Category Archives: Uncategorized

The contrasting nature of facial features is one of the signals that people unconsciously use to decipher how old someone looks, says Psychology Prof. Richard Russell. “Unlike with wrinkles, none of us are consciously aware that we’re using this cue, … Continue reading →

Humans have always devised ways to overcome our shortcomings- we couldn’t fly, so we invented aeroplanes; we couldn’t breathe underwater, so we invented submarines and scuba-diving equipment; we couldn’t analyse huge amounts of data in our heads, so we invented … Continue reading →

Noroviruses are a genetically diverse group of single-stranded RNA, non-enveloped viruses in the Caliciviridae family. The viruses are transmitted by fecally-contaminated food or water; by person-to-person contact; and via aerosolization of the virus and subsequent contamination of surfaces. Noroviruses are … Continue reading →

There’s a reason we only ever see one side of the Moon. It’s tidally locked to the Earth, presenting only one side to us as it orbits around the planet. Tidal locking is a fate that befalls lots of planetary … Continue reading →

Producing living young, and not external eggs, is a form of birth that could date back to 280 million years ago or even earlier, a new study suggests. Called viviparity, this form of birth is used by humans, but clearly … Continue reading →

Over at the Edge there’s a fascinating article by Thomas W. Malone about the work he and others are doing to understand the rise of collective human intelligence — an emergent phenomenon that’s being primarily driven by our information technologies. … Continue reading →

Sometimes at Deskarati we come across articles that we find very interesting but they don’t fall neatly into our normal categories of science, technology, history or the arts. But as  a number of our readers are quite adroit in the … Continue reading →

Australia’s Shire of Murchison is quickly becoming a hotbed for radio telescopes. As of of Friday, the territory is operating the world’s fastest radio telescope in the form of the Australia Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP). The 36-antenna grid’s eventual … Continue reading →

For the first time in history, a recorded song has been beamed back to Earth from another planet. Students, special guests and news media gathered at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012, to … Continue reading →

A team led by scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have made the first-ever mechanical device that can measure the mass of individual molecules one at a time. This new technology, the researchers say, will eventually help doctors … Continue reading →