Ingestible medical devices can be broken down with light

New light-sensitive material could eliminate some of the endoscopic procedures needed to remove gastrointestinal devices.

Anne Trafton | MIT News Office | Jan. 17, 2020 | mit

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~7 mins   

Tags: research medicine mechanical-engineering chemical-engineering koch-institute school-of-engineering national-institutes-of-health-nih health-sciences-and-technology

Little kids learn gratitude, but revenge comes naturally

Children are eager to retaliate but need some help learning to repay a favor, research on reciprocity suggests.

Pat Harriman-UC Irvine | Jan. 17, 2020 | futurity

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~4 mins   

Tags: featured science-and-technology learning preschoolers social-lives

What’s the temperature of dark matter?

Physicists have put a limit on the warmth—and therefore the mass—of dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up about a quarter of our universe.

Andy Fell-UC Davis | Jan. 16, 2020 | futurity

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~3 mins   

Tags: science-and-technology dark-matter gravitational-lens physics space temperature

Team sequences genome of elusive giant squid

Scientists have sequenced the entire genome of the giant squid, a 10-armed invertebrate believed to grow up to 42 feet and weigh close to 2,000 pounds.

Anders Buch-Larsen-Copenhagen | Jan. 16, 2020 | futurity

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~4 mins   

Tags: science-and-technology evolution genomes sequencing squid

Chimp sons like to hang with fathers and brothers

Male chimpanzees don't know who their fathers are. But they like to bond and hang out with them anyway.

Rachel Griess-Texas | Jan. 16, 2020 | futurity

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~5 mins   

Tags: science-and-technology chimpanzees fathers social-lives

Defects can boost battery cathodes but only to a point

Too much stress in widely used lithium iron phosphate battery cathodes can open cracks and quickly degrade batteries.

Mike Williams-Rice | Jan. 15, 2020 | futurity

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~3 mins   

Tags: science-and-technology batteries materials-science

Sleep is key for zebra finches learning to sing

Sleep may allow birds learning to sing to remember the useful things they learned during the day, and forget what's not important.

U. Zurich | Jan. 15, 2020 | futurity

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~5 mins   

Tags: science-and-technology birds brains learning memory motor-skills singing sleep

Stardust in meteorite is oldest solid stuff ever found on Earth

New research determines that stardust from the Murchison meteorite is the oldest solid material ever found on Earth.

Peter Rüegg-ETH Zurich | Jan. 15, 2020 | futurity

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~4 mins   

Tags: featured science-and-technology meteorites space stars

Zeroing in on decarbonization

Wielding complex algorithms, nuclear science and engineering doctoral candidate Nestor Sepulveda spins out scenarios for combating climate change.

Leda Zimmerman | Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering | Jan. 15, 2020 | mit

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~8 mins   

Tags: nuclear-science-and-engineering mit-energy-initiative school-of-engineering technology-and-policy students research alternative-energy energy energy-storage greenhouse-gases climate-change global-warming sustainability emissions renewable-energy economics policy nuclear-power-and-reactors profile graduate graduate postdoctoral

Galactic collision helped shape the Milky Way 11.5B years ago

"This is the first time we have been able to determine when such a merger happened."

Jim Shelton-Yale | Jan. 14, 2020 | futurity

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~3 mins   

Tags: science-and-technology galaxies milky-way space stars