WEIRD SCIENCE
Humanitarian groups have been calling for a ban on autonomous weapons. Wolfgang Kumm/picture alliance via Getty Images – By James Dawes, Professor of English, Macalester College 2021 Dec 20 – Autonomous weapon systems – commonly known as killer robots – may have killed …
Half a million phones received emergency alerts thanks to system offering a few seconds to take cover. Dr Lucy Jones, a seismologist, describes how an early warning system would work at a news conference in 2013. Photograph: Reed Saxon/AP – By Gabrielle Canon …
New research calls for more rigorous agricultural practices to control the uptake of heavy metals into cannabis plants grown for human consumption. fotovincek/Depositphotos – By Rich Haridy 2021 Dec 15 – A new study led by researchers from Penn State is outlining a number …
A new study has compared the volume of microplastics people consume through water, seafood and salt with the concentrations that cause damage to human cells. endewer1.mail.ru/Despositphotos – By Nick Lavars 2021 Dec 09 – With plastic waste turning up everywhere from Arctic snowfall to …
Vuity eyedrops have gone on sale as an alternative to reading glasses. Cookelma / Depositphotos – By Loz Blain 2021 Dec 14 – The first FDA-approved eye drops to treat age-related blurry near vision (presbyopia) have gone on sale in the US, offering a …
Plastic debris on a beach on Lanai, a sparsely populated Hawaiian island. Matthew Koller, CC BY-ND – Authors Matthew Savoca, Postdoctoral researcher, Stanford University Anna Robuck, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Lauren Kashiwabara, Master’s Degree Student in Biological …
(Museums Victoria) – By Jacinta Bowler 2021 Nov 22 – In 2015, David Hole was prospecting in Maryborough Regional Park near Melbourne, Australia. – Armed with a metal detector, he discovered something out of the ordinary – a very heavy, reddish rock resting …
Xenobots are the world’s first AI-designed biological robots that can self-repair and self-replicate. What is an AI-designed organic robot that can self-repair and make babies? Getty Images – Andrea Morris Contributor Science Science, Robots & The Arts – The year was 1948 when …
Vegan leather alternative isn’t just the hot fashion must-have – it could teach us about consumption and waste. Grown in trays, mycelium is engineered to look and feel like calfskin or sheepskin. Photograph: Carla Tramullas – By Jess Cartner-Morley @JessC_M 2021 Dec 02 …
This electromechanical machine, used in the 1890 U.S. census, was the first automated data processing system. Niall Kennedy/Flickr, CC BY-NC – By David Lindsay Roberts, Adjunct Professor of Mathematics, Prince George’s Community College 2021 Dec 01 – The U.S. Constitution requires that a …
