Device could help detect signs of extraterrestrial life

Although Earth is uniquely situated in the solar system to support creatures that call it home, different forms of life could have once existed, or might still exist, on other planets. But finding traces of past or current ...

Pandemic spawns 'infodemic' in scientific literature

The science community has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with such a flurry of research studies that it is hard for anyone to digest them all, underscoring a long-standing need to make scientific publication more accessible, ...

Making dog food more delectable by analyzing aromas

Dogs aren't known for being picky about their food, eating the same kibble day after day with relish. However, owners of pampered pooches want their pets to have the best possible culinary experience, especially for those ...

Toward a coronavirus breathalyzer test

Few people who have undergone nasopharyngeal swabs for coronavirus testing would describe it as a pleasant experience. The procedure involves sticking a long swab up the nose to collect a sample from the back of the nose ...

WTF, when will scientists learn to use fewer acronyms?

Have you heard of DNA? It stands for Do Not Abbreviate apparently. Jokes aside, it's the most widely used acronym in scientific literature in the past 70 years, appearing more than 2.4 million times.

Why the pandemic introduces language that is 'hard to explain'

New words and phrases like "flatten the curve," "social distancing," and "stop the spread" have entered our pandemic lexicon at a dramatic rate. To make sense of the changes, Penn Today spoke with linguist Andrea Beltrama, ...

Big wheel ruts, big economic losses

Excessively wet field conditions at harvest throughout the North Central and upper Midwest regions resulted in many fields with deep wheel-traffic compaction as evident by deep ruts from combines and grain wagons. Although ...

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