Tiny Frog Hears with its Mouth! While we humans need every organ of our body, animals seem to adapt and even thrive when they are missing body parts that we consider crucial to survive - There is the Borneo frog that breathes without lungs, the ice fish that has no hemoglobin and now, an earless frog that can hear perfectly....
Read news articleJ.K. Rowling Returns - This Time With Some Magical Creatures!Here is some awesome news for all you wizard fans - The Harry Potter series may have concluded, but its author J.K. Rowling is nowhere near done telling stories about its magical world. This time around she is heading to tinsel town as screenwriter for a new film series that is based on a textbook that may ring a bell to the most avid Harry Potter fans - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a required reading for the young wizard when he entered Hogwarts....
Read news articleThe World's Happiest Nations Are . . .Just like beauty, happiness is very subjective - What makes one person happy does not necessarily work for another. Yet there are various agencies that attempt to gauge the happiness of entire nations using disparate criteria. The most recent 'World Happiness Report' was released by the United Nations on September 9th and without further ado, here are the results . . ....
Read news articleHow 3D Printing Will Change MedicineThe struggle to recreate human tissues in the laboratory is nearly as old as the medical profession itself. The cell as you all know, is the structural, functional and biological unit of all organisms, whether it is a single celled-bacteria or a 90 trillion-celled human! While these microscopic units appear simple, they are actually quite complex and almost impossible to build from scratch, which is why for the longest time 'growing' new human body parts in the laboratory seemed like an impossible task. That perception seems to be changing somewhat, thanks to the recent advent of 3-D printing....
Read news articleRafael Nadal, Tennis Superstar And . . . Watch Designer?Nadal has experienced a wide range of triumphs and tribulations in 2013. After being forced to withdraw from the year's first grand slam - the Australian Open due to a stomach virus, he came back with a vengeance in May to win his eighth French Open title. Then in June, he along with many other top players, suffered a stunning loss in the initial round at Wimbledon, only to bounce back strong in the last major tournament of the year, the US Open....
Read news articleUh-Oh! It's Friday The 13th!While to most of us 13 is just a number, there are some people that consider it to be a bad omen. This is the reason office and residential towers often skip having a 13th floor altogether. However when the 13th happens to fall on a Friday, the fear factor escalates to a whole new level! Today happens to be the first of the two fearful 'Friday the 13th's' that we will have to encounter in 2013!...
Read news articleLooking For An Exotic Classroom Pet? Professor Bechtel May Be Able To Help!How cool would it be if instead of learning about exotic animals like Patagonian maras (large rodents that resemble rabbits) and bearded dragons from textbooks you could do it by touching, feeling and maybe even breeding them? That is how the students fortunate enough to be taught by Michael Bechtel at Saydel High School in Des Moines, Iowa experienced biology for many years....
Read news articleThousands Apply For A One-Way (All Expenses Paid) Voyage To MarsIf you are a space buff, visiting Mars is probably at the top of your list. It is therefore no wonder that when the Mars One Foundation announced that they were seeking four qualified applicants to send on an all expenses paid trip to the Red Planet, over 200,000 people from 140 countries expressed their interest. The only catch? It will be a one-way trip because their mission will be to establish the first human settlement on Mars!...
Read news article9/11/2001 - The Day Our Lives Changed ForeverOn Wednesday, September 11th, Americans and people all around the world will commemorate the 2,977 innocent lives that were lost in what will go down in history, as one of the most daring and unusual terrorist attacks ever. The tragedy not only changed the lives of the people directly affected by the attacks but also that of future, yet-to-be born generations....
Read news articleVideo Of The Week - LG Corporation's Hilarious Meteor PrankNot too long ago, South Korean conglomerate LG Corporation pulled off a funny prank that involved the floor of an elevator seemingly collapsing beneath the feet of their riders to demonstrate the lifelike quality of their new IPS monitors. Now the company is at it again, with a new prank that made the witnesses believe that the world was about to end!...
Read news articleDallas Zoo Baby Cheetahs Get An Unusual Cage MateTwo eight-week old male cheetahs are about to start their new life at the Dallas Zoo with an unusual cage mate - An eight-week-old male black Labrador retriever puppy named Amani....
Read news articleResearcher Enlists Robots To Find Missing WWII Aircraft And AirmenAdvances in robotics have impacted almost every aspect of science - From building new liver tissues to making more advanced remote controlled helicopters. Now, these futuristic robots are even providing a window to our past, by aiding in the discovery of World War II airplanes along with remains to their occupants, the brave soldiers that fought so valiantly for their countries....
Read news articleHow Legalizing Egg Poaching Has Helped The Population Of Ancient Sea Turtles In Costa RicaEvery year four of the world's seven species of marine turtles arrive on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica to nest. Among them is the Olive Ridley, an ancient turtle that has been around for more that 100,000,000 years and was at one time amongst the most prolific and abundant of all turtle species....
Read news article64-Year-Old Endurance Swimmer Sets Record With Epic 103-Mile SwimIt took five attempts, but on September 2nd, 2013, U.S. endurance swimmer Diana Nyad accomplished the dream she has been harboring since 1978 - Become the first person to swim from Cuba to the Florida Keys without a protective 'shark' cage....
Read news articleAre Coral Reefs Adapting to Climate Change?A few weeks ago, scientists reported that climate change might actually be helping California's ancient redwoods thrive. Now there seems to be more positive news - This time about the coral in our oceans whose population has been severely impacted in last few decades by rising temperatures and ocean acidification, disease and human carelessness....
Read news articleLondon's Dazzling 'Walkie Talkie' Skyscraper is Sizzling Hot - Literally!With its distinctive shape, large public viewing deck and three floors of sky gardens as well as prime Central London location, 20 Fenchurch street, a 37-story commercial skyscraper affectionately called 'walkie talkie', was destined to be the pride and joy of the city when completed in 2014. However, a slight design snafu has turned the building into a heat-trapping magnet or as the public now like to call it, a 'walkie scorchie'....
Read news articleWhat Is Going On In Syria?If you have been listening to the news lately chances are you have heard about the escalating tension in Syria and the heated debate between nations about whether it may be time for other countries to intervene and help the rebels. So what exactly is the crisis that has the entire world up in arms and how did it get to this stage? Read on . . ....
Read news articleVideo Of The Week - Are You Ready For Some (Bubble) Football?We have heard of artists becoming famous after launching themselves on YouTube, but a whole new sport being born off a video? That has to be a first. However that apparently is how 'Bubble Football', a combination of soccer and zorbing (a sport that involves rolling downhill whilst encased in an orb), has gained popularity not just in its birth country of Norway, but also, all across Europe....
Read news articleMake Room In The Periodic Table (And Your Memory) For Element 115If you are in middle school, chances are you have been exposed to and probably even asked to memorize the 118 elements that currently make up the periodic table. Now you may have to make room for one more - Element 115! Nicknamed Ununpentium (combination of Latin and Greek for 115) until it gets official approval and a permanent name from the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, it is one of the heaviest man-made elements created thus far....
Read news articleSpaceX Founder Elon Musk Envisions Supersonic Rail TravelWhat is futuristic, has the potential to transport passengers faster than an airplane, and resembles a Disneyland ride? It's Hyperloop - a design for a supersonic transportation system between high-traffic cities that lie within short distances conjured up Elon Musk, the visionary behind SpaceX, the world's first privately funded spacecraft....
Read news articleThe Winner Of The Inaugural National Chimpanzee Art Contest Is . . .If humans can participate in art contests why can't chimpanzees? After all they do share over 90% of our DNA and are likely to do as good a job, if not better! In order to highlight their art talent as well as the amazing work of the eight chimpanzee sanctuaries around the country that provide care for the mammals retired from research, pet trade and entertainment, the folks at the Humane Society of the United States decided to hold a competition....
Read news articleTexas Christian University Welcomes Its Youngest Freshman Ever!On Monday, August 26th, over 1,500 freshman made their way to Texas Christian University's beautiful campus for the first day of a four-year journey, one from where they will all emerge as adults. The only exception? Carson Huey-You who will not even be eligible to drive when he graduates because he happens to be only eleven years old!...
Read news articleTomatoes Take Center Stage At Spain's La Tomatina FestivalIf you are not a big fan of tomatoes it may be best to steer away from the charming town of Bunol around this time of the year. That's because every year on the last Wednesday of August, the normally staid and sleepy Spanish town of just 9,000 residents becomes center stage for the world's largest food fight - the La Tomatina. And as the name suggests, it involves . . . A lot of tomatoes!...
Read news articleKite Patch Makes Humans Invisible . . . To Mosquitoes!Ever since JK Rowling planted the 'invisibility cloak' seed, scientists all over the world have been rushing to be the first ones to make it a reality. Now there seems to be a winner - A tiny square sticker called Kite Patch. The only catch? It makes humans invisible only to mosquitoes!...
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