Study: Spiders use their webs to hear
The Optimist Daily recently reported on how spiders use electricity to fly by hopping on electric fields for a ride. If you ask us, that’s pretty cool. Now we wanted to share a new study, from Binghamton University, that has revealed more intriguing secrets about these eight-legged Read More...
Video games are becoming more accessible for players with disabilities
According to the World Health Organization, there are over a billion humans living with a disability, around 15 percent of the global population. With such a high number of people in this group, it is encouraging to see the number of fields that are improving their services to accommodate the Read More...
Is this the age of "digital drugs?"
A lot of us love a change in perspective. Whether that’s an adrenaline surge from risky behavior or someone taking a trip with magic mushrooms to explore their deeper selves, people are always coming up with new ways to shift their state of mind. The latest trend in mind-shifting isn't in taking Read More...
Fish talk: study confirms that most fish use sound to communicate
While sound may not be the first thing to come to mind when we think of fish, it is actually a key element of communication for the vast majority of fish species. That is according to scientists at Cornell University, who have recently discovered that about two-thirds of all fish species in the Read More...
Scientists are listening to Borneo’s rainforest to protect biodiversity
As in many tropical areas around the world, Borneo's lush rainforests are disappearing at an alarming rate due to illegal logging. This poses a real threat to the region’s incredibly rich biodiversity that includes 221 species of land-living mammals, 420 species of birds, as well as 15,000 Read More...
Deaf children may receive the gift of sound from a brain stem implant
An FDA-approved clinical trial to give the gift of sound and speech to children who were born deaf is already yielding encouraging results. Read the story of Jiya Bavishi, a six-year-old girl who received an auditory brainstem implant. The implant is a microchip that receives sounds picked up by a Read More...
Videos: The secret science of whoopee cushions
Ode Editors | August 2009 issue How does a whoopee cushion make sound? Does whoopee cushion size matter? Man or woman which is Read More...
less than zero
What does silence really sound like? Step inside an anechoic chamber to find out. Marisa Taylor | July 2008 issue The sky is bright and cloudless: another perfect day in the San Francisco Bay Area. But I’m about to spend part of it inside a windowless, soundless room called an anechoic chamber Read More...
They're all ears
New research suggests plants can hear. Is this the start of acoustic farming? Jurriaan Kamp | December 2007 issue Prince Charles was widely ridiculed 20 years ago when he declared on television that he talked to his plants. “I just come and talk to the plants, really. It’s very important to Read More...