과학 기사

Innovations like 3-D printing have enabled scientists to make significant progress in manufacturing various bioengineered organs and tissues. However, the one organ that has been hard to replicate is the human heart. That’s because current technology is unable to replicate the network of tiny blood vessels that transport oxygen inside a tissue as dense as the human heart muscle....

Earlier this month, millions of Americans were treated to a rare spectacle: a total solar eclipse that was visible from coast-to-coast. While Florence, a massive asteroid that will zip past our planet on September 1, will not overshadow the stunning event, it will make history of its own. According to Paul Chodas at the Center for Near Earth Object (NEO) Studies, the space rock is the largest to pass this close to our planet since the first near-Earth asteroid was discovered over a century ago....

You might not think of plants as particularly chatty but in reality, they communicate surprisingly well with each other, especially when faced with danger. According to a recent study in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science injured plants send out emergency signals to alert neighbors to start building up their defenses....

On Monday, August 21, millions of Americans across the country donned their protective eyeglasses to watch the highly anticipated total solar eclipse. Though the eclipses, which occur about every 18 months, are not rare, this one was historic. It was not only the first total solar eclipse visible from the mainland U.S. in more than 38 years, but also the first to be seen coast to coast in almost a century....

Parents often use the expression “in the blink of an eye” to express their astonishment at how fast their children reach adulthood. However, for those with newborns, the phrase is literal given that an average baby grows between 6 to 7 sizes within the first two years! While exciting, the constant wardrobe replenishment is expensive and also results in a lot of wasted clothing. To tackle the issue, Ryan Yasin has created an origami-inspired line of clothing that expands (or contracts) automatically, resulting in a perfect fit each time....

While Japan is known to have higher than average rates of stomach cancer, the residents of the town of Kaneyama in Yamagata Prefecture appear to be particularly susceptible to the gastric ailment. After a recent report revealed that the municipality had one of the highest stomach cancer fatality rates out of the nation’s 344 “secondary medical districts”, the town officials decided to get its 6,000 residents tested....

A massive patch or “blob” of warm water experienced along the usually cool U.S. Pacific coast from 2013 to 2016 wreaked havoc on the marine ecosystem. Fishermen in Alaska reported seeing warm water sharks, while California beachgoers encountered tropical poisonous water snakes. Though the return of cooler temperatures in 2017 rid the area of most unwanted visitors, bioluminescent pyrosomes ((Pyrosoma atlanticum) have decided to stay and are now washing up along the coast in unprecedented numbers....

When Michael Phelps announced his retirement at the 2016 Rio Olympics he really had no intention of swimming competitively again. However, that changed when the decorated athlete was approached by the Discovery Channel to help kick off shark week with a race against one of the world’s fastest and most efficient predators — a great white!...

The Perseid meteor shower is one of the most anticipated celestial events in the Northern Hemisphere. Though the shooting stars are already lighting up the skies in small numbers, the pace will accelerate around mid-August, making them easy to view without a telescope. This year, the best time to see nature’s annual firework display will be on August 12 and 13....

Sometime between July 10 and 12, a massive iceberg the size of the US state of Delaware broke free from Antarctica’s Larsen C Ice Shelf. The crack that led to the separation was visible in the first images of the ice shelf captured by NASA satellites in 1963. However, the rift remained dormant for decades, before suddenly spreading northwards and widening by 18 miles between 2011 and 2015 and then an additional 13 miles in 2016. As of last month, the iceberg, named A-68 by the US National Ice Center, was hanging by a thread and experts knew it was just a matter of time before it broke free....

Worms are not the first thing that come to mind when one thinks of space travelers. However, that is exactly what the researchers from Tufts University decided to send to the International Space Station (ISS) on January 10, 2015. Some were left whole, others had their head or tail sliced off, while a few poor souls went to space with neither head nor tail! The group of planarian flatworms (Dugesia japonica) selected for their ability to regenerate any body part, were in varying states. Some were left whole, others had their head or tail sliced off, while a select few were shipped with neither head nor tail!...

To say that California’s redwoods are amazing is an understatement. The majestic trees that have been around for millions of years have a lifespan of up to 2,000 years and can reach heights of over 300 feet, so tall that the tops are often invisible. Over the years, researchers have been able to discover a lot about these sturdy survivors that are resistant to pests, fire, and rot, grow three to ten feet a year, and capture more human-generated carbon dioxide (CO2) than any other tree on Earth....

Pods of crafty orcas in Alaska’s Bering Sea have figured out an easy way to get fed. Instead of seeking out the fish themselves, the clever whales chase down fishing boats and steal the entire day’s catch, as much as 20,000 to 30,000 pounds of halibut and black cod, in a single swoop....

Henderson Island in the south Pacific Ocean has always been known for its remarkable biological diversity and untouched ecology. Now, the remote UNESCO World Heritage site that lies 3,100 miles (5,000 km) from the closest human settlement, can also lay claim to being one of the most polluted places on Earth....

Every ocean lover knows the perils of getting caught in a rip current. Experienced swimmers know it is relatively easy to escape the narrow channel of fast moving water by floating and allowing it to drag you further into the ocean or by swimming alongside the shore. However, novice beachgoers often panic, and try to swim to land, placing themselves at risk of drowning due to fatigue. According to the US National Ocean Service, the currents kill about 100 Americans each year and account for 80% of all lifeguard rescues. These scary statistics may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to Clever GIRL (Global Intelligent Rip Locator), a smart buoy that alerts swimmers of the presence of deadly rip currents....

Some fortunate visitors to the Chicago Botanic Garden recently witnessed the rare opening of not one, but two, titan arums. Better known as corpse flowers due to their pungent odor that resembles decaying flesh, the massive plants bloom once every ten years, and that too, for only a few hours. However, that may be a good thing given that when the petals unfurl, the stench emanated is so foul that it has earned the titan arum the title of the “world's smelliest flower.”...

Every winter, hundreds of humpback whales migrate long distances from their high latitude feeding grounds in the Arctic and Antarctic to warmer tropical regions to breed and give birth. The newborn calves, which consume over 52 gallons of milk on a daily basis, have only a few months to pack on the body fat needed to survive the long trek back to cooler waters in summer. How the babies signal hunger and avoid predators during these formative months has always been a mystery to scientists....

The city-state of Dubai that is home to the world’s tallest building, manmade islands shaped like palm trees, drone taxis, and jetpack wielding firefighters, is fast cementing its reputation as the city of the future. On May 22, Dubai officials added to their list of futuristic accomplishments with the introduction of the world’s first operational robot police officer....

While U.S. President Donald Trump, who pulled out of the Paris climate agreement on June 1, is convinced global warming is a “hoax,” the deteriorating condition of the world’s coral reefs seems to suggest otherwise. Often called “rainforests of the sea,” the incredible ecosystems that occupy less than 0.1 percent of ocean’s surface are home to almost 25 percent of all marine species. Unfortunately, the rising ocean temperatures caused by global warming are wreaking havoc on these fragile organisms....

Thailand’s free-roaming monkeys are a huge tourist draw. The primates, mostly macaques, are known to boldly visit with tourists who lure them with food. One of these monkeys, in particular, has recently become a worldwide sensation for both its gargantuan size and unique social status among his peers....

Though plastic shopping bags are incredibly cheap and useful, their disposal causes widespread pollution. That's because the non-biodegradable polyethylene takes centuries to decompose and is also detrimental to wildlife who often mistake the colorful debris for food. Now, we may have an unlikely ally to help clean up our trash – a small wax worm bred primarily for use as premium fish bait....

With technology permeating almost every aspect of our lives, the demand for computer programmers can only increase. To train the workforce of the future, companies around the world are frantically developing computing languages to introduce children as young as seven to the mysterious world of programming both in and out of school....

As you are firming up your summer plans, you may want to pencil in the total solar eclipse on August 21. Dubbed the ‘Great American Eclipse,' it is not just the first total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous United States since February 26, 1979, but also the first that can be seen across the country, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, in almost a century. The last time the celestial phenomenon was experienced coast-to-coast was on June 8, 1918!...

Supermarket shelves are filled with plant-based milk alternatives, including soy, almond, and coconut milk, that cater to the lactose intolerant or those concerned about livestock welfare and environmental sustainability. While the milk-free options work well with cereal or in coffee, they fail miserably when it comes to making derivatives like cheese or yogurt. However, these shortcomings may soon be a thing of the past thanks to California-based start-up Perfect Day, which has figured out how to create lactose-free dairy milk in a laboratory!...