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1 day ago | 
thenewdaily.com.au | Imma Perfetto
Car buyers are increasingly switching from small and medium-sized passenger cars in favour of taller, heavier SUVs and light trucks, but a new study has brought the threat to vulnerable pedestrians and cyclists back into the headlights. A review of scientific research has found that pedestrians and cyclists are 44 per cent more likely to be killed in a collision with an SUV or light truck, compared to a passenger car.
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2 days ago | 
cosmosmagazine.com | Imma Perfetto
Consumers are switching from small and medium-sized passenger cars in favour of taller, heavier SUVs and light trucks, but a new study has brought the threat to vulnerable pedestrians and cyclists back into the headlights. A review of scientific research has found that pedestrians and cyclists are 44% more likely to be killed in a collision with an SUV or light truck, compared to a passenger car.
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2 days ago | 
cosmosmagazine.com | Imma Perfetto
Flamingos are known for posing serenely on one leg in extreme wetlands, placidly bobbing their heads into the shallow water to feed. But a new study has revealed there’s more going on beneath the surface than meets the eye.
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3 days ago | 
cosmosmagazine.com | Imma Perfetto
The latest in ping-pong playing robots has outperformed its predecessors and may soon surpass the strike speeds of top human players, according to its creators from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Biomimetic Robotics Laboratory. The team designed the multijointed robotic arm to wield a standard ping-pong paddle and hit an incoming ball towards a precise location on a table.
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5 days ago | 
cosmosmagazine.com | Imma Perfetto
New research which “observed” sound has revealed the intriguing physics behind one of orchestras’ simplest instrument – the triangle. Made of a single metal rod bent into the shape of a triangle with one open end, the triangle hangs suspended from a string or wire at the top closed corner. Striking the metal with a beater creates the sound. This slightly absurd percussive instrument produces a distinct “twinkling” sound of indefinite pitch.
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5 days ago | 
cosmosmagazine.com | Imma Perfetto
Researchers have created a soft robot that walks, hops, and swims using legs that resemble inflatable, wavey air dancers which grab customers’ attention on the roadside. The machine is powered only by a continuous stream of air but moves surprisingly quickly and can even avoid obstacles. All this is accomplished without the aid of a computer, software, or sensors. The continuous stream of air causes each of the soft, tubular legs to oscillate.
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5 days ago | 
cosmosmagazine.com | Imma Perfetto
Female digger wasps seem to have far superior memory for scheduling important tasks than I do. A new study has found that mother wasps can remember the locations of up to 9 of their nests at once and can feed their offspring in age order – picking the nest that contains their eldest in 81% of cases. The female wasps can even remember the offspring that started out with more food and delay feeding them. This intricate scheduling reduces the chance that their babies will starve.
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1 week ago | 
cosmosmagazine.com | Imma Perfetto
Despite covering 66% of the Earth’s surface, the deep ocean remains one of Earth’s great mysteries, and a new report has brought to light just how little we know about these vast regions. For example, it’s been determined that only 0.001% of the deep seafloor has been visually observed by humans. The estimated area, 2130km2, is only roughly the size of the US state of Rhode Island (2678 km2) or the Australian Capital Territory (2,358 km2).
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1 week ago | 
cosmosmagazine.com | Imma Perfetto
Today’s children will endure exposure to more climate extremes in their lifetime than any generation before them, a new study published in Nature has projected. Climate extremes, including heatwaves, crop failures, river floods, tropical cyclones, wildfires and droughts, will increase in frequency and intensity with continued atmospheric warming. Global average temperatures are rising at unprecedented rates due to greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere by human activities.
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1 week ago | 
cosmosmagazine.com | Imma Perfetto
Like long-term friendships between humans, African superb starlings become besties with individuals they are not related to and help each other repeatedly over time. These are the findings of a study which analysed more than 20 years of behavioural observations of starlings in east African savannahs. The starlings demonstrated “reciprocity” – helping each other with the expectation that the favour will eventually be returned.
