Weekly Science Picks

Follow

We have come to the end of one more week and it’s time to summarise what has happened during this week. As usual, the task was quite challenging, but we made it. Here is the review of the most exiting and fascinating news from the world of science and technology.

Want to learn quicker? Use your body

Ever got to grips with a problem? Picked up a new skill? Grasped a difficult concept? The language of learning is full of references to parts of the body outside the brain. Perhaps that’s because these phrases hint at something deeper. Researchers are discovering that learning is easier, quicker and more long-lasting if lessons involve the body as well as the mind – whether it’s gesturing with the arms or moving around a room. Can these insights enhance teaching and learning in the future? And should it inform the way technology is employed in the classroom?

Gravitational waves give Nobel prize committee another headache

A team of American astronomers announced that they had detected the tell-tale signature of “cosmic inflation” using an experiment called Bicep2 – a telescope located under the clear skies of the south pole.

When disaster strikes: the science of oil spills

To do this, in addition to monitoring and letting the contaminated site recover on its own, there are three main oil spill countermeasure techniques used: mechanical recovery, for example capturing the spreading oil on booms and pumping oil back into barrels (always the first preference); burning the oil off the water’s surface; and applying chemical dispersants to break up the oil into small droplets within the water column which become diluted at sea to harmless levels and subsequently broken down naturally, by bacteria.

Humans can distinguish at least one trillion different odors

Humans are capable of discriminating at least one trillion different odors, new research shows. Scientists determined that our sense of smell is prepared to recognize this vast olfactory palette after testing individuals’ ability to recognize differences between complex odors mixed in the laboratory. It has been said for decades that humans were limited to distinguishing only 10,000 different odors.

That’s all for this Weekly Science Picks. Until next meeting, stay thirsty for new scientific stories.