Dogs help humans with disabilities socialize with others, researchers find

Having a dog may be one way to curb lonelieness.

Photo credit: JULIAN STRATENSCHULTE/AFP/Getty Images
  • A pilot study has found that dogs help socialize those with intellectual disabilities at Australian group homes.
  • Previous research finds that pets helps those who use wheelchairs "feel more secure and confident in public."
  • People are far more likely to interact with someone with an intellectual disability if they were walking with a dog.
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Scientist's accidental discovery makes coral grow 40x faster

There might be hope for our oceans, thanks to one clumsy moment in a coral tank.

Photo by Preet Gor on Unsplash.
  • David Vaughan at the Mote Laboratory is growing coral 40 times faster than in the wild.
  • It typically takes coral 25 to 75 years to reach sexual maturity. With a new coral fragmentation method, it takes just 3.
  • Scientists and conservationists plan to plant 100,000 pieces of coral around the Florida Reef Tract by 2019 and millions more around the world in the years to come.
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What to do if the 'Oumuamua space "probe" comes around again

Time to build a Corellian shipyard?

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  • Two Harvard researchers recently speculated that an object that entered into our solar system was an interstellar probe.
  • The odds that this is what happened are quite literally astronomical.
  • If humans are to build spaceships to chase after the probe, we'll need to come to a greater understanding of how to manipulate dark energy that exists in the universe.
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Increased air travel may decrease the chances of a global pandemic

The closer together we get, the argument goes, the healthier we'll be.

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  • The more exposed we are to each other, the less surprising a pathogen will be to our bodies.
  • Terrorism, high blood pressure, and staffing issues threaten to derail progress.
  • Pursuing global health has to be an active choice.
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New air-conditioning design cools without using fossil fuels

Is the future with radiative cooling?

Linda Cicero, Stanford News
  • Scientists at Stanford have developed what is essentially a fossil-free air conditioner.
  • It absorbs solar energy, creates a heat sink, and releases that heat through radiative cooling.
  • The device is still in development.
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