In tough real estate market, a century-old home idea could come back

In tough real estate market, a century-old home idea could come back

A crane taking four 15-foot-wide by 60-foot-long modular home segments and stacking them one on top of the other to make a new duplex in Aurora, Colorado in 2018. Hyoung Chang | Denver Post | Getty Images A century ago, a first-time homebuyer might begin their search in a catalog for a kit-built home from … Read more

‘Maintain Asian forest diversity to avoid climate change impact,’ suggests new study

‘Maintain Asian forest diversity to avoid climate change impact,’ suggests new study

Credit: Dr Rebecca Hamilton/The University of Sydney A team of international scientists, led by Dr. Rebecca Hamilton at the University of Sydney, has found that rather than dry savannah in South East Asia dominating during the Last Glacial Maximum more than 19,000 years ago, there was a mosaic of diverse closed and open forest types, … Read more

Researchers develop ‘electronic soil’ that enhances crop growth

Researchers develop ‘electronic soil’ that enhances crop growth

Eleni Stavrinidou, associate professor, and supervisor of the study and Alexandra Sandéhn, Ph.D. student, one of the lead authors, connect the eSoil to a low power source for stimulating plant growth. Credit: Thor Balkhed Barley seedlings grow on average 50% more when their root system is stimulated electrically through a new cultivation substrate. In a … Read more

NASA asteroid sampling mission renamed OSIRIS-APEX for new journey

NASA asteroid sampling mission renamed OSIRIS-APEX for new journey

These images of asteroid Apophis were recorded in March 2021 by radio antennas at the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone complex in California and the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. The asteroid was 10.6 million miles (17 million kilometers) away, and each pixel has a resolution of 127 feet (38.75 meters). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech and NSF/AUI/GBO … Read more

The ‘bank of mum and dad’ is increasingly helping fund the lives of young Australians

The ‘bank of mum and dad’ is increasingly helping fund the lives of young Australians

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Much has been made of the increasing presence of the “bank of mum and dad” in the lives of Australians. We know financial support from parents to adult children is increasingly used for entering the housing market. But our new research shows parents are also helping their young adult children in … Read more

A whiff of tears reduces male aggression, says study

A whiff of tears reduces male aggression, says study

Credit: Karolina Grabowska from Pexels Watching someone cry often evokes an emotional response—but according to a new study published Thursday, human tears themselves contain a chemical signal that reduces brain activity linked to aggression. The research was carried out by the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, and appeared in PLOS Biology, a US science journal. … Read more

Japan moon lander enters lunar orbit

Japan moon lander enters lunar orbit

Side view of the crater Moltke taken from Apollo 10. Credit: Public Domain Japan’s SLIM space probe entered the moon’s orbit on Monday in a major step towards the country’s first successful lunar landing, expected next month. The Smart Lander for Investigating moon (SLIM) is nicknamed the “Moon Sniper” because it is designed to land … Read more

Netflix quietly rolls out major change to reduce buffering, improve streaming

Netflix quietly rolls out major change to reduce buffering, improve streaming

Streaming service users are all too familiar with the frustrations of waiting for a show or movie to buffer. Now, Netflix has quietly rolled out an upgrade to help address that annoying problem. The streaming giant has revealed a major change in how it encodes high-definition videos to reduce buffering and the amount of internet … Read more

China approves 105 online games after draft curbs trigger massive losses

China approves 105 online games after draft curbs trigger massive losses

BANGKOK — China’s press and publications authority has approved 105 new online games, saying it fully supports the industry after proposed curbs caused massive losses last week for investors in major games makers. The National Press and Publication Administration issued a statement on its WeChat social media account Monday saying the approvals by the Game … Read more

Reindeer sleep while chewing their cud, a strategy that may help them in the summer

Reindeer sleep while chewing their cud, a strategy that may help them in the summer

Screenshot of reindeer surveillance. Credit: Current Biology/Furrer et al. Researchers report December 22 in the journal Current Biology that the more time reindeer spend ruminating, the less time they spend in non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep. EEG recordings revealed that reindeer’s brainwaves during rumination resemble the brain waves present during non-REM sleep, and these brainwave … Read more