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Science

Sleep it off: What you can and can’t learn from sleep tracking wearables

posted onMay 14, 2017
by l33tdawg

Fitness trackers didn't always monitor sleep, but the feature is now a sought-after staple in most devices, as sleep is just as important as exercise to a healthy lifestyle. Most wristbands monitor sleep now, and there are even specialized devices that go on your head or bedside table that can also keep track of how long and how well you sleep each night.

Descartes Is The Latest Genius to Have His Brain Mapped For Signs of Intelligence

posted onMay 14, 2017
by l33tdawg

Famous physicist Albert Einstein, assassinated Japanese prime-minister Hisashi Hamaguchi, and English engineer Charles Babbage all have at least one thing in common; pickled brains – all cut out of their skulls and preserved after their deaths so researchers could study their genius.

The brain of 17th century French philosopher René Descartes is now dust, but it hasn't stopped researchers from scanning the inside of his skull to learn more about his grey matter - which it turns out is remarkably normal, except for a slight bulge at the front.

Discovery could reverse aging and help us live on Mars

posted onMarch 24, 2017
by l33tdawg

Researchers have made a breakthrough that could lead to antiaging drugs, help astronauts survive trips to Mars and just make humans more resilient in general. Oh, is that all?

Scientists from Harvard Medical School and the University of New South Wales in Australia have discovered a critical step in the process that allows the cells in our bodies to repair their damaged DNA.

Inside NASA’s daring $8 billion plan to finally find extraterrestrial life

posted onMarch 9, 2017
by l33tdawg

DEEP IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM—A darkness has spread over the grim, airless field of ice that threatens to swallow us. Night has come to the nightmare glacier. But then we see the shiny spacecraft, with its four gangly legs extending outward to find purchase on the jagged ice. Within, scientific instruments begin to blink on, one by one. Soon, they will start sniffing for any hint of life on this most alien and mysterious of worlds in the Solar System: the Jovian moon Europa.

The Mathematician Who Will Make You Fall in Love With Numbers

posted onFebruary 6, 2017
by l33tdawg

Math conferences don’t usually feature standing ovations, but Francis Su received one last month in Atlanta. Su, a mathematician at Harvey Mudd College in California and the outgoing president of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), delivered an emotional farewell address at the Joint Mathematics Meetings of the MAA and the American Mathematical Society in which he challenged the mathematical community to be more inclusive.

CVS just announced a super cheap generic alternative to EpiPen

posted onJanuary 13, 2017
by l33tdawg

Pharmaceutical giant CVS announced Thursday that it has partnered with Impax Laboratories to sell a generic epinephrine auto-injector for $109.99 for a two-pack—a dramatic cut from Mylan’s Epipen two-pack prices, which list for more than $600 as a brand name and $300 as a generic.

The lower-cost auto-injector, a generic form of Adrenaclick, is available starting today nationwide in the company’s more than 9,600 pharmacies. Its price resembles that of EpiPen’s before Mylan bought the rights to the life-saving devices back in 2007 and raised the price repeatedly, sparking outcry.

Google’s AI Reads Retinas to Prevent Blindness in Diabetics

posted onNovember 30, 2016
by l33tdawg

Google’s artificial intelligence can play the ancient game of Go better than any human. It can identify faces, recognize spoken words, and pull answers to your questions from the web. But the promise is that this same kind of technology will soon handle far more serious work than playing games and feeding smartphone apps. One day, it could help care for the human body.