Kitten Robots

A team of scientists from the University of California Berkeley have been working on producing what will be the near equivalent of feline whiskers, but for robots. Cats use their whiskers to detect objects around them, making them extremely stealthy and capable of navigating through tight spaces with ease. These electric whiskers contain silver nanoparticles and carbon nanotubules that are printed onto elastic fibers. They are ten times more sensitive than any other similar technology previously developed. The scientists say that there are endless possibilities that could come from this development, one of them being the production of artificial cats obviously.

http://natmonitor.com/2014/01/22/i-can-has-nanotube-scientists-create-cat-like-whiskers-for-robots/

Old Growth Trees

The next time you think about cutting down a giant old tree over 3 feet in diameter, think twice! Recent studies have shown that older trees actually recycle more and more carbon as they get older. They have not proven to actually gobble more greenhouse gases than younger trees or a mix of younger and older trees, but scientists just want to make sure they are never ruled out in this carbon dioxide-filling atmosphere. More studies will be continued to see just how well giant old trees do maintain and recycle carbon.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2014/0116/Surprise!-Old-growth-trees-are-star-players-in-gobbling-greenhouse-gas

Dog's Preferred Bathroom Position

Scientists have discovered that dogs actually tend to relieve themselves in line with the Earth's magnetic poles. 70 different dogs of 37 different breeds were observed while defecating and urinating over a two year period. The study recorded them going number two 1,893 times and number one 5,582 times. The results from the scientists data show that the dogs have preferred to face the magnetic north and south. They also showed that the dogs did not prefer the magnetic east and west and avoided it if possible. There were also tests done in which the magnetic fields were disrupted and in these tests the dogs just went to the bathroom in random directions, without a directional preference.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/01/02/scientists-discover-dogs-prefered-bathroom-position/

Hacking The Planet

Geo-engineering is a relatively new topics when it comes to the sciences. It is an attempt to rewire the Earth's atmosphere in order to reverse global climate change and help save our planet. Hacking the Earth's climate is a topic of major debate however, due to the fact that all of the techniques that have been developed so far might have either short term or long term consequences. The thought of the Anthropocene, which is the idea that we have entered a new geological era in which humans influence is a dominant feature, is both frightening and interesting to think about. The research on geo-engineering is growing rapidly, and hopefully much more will be discovered in the near future. It might save all of our lives one day.
http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/12/hack-planet-geoengineering-research-ethics-explored

Valkyrie The Superhero Robot

The robot pictured is a humanoid robot named Valkyrie. It was made by NASA Johnson Space Center's robotics team. They were/are trying to create what their idea is of the best rescue robot for a disaster zone. So far it seems that they have created the most human friendly, lifelike robot of every team, and are well on their way to developing their hardware for the next challenge to all teams. The next challenge will be in two weeks, and it will involve all of the robots maneuvering through an obstacle course. The final challenge next December will be getting their robots to perform a group of tasks, just from downgraded communication systems that are already in them, because it is post-apocalyptic and the communication networks are down. The winning team will receive $2 million and get to begin developing the first robots to help build the first settlement on Mars.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/1211/Meet-Valkyrie-the-superhero-robot

Creating Fuel from Carbon Dioxide

Scientists in Chicago have been studying how to create a faster and more efficient way to create liquid fuels from carbon dioxide. Usually, the carbon dioxide used comes from the burning of hydrocarbons. These scientists have found it more practical to actually create fuel by converting carbon dioxide and water into fuel. They have created a catalyst that produces the carbon monoxide at a rate ten times faster than the current standard, and is much more efficient. One problem they are trying to solve is finding the best way to create energy for these reactions to take place. They need to create an artificial "leaf" that could both collect energy from the sun and undergo the reactions at the same time, staying stable the entire time. If their work pays off, it could mean cleaner, more efficient fuel production, which could even lead to cleaner and more efficient fuel consumption.
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/522246/a-faster-and-more-efficient-way-to-convert-carbon-dioxide-into-fuel/

Europeans Among First to America?

Recently the genome of a 24,000 year-old boy was dug up at Mal'ta near Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia. What makes this boy different from others is that his genes actually matched Western European genes and Native American genes, but not East Asian. What this means is that Europeans had traveled much farther east at that time period than what was previously known, and this mixed culture of people was among the first to either cross the land bridge into Alaska. Another study that backs this research up shows that 1 of the five mitochondrial DNA lineages is found in both Native Americans and Europeans.
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/21/science/two-surprises-in-dna-of-boy-found-buried-in-siberia.html?_r=0