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Scientists have long understood the physics of single soap bubbles, but were unable, until now, to describe mathematically the behavior of a cluster of bubbles. When one pops, the others rearrange. The model developed by mathematicians at the University of California at Berkeley divides this process into three phases.

Bubble-busting gets scientific

Archive by category ''Science/Technology

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY

Breakfast with chipmunks

A geographical law of nature was unfolding before my eyes. Closer to the poles, animals experience relatively short summers. To survive, temperate and arctic critters must eat, grow, mate, nest, rear young, and gain weight in a relatively short summer season before the onset of winter. But organisms...
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY

Tiny ear bones unique to earliest humans

A study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences could shed new light on the earliest existence of humans. The study analyzed the tiny ear bones – the malleus, incus and stapes – from two species of early human ancestor in South Africa. These bones, the smallest bones in the ...
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY

Was a solar cycle factor in Jamestown cannibalism?

Cannibalism in Jamestown colony! The recent news of evidence of human skulls with scrape marks that anthropologists know are from tools suggests that times were so desperate in the winter of 1609-1610 that the last survivors resorted to the worst of crimes. It happened during The Little Ice Age ...
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY

Humans can’t match moth for hearing

Researchers from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, reported that the moth has the world’s most extreme hearing.
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY

NC executive plays key role in brain research project

One of humankind's most elusive quests since the beginning of time may have a promising new direction via an ambitious, government-led collaboration of science experts. And a Charlotte man is on the front lines.
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY

MRI scans may predict outcome of math tutoring

A new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine says that the size and circuitry of certain parts of children's brains are excellent predictors of how well they'll respond to intensive math tutoring.
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY

Do cosmic rays 'grease' lightning?

Nobody knows exactly what triggers lightning bolts. Now, two Russian researchers say these discharges of a billion volts or more could be caused by the interaction of cosmic rays - high-energy particles from outer space - with water droplets in thunderclouds.
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY

Professor monitors infectious diseases

Tara Smith, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Iowa and the co-director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, blogs about the changing world of diseases.
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY

Science Briefs: Duke researchers invent living patch for damaged hearts

Duke University biomedical engineers have grown three-dimensional human heart muscle that acts just like natural tissue. This advancement could be important in treating heart attack patients or for testing new heart disease medicines.
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY

NC State researchers explore using herbal oils to kill pathogens on fruits, vegetables

Researchers at NC State and the University of Tennessee are experimenting with the use oils extracted from herbs or spices to kill dangerous pathogens such as E. coli, listeria and salmonella on organically grown tomatoes, cantaloupe and other produce.