500-year-old Leaning Tower of Pisa mystery unveiled by engineers
Why has the Leaning Tower of Pisa survived the strong earthquakes that have hit the region since the middle ages? This is a long-standing question a research group of 16 engineers has investigated, including a leading expert in earthquake engineering and soil-structure interaction from the University of ...
New software, HyperTools, transforms complex data into visualizable shapes
HANOVER, N.H. – May 7, 2018 – Every dataset in the observable universe has a fundamental geometry or shape to it, but that structure can be highly complicated. To make it easier to visualize complicated datasets, a Dartmouth research team has created HyperTools— an open-source software ...
Can this invasive exotic pest make better materials for industry ...
IMAGE: Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have combined derivatives of two surplus materials–wood pulp and dried-up pieces of an invasive exotic pest–to form a new composite material that is flexible, sustainable, nontoxic and UV light-reflective. The material, described in a new paper ...
New evidence that bullfrogs are to blame for deadly fungus ...
In the 1890s, settlers crossed the Rocky Mountains seeking new opportunities — and bearing frogs. A new study coauthored by a San Francisco State University biology professor draws a link between that introduction of American bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) to the western half of the United States with ...
Women’s preference for masculine faces not linked with hormones
Data from almost 600 participants show that women’s perceptions of male attractiveness do not vary according to their hormone levels, in contrast with some previous research. The study findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. “We found no evidence ...
May the forest be with you: GEDI moves toward launch ...
A first-of-its-kind laser instrument designed to map the world’s forests in 3-D is moving toward an earlier launch to the International Space Station than previously expected. The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation – or GEDI, pronounced like “Jedi,” of Star Wars fame – instrument is undergoing final integration ...
Why plants are so sensitive to gravity: The lowdown
If you tilt a plant, it will alter its growth to bend back upwards. But how does it detect the inclination? With cellular clinometers: cells filled with microscopic grains of starch called statoliths. In each of these cells, the pile of statoliths settles to the bottom. ...
Hubble detects helium in the atmosphere of an exoplanet for ...
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have detected helium in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-107b. This is the first time this element has been detected in the atmosphere of a planet outside the Solar System. The discovery demonstrates the ability to use infrared spectra ...
