RGS-14 protein
Imagine if you could look at something once and remember it forever. You would never have to ask for directions again. Now a group of scientists has isolated a protein that mega-boosts your ability to remember what you see.

Being terrified is infectious
The smell of fear really does exist, according to a new study, which also suggests that being terrified is infectious.  The study, conducted by Dr Bettina Pause and colleagues at the University of Dusseldorf in Germany, suggests that people subconsciously detect whether others are scared by picking up chemicals they release from [...]

The red is a thermal radius.
North Korea’s aiming their test missile near Hawaii. The US military says they can protect the islands, and locals aren’t too worried, but if something happens, the thermal, shockwave and radioactive fallout will look something like this.
 

Artist’s impression of the new source HLX-1
A new class of black hole, more than 500 times the mass of the Sun, has been discovered by an international team of astronomers.

How much light is reflected and how much is absorbed depends on two factors
It appears to be a paradox: ultra-thin material that absorbs all the incident light. Nonetheless, it does exist.

Mice fed on a diet high in polyunsaturated fatty acids can sprint faster
Between the 1932 and 2008 Olympic Games, world record times of the men’s 100m sprint improved by 0.6 seconds due to improved training techniques and technological advances. Imagine if this improvement could be achieved by a simple change in diet. Scientists at the [...]

The Mexican Free-tailed Bat (Tadarida brasiliensis) lives a very long life compared to closely related animals such as mice
Scientists from Texas are batty over a new discovery which could lead to the single most important medical breakthrough in human history—significantly longer lifespans. The discovery, featured on the cover of the July 2009 print issue of [...]

An illustration of a dust storm on Mars.
For the first time, direct evidence of lightning has been detected on Mars, say University of Michigan researchers who found signs of electrical discharges during dust storms on the Red Planet.

Salamander: superhero of regeneration
 The salamander is a superhero of regeneration, able to replace lost limbs, damaged lungs, sliced spinal cord — even bits of lopped-off brain. But it turns out that remarkable ability isn’t so mysterious after all — suggesting that researchers could learn how to replicate it in people.
 

According to study, shampoo destroys brain cells
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh say that a common chemical found in Shampoo and hand lotions, Methylisothiazoline, destroys brain cells and is a risk to unborn babies.
 
 

 flowers show signs of evolution.
Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have zeroed in on the genes responsible for changing flower color, an area of research that began with Gregor Mendel’s studies of the garden pea in the 1850’s.

 
Scientists have discovered a mega-colony of this invasive insect species that stretches across the globe
Argentine ants from three huge colonies in Europe, America and Japan are actually part of one global super-colony, scientists have revealed.

The emergence of empires of one, business colonies and seed capitalists
The importance of stimulating entrepreneurship has not been lost on Asian nations. Communist Youth League of China will set up a fund to help young people establish their own businesses, as part of efforts to ease employment pressures, particularly among graduates, China.com reported in February.

The map uses 1.3 million images and covers Earth’s land surface between 83 degrees North and 83 degrees South latitudes 
An astonishing new map has revealed the elevation of nearly every place on Earth.
The Global Digital Elevation Model was created using nearly 1.3million images collected by a Japanese camera on board Nasa’s Terra spacecraft. It is [...]

A boy drinking water from a borehole in Zimbabwe 
In this months PLoS Medicine Editorial, the editors argue that — despite recent international objections — access to clean water should be recognised as a human right.

Glorified Glasses

Residents of Stourbridge, West Midlands, and surrounding villages were having a pleasant surprise when they took in their milk bottles; they would find pictures of animals, often cows or mice, carefully carved onto the glass in astonishing detail.
An artist, known as ‘bottle Banksy’, would take the used milk bottles from doorsteps and then return [...]

Tweet frickin’ tweet!

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Everyone in Iran uses it, BBC radio presenters bang on about it incessantly and mega celebs use it to throw crumbs to their adoring fans. Yep there seems no stopping the rise of Twitter.
Well soon you’ll be able to get a degree based around the microblogging sensation (BA Hons Twit IIi?) as City [...]

The two-qubit processor is the first solid-state quantum processor that resembles a conventional computer chip and is able to run simple algorithms
A team led by Yale University researchers has created the first rudimentary solid-state quantum processor, taking another step toward the ultimate dream of building a quantum computer.

New research sheds light on how alcohol alters the way brain cells work.
Alcohol’s inebriating effects are familiar to everyone. But the molecular details of alcohol’s impact on brain activity remain a mystery. A new study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies brings us closer to understanding how alcohol alters the way brain [...]

apply skin cream in order to stimulate the gene into action
Vaseline, a known molecule from apples and a gene network encapsulated in algal gelatin are the components of a possible gene therapy which literally gets under the skin.

Nematode
Caltech researchers studying the nervous control of nematode mating behavior have produced video footage of a male worm preparing to mate with a hermaphrodite.

Two Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins swimming off the coast of Oahu.
We can only marvel at the way that dolphins, whales and porpoises scythe through water. Their finlike flippers seem perfectly adapted for maximum aquatic agility. However, no one had ever analysed how the animals’ flippers interact with water; the hydrodynamic lift that they generate, the drag [...]

A Model of the Inside
Pregnant women are being given the chance to hold life-size models of their unborn babies, thanks to an invention that converts data from ultrasound and MRI scans.
Jorge Lopes, a Brazilian designer, uses 3-D printing technology to create the plaster models, which go on show today at an exhibition at the Royal [...]

 
The enzyme WWP-1, shown in green, is a key player in the signaling cascade that links dietary restriction to longevity in roundworms.
Experiment after experiment confirms that a diet on the brink of starvation expands lifespan in mice and many other species. But the molecular mechanism that links nutrition and survival is still poorly understood. [...]