List of All Articles with Tag 'science'

It’s not often that a single scientific discovery manages to change the way we think about the entire history of humanity. An ancient footprint has been newly uncovered, and it turns out that humans were walking around 30,000 years earlier than we previously thought. Two-legged homo sapiens were living in South Africa, it’s been proven, following the discovery of a 153,000 year old track. It was found in the Garden Route National Park near the coastal town of Knysna on the Cape South Coast. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The footmarks outdate the oldest previous discoveries, with the previous oldest found in nearby areas dated at 124,000 years old. The discoveries were made possible thanks to the optically-stimulated luminescence dating method, which analyses how long it’s been since a grain of sand has been exposed to sunlight. Researchers Charles Helm of Nelson Mandela University and the University of Leicester's Andrew Carr wrote in the Conversation: "In 2023, the situation is very different. It appears that people were not looking hard enough or were not looking in the right places. "Today, the African tally for dated hominin ichnosites (a term that includes both tracks and other traces) older than 50,000 years stands at 14. "Given that relatively few skeletal hominin remains have been found on the Cape coast, the traces left by our human ancestors as they moved about ancient landscapes are a useful way to complement and enhance our understanding of ancient hominins in Africa." The scientists involved believe that the area could be home to many illuminating discoveries given the makeup of the soil. They wrote: "We suspect that further hominin ichnosites are waiting to be discovered on the Cape South Coast and elsewhere on the coast. "The search also needs to be extended to older deposits in the region, ranging in age from 400,000 years to more than 2 million years. "A decade from now, we expect the list of ancient hominin ichnosites to be a lot longer than it is at present – and that scientists will be able to learn a great deal more about our ancient ancestors and the landscapes they occupied." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Brand new AI shoes have grabbed online attention as the stompers claim to enable wearers to be the "world's fastest shoe" that allows users to "walk at the speed of run." The "Moonwalkers" can accelerate the wearer's walking speed up to 11 km/h (seven miles per hour), a 250 per cent speed increase which means those who use them can walk up to 2.5 times faster. Shift Robotics, an American start-up is the company behind the motorised shoe, and while there are wheels on the design but you don't need to worry about maintaining your balance as they are not like rollerblades because they are not freewheeling and are secured with a magnetic buckle. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter While the AI's algorithm picks up on the user's walking behaviour in under 10 steps as it adapts your walking gait. In terms of battery life, the shoes can be charged anywhere, anytime, with any USB-C PD charger and can be fully charged within 1.5 hours for over 6 miles of range. Demonstration videos of the Moonwalkers in action quickly went viral on TikTok as people, with one clip receiving 25.6m views. @shiftrobotics What Are Moonwalkers??? 🌙 👟 Moonwalkers are the world’s fastest shoes that allow you to walk up to 7 mph, thats slightly double your average walking speed! 🌎 💨 Do you think this is the future of transportation? 🏃♂️ 💨 #transportation #transportationdesign #moonwalkers #eshoes #electricshoes #worldsfastestshoes #ShiftRobotics #newtech #newgadgets #electrictransport #electrictechnology The company’s founder and CEO, Xunjie Zhang came up with the Moonwalkers concept after he was almost hit by a car while commuting to work on a scooter. "Like the moving walkways you see in airports, with every step you're making, the conveyer belt moves underneath your feet," Zhang explained to Insider. "The faster you walk, the faster the shoes walk with you". Zhang, who has a Master's in mechatronics from Carnegie Mellon University, worked alongside a team of race car engineers, roboticists, and footwear designers who took five years to build the shoes. People from ages 15 to over 60 have tested the shoes out and Zhang told the publication they were able to walk in the shoes "pretty proficiently" within 10 to 15 minutes of getting them on. On the product's Kickstarter crowdfunding page, it reads: "...a lot of people don't rely on walking. This is surprising, considering it's much safer, more convenient, and better for the environment. Plus it requires no added skill like bikes or skateboards." "The problem is that it was just too slow and inefficient. So we made it our mission to enhance walking instead of replacing it." So far, $329,409 has been raised on the Kickstarter page since it launched in October last year. If you're interested in a pair of the Moonwalkers, they are only available in the US and a pair costs $1399 shift robotics according to Insider, the company has received over 2,000 orders for them as of May 2023. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Ever wondered how water first arrived on our planet? Well, it turns out the mystery could finally have been solved. Researchers have undertaken detailed analysis of asteroids and the findings could change the way the scientific community think about origins of water on our planet. Experts at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) have discovered salt crystals on samples recovered from space. As their findings state, these crystals could only have formed with the presence of water. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The research was undertaken on samples of the asteroid Itokawa in 2005 by the Japanese Hayabusa mission. It suggests that S-type asteroids could be home to more water than previously thought. The new findings led some scientists to claim that water is likely to have arrived on asteroids when our planet was first being formed. The senior’s author Tom Zega said: "The grains look exactly like what you would see if you took table salt at home and placed it under an electron microscope. "They're these nice, square crystals. It was funny, too, because we had many spirited group meeting conversations about them, because it was just so unreal. Zega added: "It has long been thought that ordinary chondrites are an unlikely source of water on Earth. Our discovery of sodium chloride tells us this asteroid population could harbour much more water than we thought." Itokawa is a S-type asteroid, and it’s thought that temperatures on their surfaces were too high for water to form. Shaofan Che, who is the lead study author, said: "In other words, the water here on Earth had to be delivered from the outer reaches of the solar nebula, where temperatures were much colder and allowed water to exist, most likely in the form of ice. "The most likely scenario is that comets or another type of asteroid known as C-type asteroids, which resided farther out in the solar nebula, migrated inward and delivered their watery cargo by impacting the young Earth." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

AGL Energy Ltd. said it would massively expand its production of clean energy as it abandons coal-fired power

Experts have explained the reason why every glass of water we consume has dinosaur urine in it and it's not as gross as it sounds. When you get a cold glass of water from the tap, chances are you don’t think much about it before getting it down the hatch, so long as it looks clean. But, water experts have explained that the water you’re drinking may have gone through a dinosaur or even through your neighbour, before getting to you. This is because every drop of water on Earth has gone through a continuous water cycle over billions of years, and the amount of water on the planet at any given time is always the same. Severn Trent Water explained more, telling the Birmingham Mail how our planet's water cycle works. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter They explained: “ Heat energy from the sun causes water to evaporate into the atmosphere from sea, lakes and the soil. “Air currents containing water vapour rise over higher ground into cooler temperatures which causes condensation and creates clouds. “More air currents cause the clouds to move around the Earth, across sea and land. As the clouds cool, precipitation as snow, sleet, hail or rain.” They explained that the vast majority of precipitation on Earth ends up back in waterways, such as seas, lakes and rivers. Continuing, they revealed: “97 per cent of the world’s water is salty sea water, two per cent is frozen in the polar ice caps and one per cent is fresh water for us to use.” Water companies collect and store water in reservoirs, which is then treated and tested by the Environment Agency and Drinking Water Inspectorate. It can then be distributed to homes through pipes. Then, the wastewater that has been used is transported through drains and sewers to sewage treatment works and returned to streams and rivers. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Could we have aliens to thank for preventing a nuclear war on Earth? That’s what one former Nasa astronaut has claimed. Edgar Mitchell, who was involved in the Apollo 14 mission, gained a reputation for sharing conspiracy theories when he arrived back from the moon in 1971. Mitchell was the sixth man on the moon and was the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 14. Before his death in 2016, Mitchell spoke at length claiming that aliens visited Earth. Speaking to the Mirror, he alleged that aliens were responsible for preventing nuclear war between the US and the Soviets at the height of Cold War tensions. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter At the time, Mitchell focused on the White Sands Missile Range facility in New Mexico. “White Sands was a testing ground for atomic weapons – and that's what the extraterrestrials were interested in,” he said. "They wanted to know about our military capabilities. My own experience talking to people has made it clear the ETs had been attempting to keep us from going to war and help create peace on Earth." White Sands Missile Range is where the first atomic bomb was tested in 1945, and Mitchell claimed that officers there had told him aliens had shot down missiles flying over the site. The claims were, as you’d expect, disputed. UFO expert Nigel Watson told IFL Science at the time: "To me, this is just another case of UFO fantasy and speculation. When you try getting to the facts it is like trying to herd cats." Meanwhile, a UFO conspiracy theorist recently described the south pole as an “air traffic control” hub for aliens. A recent discussion centred on the Amundsen–Scott South Pole, which Eric Hecker claimed communicated with “exotic” crafts by sending neutrino rays up into space. Hecker went further by talking about “digital optical modules” buried a mile beneath the surface under the ice. He claims they were buried in order to detect neutrino interactions while being deep enough not to interfere with radiation readings. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Thousands of dead fish have mysteriously washed up on the Texas coast as a result of 'low-dissolved oxygen' in the water. According to Texas Parks & Wildlife, low oxygen levels are common in the summer when temperatures rise, making it so the fish can't 'breathe'. However, the footage looks like something out of a horror movie, with piles of silver carcasses lining the sand, 65 miles south of Houston. Most of the fish are thought to be Gulf menhaden, which are often used for bait. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

You may have been hearing a lot about UFOs lately, and that’s largely thanks to Ufologist Dr. Steven Greer who has been hosting a conference on the subject. A range of people were invited to share their insights as part of an event streamed online and it saw Eric Hecker describe the south pole as an “air traffic control” hub for aliens. The conspiracy theorist made some pretty out-there claims at the conference, but it’s the discussion about the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station that was most significant. Hecker claimed that in 2010 Raytheon, the US aerospace and defence conglomerate chose him to be a contractor on the research centre operated by the United States National Science Foundation. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter There was “much more” to the station that first met the eye, according to Hecker. Monday, June 12, 2023! Dr. Greer's Groundbreaking National Press Club Event! FREE to Watch! www.youtube.com He claimed the station actually operated as an “air traffic control” centre for UFOs and communicated with “exotic” crafts by sending neutrino rays up into space. Hecker went further by talking about “digital optical modules” buried a mile beneath the surface under the ice. He claims they were buried in order to detect neutrino interactions while being deep enough not to interfere with radiation readings. He also said he personally saw a “powerful green laser” pointing “at the cosmos.” It comes after a whistleblower who claims that the US government has been operating UFO retrieval research in secret has reportedly said that UFOs have been responsible for the deaths of humans. David Grusch worked for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and was involved with the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force. He claimed that some of the “non-human intelligences” discovered have malevolent intentions and have killed people. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Paul McCartney has revealed a 'final' song by The Beatles is set for release, all thanks to help from artificial intelligence. The tech has managed to replicate the voice of John Lennon, and although currently unnamed, it's like to be a 1978 song by the late artist, called 'Now And Then'. The group had previously attempted to finish the song without Lennon, and vowed it would be completed one day. "We just finished it up and it'll be released this year," McCartney said on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, much to the excitement of fans. Click here to sign up for our newsletters

France moved closer to securing a carve-out from the European Union’s plans to massively scale up renewable energy

Many of us look to the stars for answers to life’s most complex questions. But actually, some of the greatest mysteries lie beneath our very feet. One might think we’d know the Earth pretty well by now but, in fact, our planet’s core remains shrouded in enigma. Indeed, there are two gigantic blobs located beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean that occupy around six per cent of the world’s entire volume. And yet, we’re still not entirely sure what they’re made of or where they came from. There are a number of hypotheses, including that they are piles of oceanic crust that have accumulated over billions of years. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter But a more interesting theory is that they are huge chunks of an ancient planet that hit the Earth around 4.5 billion years ago. To give an indication of just how massive these things are, the structure under Africa – an area known as Tuzo – is thought to be around 800km (497 miles) tall – the equivalent of some 90 Mount Everests stacked on top of one another, as IFLScience notes. The problem with determining the origin of these monster formations is that there are no direct ways of observing the Earth’s core. The deepest hole humans have ever dug – branded the "entrance to hell" – reached a pretty staggering 12,263m (40,230ft), but that doesn’t even come close to breaking through the crust to the layers beneath. Our most effective tool for analysing what lies beneath the ground is a technique called seismic tomography, which looks at how waves of energy travel when earthquakes occur. Since rocks and liquids have different densities, the waves move through them at different speeds. By measuring the tremors from different points on the surface, geologists can determine what kind of material the waves are travelling through and, in so doing, map out the Earth’s interior. It was by using this technique that the two unusual structures – known as large low shear velocity provinces (LLSVPs) – were found. Waves travel more slowly in these areas – fondly known as “blobs” – than through the surrounding lower mantle, indicating that they’re made of something different. We can’t tell what this material is based on seismic tomography data alone, but some scientists like to believe that they are the remnants of an ancient planet called Theia – an idea known as the “giant impact hypothesis”. According to this hypothesis, around 4.5 billion years ago, a Mars-sized object collided with the Earth. This impact not only created the planet we call home today, but also threw off enough rock to form the moon that lights up our night skies. Some scientists suggest that some of Theia’s leftovers also sunk to the bottom of the planet, probably settling somewhere above the core – thereby forming at least one of the two LLSVPs. More Updates About Strange Blob Structures Inside Planet Earth youtu.be Experts have been investigating the area for decades but there’s still no way of knowing for sure just what these two giant blobs are. Still, studies into Theia have offered important insights into how the possible collision might have kickstarted key plate tectonic and mantle motion inside our planet – crucial processes for establishing the world on which we live. It’s also a useful reminder that we still have so much to learn about our planet and where we came from. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Artificial intelligence has been used to generate images showing some of the most controversial world leaders as babies and the results are strangely sweet. In recent years, AI has come to the fore as one of the most powerful and perhaps terrifying new types of technology we have ever seen. It has the ability to learn via data and produce results based on the information it is fed. One person has now used the technology to produce images of different world leaders as babies. On Instagram, a user named Planet AI explained they asked “AI to Draw World Leaders as Babies” and the results were pretty surprising. Included in the images were Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, the UK’s former PM Boris Johnson and the former US president Donald Trump. Remarkably, the AI-generated image managed to make the war-mongering Russian leader Vladimir Putin appear relatively sweet and innocent. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In the comments, people certainly had some thoughts about the images AI had come up with. Someone commented: “Kim Jong Un did not change.” Another said: “I'm finding it really funny that Pope Francis is still in his pope clothes. Makes me think of a baby running the Catholic church.” “Putin is so sweet and Obama also,” another argued. On Twitter, another person wrote: “Joe Biden looks so old that even his baby version looks about 60 years old!” While AI technology can be used for relatively harmless entertainment purposes, one woman discovered how powerful it can be after claiming she “lost her job to AI” and had to apply for the job to train it. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.