biology

This Camera Sees The World Like An Ant

While you’d be forgiven for thinking that this looks like a dome of bubble wrap, it’s actually the world’s first working compound-eye camera — which sees the world just like an insect would. With 180 separate imaging elements — each replicating the separate ommatidium, or “small eyes” which make up an insect’s odd visual system — arranged over its surface, it works just like the eye of a fly or ant. That means it offers a wide field of view and virtually infinite depth of field.


Silk: Nature’s Homespun Supermaterial

Most of your exposure to silk probably comes in the form of uncomfortably sensual linens or cobwebs in a dusty old closet. In reality, silk is an incredible and overlooked material. While it may have roots in the ancient past, it could also form the building blocks of the future.


Why Do Humans Cry?

Tears are obviously our body’s mechanism to keep our eyeballs well lubricated, but why do humans start bawling when they’re sad, in pain, or overjoyed? What purpose could crying possibly serve?


Scientists Can Print Synthetic Tissue Using Just Water And Oil

3D printing isn’t all about making guns and toys — some researchers are using it to make real medical advances. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Oxford has managed to create a 3D printer that can produce synthetic tissue using just water and oil.


New DNA-Based Transistor Brings Us One Step Closer To True Human Computers

The increasingly ambiguous divide between man and machine just got blurred that much more with Stanford’s recent announcement: scientists have successfully created the first truly biological transistor made entirely out of genetic material.


So Why Do We Get Goosebumps When We’re Cold Or Scared?

Have you ever wondered why your skin gets covered in tiny bumps when you step out of the shower, or when your body’s fight or flight instincts kick in? The goosebumps phenomenon, named after the way a large bird looks after being plucked, is actually your body’s attempt to protect itself.


The Super Protein That Can Cut DNA And Revolutionise Genetic Engineering

When scientists Phillipe Horvath and Rodolphe Barrangou set out to find a better way to make yoghurt, they didn’t expect to stumble across one of the future’s most promising discoveries: a super protein that can accurately cut DNA. It’s a finding that could revolutionise genetic engineering.


First Ever Cellular-Level Video Of A Whole Brain Working

This video is the first time scientists have ever been able to image the whole brain of a vertebrate creature in such a way that you can see individual cells and simultaneously how they’re firing and behaving in real time. This is how the brain really, really works — and it’s amazing.


Swallows Seem To Be Evolving To Avoid Cars

Swallows that nest on roadsides appear to have evolved shorter wings to help them manoeuvre better and avoid cars, claim a team of scientists from the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma. They have been studying cliff swallows that live near roads, and observed that the number of vehicle-killed birds has declined over the past three decades, despite the fact that the overall population has increased.


What Coloured Food Does To Your Poop

Those without a strong stomach should look away now. When Gabriel Morais set to wondering what different foods do to his body, he naturally wondered how different items affect the colour of his poop. Here are the results. NSFW images ahead.