20 articles from SATURDAY 14.9.2019

Asteroid size of Empire State Building to pass Earth Saturday night

After an asteroid safely flew past Earth on Friday, another that's possibly larger than the Empire State building is expected to pass by Saturday night. 2000 QW7, the skyscraper-sized asteroid, should whiz past Early at 7:54 p.m. EST. NASA estimates the object to be 950 feet to 2,100 feet in...

The nearly extinct white rhino might live on, thanks to lab-created embryos

Humanity may be able to save the northern white rhino after all, thanks to scientists who managed to create two in vitro embryos. When Sudan, the last male northern white rhino left at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, died in 2018, the two female rhinos Fatu and Najin were the only ones left of their species. Since they couldn't procreate, it seemed to be only a matter of time before the...

Facing life with dementia and discovering a positive path

I thought dementia was all about losing myself, but I have found sides to me I never knew I hadIt was at work where I noticed my first symptoms. I was a non-clinical team leader training matrons and sisters in the art of electronic rostering. My girls called me a workaholic. My brilliant memory, the thing I relied on most, started letting me down badly. Simple words failed me in meetings, the...

Why art and science suffer in silos

A major new Radio 4 series breaks down the barriers between art and science, while a revival of Joe Egg is a timely epitaph for Peter Nichols Arts people, and I very much include myself, get bewildered by science. I try to listen to Radio 4’s The Life Scientific, but am often lost, while even Melvyn Bragg not long ago admitted to me that he at times struggles with science topics on his stellar...

Ancient Australia was home to 'strange' marsupial giants, scientists find

Researchers are building a picture of palorchestids, which had tapir-like skulls and large scimitar-like clawsThe “strange” anatomy of a family of giant marsupials that roamed eastern Australia and Tasmania for much of the past 25m years has been revealed in a new study.Scientists had already figured out that palorchestids had tapir-like skulls and large “scimitar-like claws”, but little...

New vibration sensor detects buried objects from moving vehicle

Researchers will report a new laser-based sensor that effectively detects buried objects even while the detector is in motion. This new device offers a significant improvement over existing technologies, which cannot be operated on the go and lose accuracy in the presence of external sources of sound or vibration.