Scientists from the University of California have developed a biobattery, similar to a temporary-tattoo, that produces power from sweat. Detailed in the journal Angewandte Chemie and presented at the National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the tiny device is the first of its kind. During vigorous exercise, the body needs to generate more energy than usual. To do this, it trig ...

Professor Maryam Mirzakhani has become the first person from Stanford University in the US to have won the Fields Medal since 1966. But more than that she has made history by becoming the first female recipient of the coveted award. Otherwise known as the International Medal for Outstanding Discoveries in Mathematics, or the Mathematician’s Nobel Prize, the Fields Medal is colloquially named after mathemati ...

Examining around 75 species of birds’ eggs from the UK in the Natural History Museum collection, scientists have found that eggshells act as a form of UV protection for the embryos developing inside and have published their research in Functional Ecology. Researchers found variations in eggshell thickness and pigment concentration, depending on the nest environment of a specific wild bird, which is thought ...

Scientists think they have discovered a new species of bat in Bolivia - and it’s gold! The golden bat is of the genus Myotis (mouse-eared bat) and has short woolly fur in a colour that is unique among mouse-eared bats in the western hemisphere. The bat's full name is Myotis midastactus, so-called after the Greek legend of King Midas, in which everything he touched turned to gold. In 2011, Dr Ricardo Moratel ...

In March, we told you about a study that showed that people who are happier tend to work harder. Scientists have now developed a mathematical equation that can predict momentary happiness, published in PNAS. In this latest study, 26 participants played a money game in which they were asked to make decisions that led to risky or fixed wins and losses, while their brain activity was tracked using an fMRI mach ...

It is thought that it only takes seconds for someone to form their first impression of you, with that impression able to affect future behaviour around you, and it can be difficult to change that opinion. And while we know not to judge someone purely on how they look - “don’t judge a book by its cover” and all that - and we may even strive not to, we all can’t help but do it. Positive first impressions are ...

A grim but necessary part of learning about the human anatomy as a medical student is dissecting cadavers. You might be surprised to find out then that there is, unfortunately, a shortage of this vital training tool all over the world, be it for religious or monetary reasons, or people understandably just not wanting to donate their body to science. But a team in Australia may have found the answer! No more ...

In a controversial step forward, a technique to create babies from the sperm and eggs of three people - which could lead to the prevention of some of the major childhood diseases - has progressed in the UK. According to the Department of Health, the three-person IVF (invitro fertilisation), developed by a team at Newcastle University, has been broadly supported by the public with 2,000-odd responses receive ...

After groundbreaking experiments, US scientists have been able to encourage the heart to grow its own pacemaker by converting cells inside of it, and the treatment could be hitting human trials within three years. The findings have been published in Science Translational Medicine. Pacemakers have been around since the 60s and are an electronic device that is implanted inside the chests of patients with an a ...

Ever listened to a song you didn’t know and wanted to know who the artist was, or what the song was called? Well, there’s an app for that. Much along those same lines, software has now been developed that can differentiate between the birdsongs of different birds, and has been published in the journal PeerJ. The songs of hundreds of species of birds were compiled and analysed, and then "taught" to a compute ...