For many people, the start of a year is a time for new health resolutions – be it eat more vegetables, consume less sugar or drink more water. Keeping hydrated is essential for body functions such as temperature regulation, transporting nutrients and removing waste. Water even acts as a lubricant and shock absorber for joints. […]
Betelgeuse’s Pulsations Suggest Its Explosion Is Not Far Off
If you saw Orion before it disappeared behind the Sun this year, you may have noticed Betelgeuse’s unusual brightness. Astronomers are unsure of what to make of this brightening, but one team has reinterpreted long-standing patterns in its variability to conclude it is not only in the carbon-burning stage of its life, but nearing that […]
Dazzling “Mushroom Tornado” Captures The Complexity Of Raindrop Spore Dispersal
The devastation of tornadoes has been well documented through history, but did you know that every day there are miniature versions of these rotating columns of air happening all around us? However, though they be small, they are still deadly, capable of spreading spores in a way that can devastate surrounding plant species. One such […]
Can You Really “Address” Annoying Eye Floaters With A Supplement?
If you look up at the sky on a clear day, you might notice little cobweb-like structures drifting across your field of vision. They are known as floaters or, more formally, muscae volitantes – Latin for flying flies. Like regular flies, muscae volitantes are rather pesky, so it’s not surprising that people want to banish […]
Full-Fat Or Low-Fat Cheese And Milk? A Dietitian On Which Is Better
When it comes to dairy products do you tend to buy full-fat or low-fat products? For many people, going for low-fat options can seem like the “healthier” choice. Indeed, a 2020 survey in the US found that out of 1,000 people questioned, one in three sought out “low fat” or “reduced fat” foods or drinks, […]
How Many Types Of Narcissist Are There? A Psychology Expert Sets The Record Straight
Our interest in narcissism has never been higher, with Google searches for the word “narcissist” having steadily increased over the past decade. This term has become part of everyday parlance, readily thrown around to describe celebrities, politicians and ex-partners. A byproduct of our growing interest in narcissism is a curiosity about what types of narcissist […]
Antikythera Mechanism: The True Story Of Indiana Jones’s “Dial Of Destiny”
The fifth Indiana Jones revolves around the so-called “Dial of Destiny,” a time-twisting device supposedly crafted by the ancient Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes. While its time-traveling credentials are pure nonsense, the titular object is based on a genuine archaeological artifact: the Antikythera mechanism. This remarkable relic was found by sponge divers among a shipwreck […]
Pseduopenis, Aggression, And Matriarchy: The Sex Life Of Africa’s Most Abundant Carnivore
Hyenas are quite an unusual member of the animal kingdom, with powerful bone-crushing jaws and downright weird sex lives. There are four species of hyena in the family Hyaenidea that all live in Africa; spotted, brown, striped, and aardwolf. In spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta), society is run by females, who are significantly bigger and more […]
Who Is Archimedes, The Central Ancient Figure In The New Indiana Jones Movie?
Every Indiana Jones movie has its own MacGuffin, an object of importance that has the main good guys and bad guys busy searching and getting into wacky adventures. In the latest film – Dial of Destiny – that object is, you guessed it, an ancient object called the dial of destiny. The movie refers to […]
Australia Becomes First Country To Legalize Psychedelic Therapies
Australia has become the first country in the world to officially legalize the use of psychedelics to treat specific mental health conditions. From July 1, authorized psychiatrists are allowed to prescribe MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and psilocybin, the active ingredient of magic mushrooms, for drug-resistant depression. Following a decision made in February this […]
Bloodworms With Metal Teeth Are Real, And You Don’t Wanna Mess With Them
Cross a bloodworm and you could be in for a nasty surprise. Stretching to 35 centimeters (14 inches) in length, their narrow bodies and fleshy-pink coloration might not make them look all that threatening, but their metal teeth tell a different story. Bait diggers and fishers are the most likely to fall victim to the […]
Monkey In Zoo Eats Baby’s Corpse In Rare Example Of Primate Cannibalism
A monkey was recently seen carrying the body of her dead baby for some time after it died. However, she later ate the corpse in a case of primate cannibalism. As unpleasant as this sounds, this unusual behavior may have evolutionary benefits that impact the mother’s chances of reproducing in the future. The monkey in […]
Time Ran Five Times Slower In The Early Universe, Quasars Reveal
Variations in the brightness of quasars from the early universe have been used to measure time dilation back to only a billion years after the Big Bang. The findings reveal an era when clocks moved five times slower than they do today – or would have, if there had been anyone to make clocks. It […]
Arsenic-Based Antibiotic Is Bad News For Resistant Bacteria – And Malaria
A team of scientists thought they had struck gold when they discovered the only known natural antibiotic that contains arsenic and showed its ability to treat tough bacterial infections. But its potential did not end there. Now, new research has found that it could be a game-changing treatment for another serious infectious disease: malaria. Antibiotic […]
NASA Visualization Shows How El Niño Has Sprung In The Pacific
This red hot stripe across the Pacific shows that El Niño has arrived. Satellites have suggested that sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean are significantly higher than average, signaling that the triple-dip La Niña is over and El Niño has returned. The data was gathered by two NASA satellites, Sentinel-6 […]
What Type Of Language Did Neanderthals Speak?
Modern humans and Neanderthals obviously got along well enough to mate with one another, although the level of conversation that preceded these inter-hominid romances remains a matter of great uncertainty. Given that fossils are unable to talk and Neanderthals disappeared long before the invention of recording equipment, archaeologists have no way of knowing whether our […]
“Shooting Stars” Discovered In The Sun’s Corona For First Time
An international team of astronomers has discovered a never-seen-before feature in the solar corona: “shooting stars” falling down on the Sun. Using the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter (SolO), they discovered that the phenomenon of coronal rain was hiding these meteor-like fireballs, which can get as big as 250 kilometers (155 miles) wide. Don’t let […]
Watch Thousands Of Lightning Strikes Flash Across Europe And Africa
The first images and videos of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) new Lightning Imager have been released and you can watch thousands of lightning strikes flash across the globe. This is the first ever satellite instrument capable of continuously detecting lightning across Europe and Africa. ESA, along with the European Organisation for the Exploitation of […]
Live Pill Bugs And Mollusks Are Being Used As Hands In Biohybrid Robot Arms
The rolling power of pill bugs and grip strength of chitons have landed them an unexpected role in robotics, as scientists working on biohybrid technologies have invented a robot arm with living grippers. The creators say that the method doesn’t harm the animals and that once they’ve done their grabbing, they can simply scuttle back […]
How Do You Decide When To Throw Away Milk?
Do you sniff it, read the label, or wait to see bits floating in your coffee or tea? There are many ways to check when milk has gone off, but new research has shown that up to half of consumers decide to throw away milk based only on a brief glance at the date on […]
