The one feat even more difficult than throwing a fastball, though, might be hitting one. There’s a 100 millisecond delay between the moment your eyes see an object and the moment your brain registers it. As a result, when a batter sees a fastball flying by at 100 mph, it’s already moved an additional 12.5 feet by the time his or her brain has actually registered its location.
The study reveals that just about any two random people from anywhere in Europe, even those living on opposite sides of the continent, share hundreds of genetic ancestors from only 1,000 years ago. In fact, a person living in the United Kingdom shares a chunk of genomic material with someone living in Turkey 20 percent of the time.
The Higgs mechanism is meant to account for the mass of everything, right? Well no, only the fundamental particles, which means that electrons derive their mass entirely from the Higgs interaction but protons and neutrons, made of quarks, do not. In fact the quark masses are so small that they only make up about 1% of the mass of the proton (and a similar fraction of the neutron). The rest of the mass comes from the energy in the gluon field. Gluons are massless, but there is so much energy in the field that by E=mc^2 there is a significant amount of mass there. This is where most of your mass comes from and the mass of virtually everything around you.
It’s a paradox of ocean life: The largest mammals, like dolphins and whales, survive on the tiniest food, like krill. (Picture trying to make a full meal out of flying kernels of popcorn!) So how do these big animals gather enough food to live? At TEDYouth 2012, Kelly Benoit-Bird discusses new research that shows large sea animals actually herding their tiny food into big, bitable chunks.
Paul Stamets believes we have entered into the 6th major extinction on our planet. He presents mushrooms as a solution to this problem, including cleaning polluted soil, creating new insecticides, treating smallpox and maybe even the flu.
An insect’s ability to fly is perhaps one of the greatest feats of evolution. Michael Dickinson looks at how a fruit fly takes flight with such delicate wings, thanks to a clever flapping motion and flight muscles that are both powerful and nimble. But the secret ingredient: the incredible fly brain.
A grisly carcass discovered last week on a New Zealand beach looks like the stuff of nightmares…
Like us, birds stand on two legs. But unlike us they ‘crouch’. To explain this odd posture, scientists at the Royal Veterinary College in the UK looked at the ancestors of birds: dinosaurs. They made 3D models of various dinosaur taxa including Tyrannosaurus and the bird-like Velociraptor and Archaeopteryx. In this video, see how the models were made and what they show us about the evolution of bird locomotion and flight.
Garry Lavin shows us how easy it is to make a sandwich bag explode, using bicarbonate soda and white vinegar.
IMPORTANT: You will need one sober adult with a sense of scientific wonder to be present….
Dr Aziz Aboobaker on the discovery of a gene which helps explain the mysterious healing powers of his immortal worms.
Stan Botchway explains how lasers have a dual purpose when studying DNA – doing the damage and then monitoring the repair process.
Evolutionary biology professor Daniel Lieberman, whose studies are the scientific backbone for Chris McDougall’s BORN TO RUN, gives five pointers on how he thinks you can run long distances better and injury-free.
Most people would steer clear of any snakes or oversized spiders that crossed our paths. We have a sort of logic when it comes to animals that tells us “Bigger = Deadlier.” But more often, you will often find that the opposite is true. Many animals make up for their small size with deadly venom, and so what may look like a regular snail could actually be your final downfall. Below are ten tiny, but incredibly deadly, animals.
Scientists at Princeton University created a functional ear by 3D printing technology, that can “hear” radio frequencies far beyond the range of normal human capability.
