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Every day you will find here new memes about science and fascinating facts you never knew before!

If you had a chance to turn any army in the world into the one you picked, which troops would be there?
28/02/2022

If you had a chance to turn any army in the world into the one you picked, which troops would be there?

26/02/2022

Is tofu a cheese? In a way, it is. Like almond milk is milk.

You may like it or not, but with the current trend to decrease meat consumption, tofu is not a bad option. See what useful elements there are.

The relative height of the pinnacle of evolution to which humans have self-promoted themselves seems increasingly dimini...
26/02/2022

The relative height of the pinnacle of evolution to which humans have self-promoted themselves seems increasingly diminished. Every now and then, we hear that different animals are close to humans in intelligence. Earlier, British scientists said that cockatoos have passed the test, which homo sapiens can't master before eight. (Source: Innovative composite tool used by Goffin's cockatoos — Scientific Reports).

And now, German scientists report that they taught one of five zoo orangutans to use the stone tool.

To be fair, it held the stone blade with his teeth to retrieve the bait. After numerous demonstrations on making a stone splinter, one female began to repeat after the humans but was unable to make the tool. Nor did she have a clue how to cut something with a stone.

The results are so-so but still impressive, considering that our evolutionary paths diverged several million years before our immediate ancestors entered the Stone Age.

Source: Experimental investigation of orangutans’ lithic percussive and sharp stone tool behaviours — PLOS ONE.

Marilyn Monroe once said that diamonds are a girl's best friends, which isn't totally wrong, but she didn't know about a...
25/02/2022

Marilyn Monroe once said that diamonds are a girl's best friends, which isn't totally wrong, but she didn't know about all beauty products and devices that make a girl's life easier.

25/02/2022

What was Charles Darwin's hobby? Except thinking that humans and apes had a common predecessor.

Even if you're not into biology and natural history, you've heard about the theory of evolution. It might not be perfect, but, c'mon, it was devised over 150 years ago.

Here are some facts about the life and work of a person, who always comes to mind when you think about prominent scientists.

Sharing a room with someone else is never easy unless you're got there first and took the fanciest place.
25/02/2022

Sharing a room with someone else is never easy unless you're got there first and took the fanciest place.

Astronomers have discovered an iron sky.....on the dark side of the hot Jupiter WASP-121b, 850 light-years away from us....
25/02/2022

Astronomers have discovered an iron sky...
..on the dark side of the hot Jupiter WASP-121b, 850 light-years away from us.

The giant is about 18% larger than our Jupiter; it orbits a star about 1/4 the size of our Sun. It's so close to the star that a year lasts 1.27 Earth days there. The planet is in tidal locking, and the temperature on the ever-day side reaches 2,300-2,500 °C. This is enough to melt many metals and even to vaporise them.

According to the results of two years of infrared Hubble observations, the ever-night side of the planet is more than 2,000 °C cooler. So, clouds and rain condense out of iron and aluminium oxide. It's corundum which can be rubies or sapphires.

In a way, we can say that scientists have found a planet with sapphire-ruby precipitation.

Source: Diurnal variations in the stratosphere of the ultrahot giant exoplanet WASP-121b — Nature Astronomy.

Energy efficiency has got to animals first: who needs to fly on their own if you've got someone who gives you a lift.
25/02/2022

Energy efficiency has got to animals first: who needs to fly on their own if you've got someone who gives you a lift.

It's always good to check beforehand, because who knows, maybe there's already a couple of them along with hundreds of o...
24/02/2022

It's always good to check beforehand, because who knows, maybe there's already a couple of them along with hundreds of other things.

24/02/2022

Curious things of the past can be found anywhere, and especially in Europe, where lots of peoples lived and actively moved for hundreds of years.

Today we *virtually* go to Augsburg, Germany to see what archaeologists discovered there over a century.

Snake-shaped robots are gaining popularity due to their navigability and mobility. For example, during rescue works on l...
24/02/2022

Snake-shaped robots are gaining popularity due to their navigability and mobility. For example, during rescue works on land or underwater pipes and cables maintenance.

Now Chinese specialists have developed a robotic snake repairer for work in space. The 1.5-meter-long "reptile" has nine segments that can be independent, exchange energy, and act together. It's even possible to use them as four tentacles in tandem.

The snake's coordination even allows for writing with chalk. It has been tested on Earth, but it needs additional work before being sent into orbit, in particular, to reduce its mass. Then, it'll be possible to keep the manipulator "alive" almost forever, replacing defective segments with new ones.

A snake is supposed to wriggle and curve. To do this, each segment of the robotic version rotates. As a result, the torque reaches 190 Newtons per metre, like Honda's famous Civic's.

How many spots have you spotted?If more than four, then your eyesight is better than that of the entomologist who came u...
24/02/2022

How many spots have you spotted?

If more than four, then your eyesight is better than that of the entomologist who came up with it's name — Four-spotted Chaser.

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