To code messages, the researchers allocated different sizes of bubbles, forms and orientations to the Morse code and to binary characters and used their freezing method to produce ice bubbles representing the desired characters. Then they took a photo of the ice layer and converted it into a gray scale, forming a computer to identify the position and size of the bubbles and decode the message in English letters and in Arabic figures. The team found that binary coding could store messages 10 times longer than the Morse code.
One day, this freezing method could be used for short storage of messages in Antarctica and similar very cold regions where traditional information storage methods are difficult and / or too expensive, depending on the authors. However, Qiang Tang from the University of Australia, which was not involved in research, told New Scientist that he had not seen a lot of practical application for breakthrough in cryptography or security, “unless a polar bear wants to say something to someone.”
Cell Physical Science, 2025. DOI: 10.1016 / J.XCRP.2025.102622 (about ITIs).
Cats prefer to sleep on the left side
Caliban walks towards its own drum and prefers the nap on its right side.
Credit: Sean Carroll
The Internet was designed for cats, especially YouTube, which includes millions of videos of variable quality, documenting the crazy buffoons of our furry friends with fur. These videos can also serve the interests of science, as evidenced by the international team of researchers who have analyzed 408 videos accessible to the public of sleeping cats to study if the kittens have shown a preference to sleep on their right or left sides. According to an article published in the journal Current Biology, two thirds of these videos showed cats sleeping on their left side.
Why should this behavioral asymmetry be the case? There are probably various reasons, but the authors have the hypothesis that it has something to do with the perception of Kitty and their vulnerability to predators during their sleep (generally between 12 and 16 hours per day). The right hemisphere of the brain dominates in spatial attention, while the right amygdal is dominant for the treatment of threats. This is why most species react faster when a predator approaches the left. Because the left visual field of a cat is treated in the dominant right hemisphere of their brain, “sleeping on the left side can therefore be a survival strategy”, concluded the authors.
