Weekly Science Picks

We are at the end of one more exciting and scientifically promising week. It’s time to summarise what have happened during the last 7 days. As usual, the task was quite challenging, but we have obtained it. Here we would like to present the most interesting science and technology innovations of the week.

Why bad inventions are good

The answer was revealed at a recent exhibition called Fail Better, at Dublin’s Science Gallery in Ireland. The story of the NeoNurture joined contributions by inventors, athletes, explorers and even astrophysicists, who each submitted an object they thought characterised the theme of failure. It is a compendium of quashed dreams, acts of stupidity, serendipitous success, and crucially, instructive lessons about the true nature of failure.

Neanderthals aren’t grunting, club-wielding idiots – we are

They’ve long been maligned as grunting, club-wielding idiots, but apparently we’ve got Neanderthals all wrong. Misled by their simple tools (clubs) and simple language (grunting) we have stereotyped them as primitive beings – but this couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, according to recent research, Neanderthals were no less intelligent than their modern human contemporaries.

In the long run: keeping track of athletes with wearable tech

But today’s coaches aren’t satisfied with analysing highlights footage post-match to get these stats – they want to know how fast a player runs, track exactly where they run, and collect data on the movements of all players individually and as a group in real time.

Nearby galaxy is a ‘fossil’ from the early universe

Scientists analyzed the chemical elements in the faintest known galaxy, called Segue 1, and determined that it is effectively a fossil galaxy left over from the early universe. Stars form from gas clouds and their composition mirrors the chemical composition of the galactic gas from which they were born.

That’s all for this Weekly Science Picks. Please stay updated, new stories are coming soon.