All posts tagged: multimedia

Scientists Say: Synesthesia

Scientists Say: Synesthesia

Published by skeptic

Synesthesia (noun, “sin-es-THEE-jah”) Synesthesia is a trait that some people have in which one kind of sensory input triggers other senses. To someone with synesthesia, different colors may have different tastes. Or hearing certain sounds may cause them to see certain shapes. This phenomenon is not a mental illness. Rather, it is considered a form of neurodiversity. Up to 4 percent of people may have some form of synesthesia. This trait takes many forms. Grapheme-color is one type. This means that a person sees letters or numbers in different colors. For instance, when a person sees the number 7, it may always appear yellow. About 1 percent of people share this trait. Another type is called chromesthesia. That’s when hearing a sound causes a person to see colors or shapes around them. Historians think that Vincent van Gogh, a 19th-century painter, may have had this trait. He described seeing colors around him when he played the keys of a piano. Other famous artists, such as singer and songwriter Billie Eilish, have described this experience, too. …

Explainer: What are corals?

Explainer: What are corals?

Published by skeptic

Take a plunge into Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, and you’ll come face to face with a what looks like a gorgeous rocky garden. This dazzling array of corals is the largest living structure on Earth. Some, like staghorn coral, look like leafless bushes sprouting from the ocean floor. Others, such as honeycomb coral, resemble rocks dotted with tiny holes. Then there’s brain coral, which, you guessed it, look like brains. And that’s just a small sample of the brilliant diversity to be found in a reef. Despite their appearance, corals are animals. These invertebrates are close relatives of jellyfish and sea anemones. Most corals live in colonies of thousands of tiny individuals called polyps growing together. Each polyp sports a cylindrical body topped with a ring of tentacles surrounding its mouth. “You can think of them as upside-down jellyfish,” says Peter Cowman. At Queensland Museum in South Brisbane, Australia, this marine biologist studies the evolutionary history of corals. A coral looks somewhat like an upside-down jellyfish, one that is attached to a skeleton made of …

Scientists Say: Superbloom

Scientists Say: Superbloom

Published by skeptic

Superbloom (noun, SOO-per-bloom) Superblooms are massive blooms of desert wildflowers. There isn’t an exact number of flowers required to make something a superbloom. But the word usually describes an above-average number of blossoms. These flowers create colorful carpets that blanket usually barren desert landscapes. They can even be seen from space! Deserts are dry ecosystems that get less than 25 centimeters (10 inches) of precipitation a year. As a result, these environments often have very little plant life. In 2026, after a particularly rainy season, California’s Death Valley was overrun by a superbloom. Even after the bloom’s peak, yellow Desert Gold flowers could still be seen all over Death Valley National Park. Sofia Caetano Avritzer and James Lee The few flowering plants that do grow in deserts live very short lives. They spring up after rainfalls and race through their life cycles in a few days or weeks before heat and drought wipe them out. Before they die, these plants produce lots of seeds. Those seeds can lie dormant in the soil for years or …

Tabletop lightning makes methanol for fuels and more

Tabletop lightning makes methanol for fuels and more

Published by skeptic

atom: The basic unit of a chemical element. Atoms are made up of a dense nucleus that contains positively charged protons and uncharged neutrons. The nucleus is orbited by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. carbon: A chemical element that is the physical basis of all life on Earth. Carbon exists freely as graphite and diamond. It is an important part of coal, limestone and petroleum, and is capable of self-bonding, chemically, to form an enormous number of chemically, biologically and commercially important molecules. catalyst: (v. catalyze) A substance that helps a chemical reaction to proceed faster. Examples include enzymes and elements such as platinum and iridium. chemical: A substance formed from two or more atoms that unite (bond) in a fixed proportion and structure. For example, water is a chemical made when two hydrogen atoms bond to one oxygen atom. Its chemical formula is H2O. Chemical also can be an adjective to describe properties of materials that are the result of various reactions between different compounds. chemical engineer: A researcher who uses chemistry to …

Scientists Say: Metal-Organic Framework

Scientists Say: Metal-Organic Framework

Published by skeptic

3-D: Short for three-dimensional. This term is an adjective for something that has features that can be described in three dimensions — height, width and length.  atmosphere: The envelope of gases surrounding Earth, another planet or a moon. atom: The basic unit of a chemical element. Atoms are made up of a dense nucleus that contains positively charged protons and uncharged neutrons. The nucleus is orbited by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. carbon dioxide: (or CO2) A colorless, odorless gas produced by all animals when the oxygen they inhale reacts with the carbon-rich foods that they’ve eaten. Carbon dioxide also is released when organic matter burns (including fossil fuels like oil or gas). Carbon dioxide acts as a greenhouse gas, trapping heat in Earth’s atmosphere. Plants convert carbon dioxide into oxygen during photosynthesis, the process they use to make their own food. chemical: A substance formed from two or more atoms that unite (bond) in a fixed proportion and structure. For example, water is a chemical made when two hydrogen atoms bond to one oxygen …

Watch the first sperm whale birth caught on video by scientists

Watch the first sperm whale birth caught on video by scientists

Published by skeptic

ancestor: A predecessor. It could be a family forebear, such as a parent, grandparent or great-great-great grandparent. Or it could be a species, genus, family or other order of organisms from which some later one evolved. For instance, ancient dinosaurs are the ancestors of today’s birds. (antonym: descendant) Atlantic: One of the world’s five oceans, it is second in size only to the Pacific. It separates Europe and Africa to the east from North and South America to the west. audio: Having to do with sound. behavior: The way something (often a person or other organism) conducts itself or acts towards others. calf: (plural: calves) The name of young animals in a range of mammalian species, from cattle to walruses. Caribbean: The name of a sea that runs from the Atlantic Ocean in the East to Mexico and Central American nations in the West, and from the southern coasts of Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico down to the northern coasts of Venezuela and Brazil. The term is also used to refer to the culture of nations …

Teens invent first chewing gum to tackle anxiety

Teens invent first chewing gum to tackle anxiety

Published by skeptic

adolescent: Someone in that transitional stage of physical and psychological development that begins at the onset of puberty, typically between the ages of 11 and 13, and ends with adulthood. annual: Adjective for something that happens every year. (in botany) A plant that lives only one year, so it usually has a showy flower and produces many seeds. antioxidant: Any of many chemicals that can shut down oxidation — a biologically damaging reaction. They do this by donating an electron to a free radical (a reactive molecular fragment) without becoming unstable. Many plant-based foods are good sources of natural antioxidants, including vitamins C and E. anxious: (n. anxiety) A feeling of dread over some potential or upcoming situation, usually one over which someone feels they have little control. chemical: A substance formed from two or more atoms that unite (bond) in a fixed proportion and structure. For example, water is a chemical made when two hydrogen atoms bond to one oxygen atom. Its chemical formula is H2O. Chemical also can be an adjective to describe …

Positive thinking could help boost your immune system

Positive thinking could help boost your immune system

Published by skeptic

activate: (in biology) To turn on, as with a gene or chemical reaction. antibodies: Any of a large number of proteins that the body produces from B cells and releases into the blood supply as part of its immune response. The production of antibodies is triggered when the body encounters an antigen, some foreign material. Antibodies then lock onto antigens as a first step in disabling the germs or other foreign substances that were the source of those antigens. bacterial: Having to do with bacteria, single-celled organisms. These dwell nearly everywhere on Earth, from the bottom of the sea to inside animals. behavior: The way something (often a person or other organism) conducts itself or acts towards others. brain scan: A technique to view structures inside the brain, typically with X-rays or a magnetic resonance imaging (or MRI) machine. With MRI technology — especially the type known as functional MRI (or fMRI) — the activity of different brain regions can be viewed during an event, such as viewing pictures, computing sums or listening to music. cell: (in biology) …

Teen’s new app guards against the rise of villainous AI bots

Teen’s new app guards against the rise of villainous AI bots

Published by skeptic

Phoenix, Ariz. — People have increasingly been turning to chatbots, agents and other AI helpers for advice and more. For instance, more than 900 million people use ChatGPT weekly. But sometimes artificial-intelligence helpers give dangerous advice. Hoping to counter this problem, Sowmya Sankaran, 16, developed an app. It gives certain bots fully fleshed-out personas that are moral and supportive. Scientists Say: Artificial intelligence A junior at Albuquerque Academy in New Mexico, Sowmya focused on AI agents. These differ from the chatbots that most teens already use (such as ChatGPT). More advanced than chatbots, AI agents can take action to achieve one or more goals. “When I call Firehouse Subs, I talk to an AI agent,” says Sowmya. “It’s an AI model that listens to what I have to say” and puts in the sandwich order. Some agents can be empowered to do more. One might search your email inbox for contacts, find the one you asked for and send it a message. Or it might buy an airline ticket using your credit card. In contrast, …

Pokémon Go players helped build new maps of cities

Pokémon Go players helped build new maps of cities

Published by skeptic

In your hometown, you can glance at a building or landmark to orient yourself. A new computer system uses artificial intelligence to do much the same thing. Called VPS 2.0, it’s a type of visual positioning system. It lets machines “look through a camera and know exactly where they are,” explains Brian McClendon. This system went global in April. And if you’ve played Pokémon Go, you might have helped make it possible. McClendon led the team that developed VPS 2.0 for Niantic Spatial, based in San Francisco, Calif. In some cities, delivery robots will use VPS 2.0 to bring pizza or groceries to someone’s door. “We’re really excited [for the new system],” says George O’Brien. He leads product development at Coco Robotics, also based in San Francisco. Robots delivering pizza sounds fun, says Kathleen Tuite, who does not work with either company. But she worries about our privacy. A system like this “could probably figure out where you are from certain kinds of photos,” she points out. Tuite is a software developer at ODK. This …