14....

Paleontologists have long determined that modern-day birds evolved from smaller members of the two-legged, meat-eating theropods, such as velociraptors. However, for many years, the only transitional fossil linking the two had been that of the archaeopteryx — a bird-dinosaur hybrid that lived on Earth about 150 million years ago, during the late Jurassic period....

Despite the extreme quarantine measures taken by Chinese officials to stem the spread of the 2019 Novel Coronvirus (COVID-19), or Wuhan virus, the infectious, flu-like affliction continues to spread worldwide at an unprecedented rate. As of March 2, 2020, there are more than 90,000 reported cases in at least 53 countries, with more than 3,000 deaths globally....

Since the beginning of 2020, the East African country of Kenya has been battling the nation's worst desert locust outbreak in over 70 years. The destructive swarms, some as big as three times the size of New York City — an estimated 192 billion insects — are eating their way through thousands of acres of crops and animal pastures, decimating livelihoods in the process. Even worse, the locusts, which arrived from neighboring Somalia and Ethiopia, are now spreading to other countries, including Uganda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Congo....

Though it is now arid, the Urumaco region in Venezuela's Falcón State was once a mega wetland that was home to numerous colossal animal species. These included rodents the size of modern-day buffaloes and 10-foot (3-meter) tall carnivorous birds. The latest to join the list of the area's massive creatures is a giant turtle that was 100 times larger than its closest living relative, the Amazon river turtle, and about 1.5 times the size of the world's largest living turtle, the marine leatherback....

Need an extra day to catch up on sleep or to finish an assignment this month? Then you are in luck, because 2020 is a leap year, an event that occurs once every four years. This means that instead of the customary 365 days, the year will have 366 days. Since the extra day is tacked onto the shortest month of the year, February 2020 will have 29 days....

California's Yosemite National Park is home to numerous stunning waterfalls. However, from mid-to-late February each year, the unlikely star of the pristine preserve is Horsetail Fall — a small, nondescript waterfall that forms over the eastern edge of the park's famous vertical rock formation, El Capitan, every winter. That's because, during the two-week-period, the temporary 1,000-foot fall frequently transforms into a spectacular "firefall" for about ten minutes a day during sunset....

While jewelry crafted from gold can be gorgeous, even ardent fans will admit that wearing the heavy metal over long periods of time can get a little cumbersome and annoying. Now, researchers from Swiss university ETH Zurich have created a new form of lightweight gold that weighs five to ten times less than traditional 18-carat gold — which typically comprises 75 percent gold and 25 percent copper — but retains the same purity....

A shark that walks in water instead of swimming might sound like a creature straight out of a science fiction thriller. However, that is precisely how the four new species of the fish — found in the tropical waters of the Indo-Australian archipelago — move across the seafloor. The unique ocean dwellers were discovered by a team of scientists, led by Dr. Christine Dudgeon from Australia's University of Queensland, during a 12-year global conservation study....

It might be our closest star and absolutely essential for our existence, but, for the most part, the inner workings of the Sun remain a mystery to scientists. However, if the inaugural close-up of our star captured by the world's most powerful telescope — the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) — is any indication, that may soon be a thing of the past....

On December 31, 2019, Chinese officials announced that 27 people in Wuhan, the capital of Central China’s Hubei province, had been infected with a new strain of the coronavirus. Since then, the number of cases of the contagious affliction labeled 2019-nCoV, COVID-19, or Wuhan virus, have rapidly increased, with new cases being reported daily. On Thursday, January 30, 2020, The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a global emergency, highlighting the urgency for a rapid coordinated international response to curb this global health risk....

An elephant, who accidentally fell into a dry, 25-foot deep well in Northeast India, lived to see another day thanks to the quick-thinking rescuers' scientific knowledge. The chain of events unfolded early in the morning on Tuesday, January 28, 2020, when residents of Amliya toli village, in the state of Jharkhand, awoke to the cries of the stranded pachyderm and called the forest department for help....

If you have felt the skies above you seem increasingly empty of chirping birds, you are not alone. A 2018 study by BirdLife International revealed that 40 percent of the world’s 11,000 bird species are in decline, and one in eight bird species is threatened with global extinction. Now, some scientists are using cutting-edge technology to revive the critically-endangered kākāpō; if successful, the techniques used may help save other bird species as well....

The Earth's inner core, which boasts temperatures exceeding 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,000 degrees Celsius), may not evoke images of a winter wonderland. Yet, a new study by a team of scientists led by Youjun Zhang, an associate professor at Sichuan University in China, asserts that the deepest part of our planet may be covered with a 200-mile-thick layer of "snow." However, before you rush to pack your skis, be aware that the "snowflakes" are not composed of frozen water crystals, but of tiny particles of iron!...

Cotton candy is probably the last thing that comes to mind when one thinks of exoplanets. But the three giant worlds orbiting the Kepler 51 star system, about 2,600 light-years away from Earth, are so "light and fluffy" that they warrant a comparison to the beloved spun-sugar confection....

Though bushfires are a common occurrence in Australia during the summer, they have never been as devastating or as widespread as the ones currently burning across the country. Since September 2019, the blazes, fueled by dry foliage and strong winds, have scorched over 15.6 million acres (24,000 square miles) — an area larger than the state of West Virginia. Even worse, officials warn that Australia's wildfire season — which generally lasts through March — is nowhere near its end....

With no brains or nerve cells, single-cellular microorganisms are often regarded to be simple, primitive beings with few capabilities. However, a new Harvard University study suggests that protozoans, like Stentor roeselii, have the smarts to make "complex" decisions when confronted with unpleasant situations....

Now celebrating its fifteenth year, The Best Illusion of the Year is a fun contest hosted by the Neural Correlate Society in collaboration with the Museum of Mind. The competition encourages scientists and artists to showcase their ingenuity and creativity by submitting their best illusion through a short video. Here are this year's top 3 illusions selected by fans from the top 10 finalists in an online vote on December 13, 2019....

Winter lovers, rejoice! Saturday, December 21, 2019, is the winter solstice — the astronomical start of the chilly season for residents of the Northern Hemisphere. Even more exciting, the longest night of 2019 will coincide with the peak of the Ursids meteor showers, giving fans ample time to view the spectacular shooting stars!...

It is often said that "a picture is worth a thousand words." That is certainly true of the mesmerizing images of fleeting moments of nature submitted by international ecologists and students for the British Ecological Society's (BES) annual photography competition. Here are a few of 2019's winning entries, announced on November 28, 2019....

While dogs openly demonstrate joy or displeasure through grins and grimaces, discerning a cat's emotions from its face is often hard, even for its owners. Now, researchers from Canada's University of Guelph assert that stoic as they may appear, cats also express emotions on their faces — one just has to learn how to interpret them!...

Though it has been over a century since the R.M.S. Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg, modern-day ships remain as vulnerable to such catastrophes. The most recent disaster occurred in May 2019, when a sightseeing boat on the Danube River in Hungary capsized and sank after colliding with a river cruise ship, killing 28 of the 35 tourists aboard. Now, researchers from New York's University of Rochester may have found a way to avert such tragedies, with a water-repellant metal that can stay afloat even after having several holes drilled in it....