People who witness crimes are often asked to identify suspects in a lineup. Traditionally, police would present them with six people simultaneously, five of whom are fillers who are innocent but resemble the suspect. Photo arrays are more common these days than live lineups, and previous studies found that these work better if the pictures are presented in a sequence, rather than all at once. Almost a third of U.S. law enforcement agencies have since adopted this sequential procedure.
David Lee Niles was found after a man decorating a Christmas tree noticed a car roof under the waters of a nearby pond
The body of a man missing for almost a decade has been found inside a sunken car that had been visible at the bottom of a pond for years on Google Maps.
David Lee Niles disappeared on October 11 2006 after walking out of his local pub following a meeting with a pal.
photo credit: Monsanto is a decidedly divisive corproration. a katz/Shutterstock
Biotech and agrochemical giant Monsanto, which has received a fair amount of flak over the past few years, is to be placed before a citizens' tribunal – where it will be investigated for “crimes against nature and humanity.” Environmentalists, activists and scientists in The Hague, the famous international criminal court in the
photo credit: Police secure the area near a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, December 2 2015. Mario Anzuoni/REUTERS
America has experienced yet another mass shooting.
As a criminologist, I have reviewed recent research in hopes of debunking some of the common misconceptions I hear creeping into discussions that spring up whenever a mass shooting occurs.
What else could ever be as addicting as Instagram? We keep track of what’s going on by means of this magic tool.
This is the quickest and easiest way to find out what our favorite clothing stores offer us this season. It’s a great place full of the latest information about IT technologies, devices, personalities and fashion industry. This is where we can enjoy pictures of fantastic ladies some of which are famous, well-known and popular.
Why do the Oscars last over 300 hours? That’s simply because there are tens of categories and even more nominees to please.
During the ceremony we see and hear the stars congratulate and greet each other. No doubt every single Oscar ever held was thoroughly organized. Unfortunately, not goes well to some of the participants and they make awkward mistakes from time to time. The beautiful moments of the great show are also always noticed and discussed later on. Here are some of the curious moments that you might have missed this year:
This infographic from Business Insider shows some of the behaviors and traits that research has suggested are associated with a higher level of intelligence. Of course, as Business Insider points out, remember that correlation doesn’t equal causation. Buying a cat, taking up recreational drug use and losing weight are unlikely to really boost your IQ.
photo credit: Shark attacks have been on the rise in many parts of Australia. mingis/Shutterstock
After a spate of shark attacks off the coast of New South Wales this year, the authorities are turning to technology to try and help protect beachgoers. So far, there have been 13 shark attacks this year alone, one of which was fatal, and up from just three the year before. The situation has sparked great debate on how best to deter the animals from coming too close to the coast and save people’s lives. This week saw the beginning of tests using aerial drones to scout and track sharks.
photo credit: There is often a stark divide when it comes to climate change. a katz/Shutterstock
Climate change has long been a polarizing subject, with a gulf between those who “believe” in it and those who are “deniers” widening and becoming more intense in recent years. Some argue that this is because the science isn’t proven, or that there are doubts in the data, but a new study claims to have found the real reason that this rift exists: corporate funding.
It’s been 100 years since Einstein proposed one of the most powerful scientific ideas of all time - the theory of general relativity. Over the century, his ideas have been continually expanded, critiqued and developed, in an attempt to explain the fundamental truths of the universe and what the hell it's all about.
photo credit: Florence Metz's dance represents the different contenders in debates about water consumption. Florence Metz via Youtube
Would you get down and boogie to present your research in a more light-hearted and accessible way? These scientists did, and they've now scooped monetary prizes for their efforts.
First place in this year's Dance Your Ph.D. contest was won by University of Bern studentFlorence Metz for her study of how scientists, industry lobbyists, farmers, and environmental activists shape policy on water use and conservation. Metz has experience in many styles of dance and put these to use representing the different interests that shape debate on scarce water resources.
Japanese is a notoriously difficult language to learn, particularly for those only used to the Latin alphabet. There are also three different types of writing systems to grapple with: Katakana, Kanji and Hiragana. The eloquent squiggles and stripes might appear alien, but one of these Japanese writing systems, Katakana, is essentially phonetic.
photo credit: The spacecraft will be able to tell when plants are under stress or not. Jaggat Rashidi/Shutterstock
The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced plans to build and send into orbit a satellite to measure the faint glow that plants give off as they photosynthesize. The new satellite will join a series of missions that already measure and study the biological systems that control our planet. Known as the Fluorescence Explorer – or FLEX – the spacecraft will be the eighth installment in the organization's Earth Explorer missions to be given the go-ahead by ESA member states.
Have you ever wanted to own a lightsaber? Well, now you can (sort of): The U.S. Air Force has developed a welding torch that apparently cuts through metal like a lightsaber would through a Sith Lord. It’s compact, versatile, and burns through whatever you put in its waywith a 2,760 degree celsius (5,000 degree fahrenheit) jet of vaporized metal.
Image copyrightReutersImage captionArmed police sealed off the area as shots rang out in Saint Denis
Heavy shooting has been heard in the northern Paris suburb of Saint Denis and reports say a police operation linked to last Friday's attacks is under way there.
Some police have been wounded, French TV station BFMTV reported.
Earlier, security sources said surveillance video showed a possible ninth assailant during Friday's attacks in which 129 people died.
The so-called Islamic State (IS) group has said it carried out the attacks.
So-called Islamic State burst on to the international scene in 2014 when it seized large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq. It has become notorious for its brutality, including mass killings, abductions and beheadings. The group though has attracted support elsewhere in the Muslim world - and a US-led coalition has vowed to destroy it.
The Leonid meteor shower is expected to peak from midnight to dawn of Wednesday November 18, with those in America, Europe and Africa getting the best views during this period. The waxing-crescent moon will set before midnight, making the skies a perfectly dark amphitheatre for viewing the meteors.
photo credit: Marine fossils arranged by position in the water column. J.A. Sessa and B.T. Huber.
Ammonites were spiral-shelled marine mollusks that drifted throughout the Mesozoic seas until the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction event. Despite how abundant they are in the fossil record, we don’t know that much about their ecology. Now, researchers trying to reconstruct their habitats reveal where in the water column these ubiquitous fossils preferred to live. The findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week, might help researchers reconstruct ancient climate.
photo credit: Artist's conception of a binary brown dwarf system with an accretion disk. NASA/Gemini Observatory/ L. Cook
There is a peculiar system 1,600 light-years from our solar system. It is composed of two brown dwarfs, massive objects too big to be planets and too small to fuse hydrogen and become stars. But that is not the strange part: Scientists have now discovered a Venus-sized planet around the smaller brown dwarf.
A rocky planet orbiting a brown dwarf has never been observed before. This system is therefore thought to be either a scaled-up version of a moon going around a planet or a scaled-down version of a planet going around a star. The ratio between the mass of the host brown dwarf and that of the planet is the same as the ratio between the Sun and Uranus and between Jupiter and Callisto (its second largest moon). The astronomers argue that this suggests the same mechanisms formed Uranus, Callisto and the new planet.
Planets and moons form from an accretion disk, a rotating ring-like structure surrounding a larger gravitational body made of dust and gas. Over time, these materials coalesce into large objects that we recognize as planets and moons. The latest discovery indicates that the formation of objects from accretion disks are similar for planets, brown dwarfs and stars.
OGLE-2013-BLG-0723B, the name of the object in question, orbits its host in about 400 days and at a distance of 50 million kilometers (31 million miles). It is 30 percent less massive than the Earth and only slightly less massive than Venus. The discovery and its importance were published in a paper in the Astrophysical Journal.
The discovery was possible thanks to a technique called microlensing. If two massive objects – in this case a brown dwarf and a star – align from our perspective in the sky, the gravity of thebrown dwarf acts like a lens and magnifies the light we receive from the more distant star. From our point of view, the star gets brighter and brighter, reaching a maximum when both objects are perfectly aligned and then becoming progressively dimmer until it returns to its original luminosity.
When a planet orbits the brown dwarf, there are jumps in the luminosity of the star, suddenly becoming brighter than expected. Most exoplanets are discovered because they pass in front of their stars and we can see a tiny eclipse; this technique doesn't work well for brown dwarfs, though, because they don't emit enough visible light. Microlensing, therefore, is the only way to discover rocky planets orbiting brown dwarfs.
