The Hard-Boiled Truth About Cooking the Perfect Egg

 Posted on April 27, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  625 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Cuisiniers and gastronomes share an appreciation for the so-called "65-degree egg" — an egg cooked for long periods at or near 65 degrees Celsius (149 Fahrenheit). But recipes for the ideal egg aren't as scientific as they could be, says food scientist and chef César Vega. Speaking at a meeting of the American Chemical Society on April 7, Vega, a research manager at Mars Inc., who has a doctoral degree in food science and culinary training from Le Cordon Bleu, explained how cooking can be a platform to engage the public in science. [Read More]

This Video of 'Dancing Braids' Will Change How You Think About Mathematics

 Posted on April 27, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  440 words  |  Trudie Dory

A dramatically choreographed performance that veered from gracefully spinning aerialists to gyrating, hoop-wielding dancers wearing glow-in-the-dark costumes, twirled its way to first place in the annual Dance Your Ph.D. Contest. The video, titled "Representations of the Braid Groups," describes mathematics principles about braid behavior that might leave non-mathematicians scratching their heads. However, the video visualizes these concepts in sequences of mesmerizing dance scenes that deliver unexpected suspense and drama, conveying the movement and beauty of translating complex diagrams into grids of numbers. [Read More]

Which US Cities Have the Most Millionaires?

 Posted on April 27, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  351 words  |  Trudie Dory

Boasting the highest number of millionaires of any U.S. city, New York City should perhaps change its nickname from "The Big Apple" to "The Golden Apple." The New York metropolitan area has 650,000 high-net worth individuals (HNWIs), or people with $1 million or more in investible assets (which excludes their primary residence, collectibles, consumables and consumer durables), according to the 2010 Metro Wealth Index. The index, constructed by the Paris-based consulting firm Capgemini, annually tracks affluent households in hundreds of cities nationwide. [Read More]

You, Too, Can Be Iron Man ... Almost

 Posted on April 27, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  876 words  |  Trudie Dory

What's it take to be a superhero? For the most part, it's luck: born at the right place at the wrong time, such as Superman on the eve of Krypton's destruction; or exposed to ionizing radiation to somehow develop superhuman abilities instead of cancer, such as Spiderman and Hulk. Then there are those overly ambitious multi-millionaires — Bruce Wayne, Oliver Queen and Tony Stark — who kick bad-guy butt as Batman, Green Arrow and Iron Man, respectively. [Read More]

'Magic Mushrooms' Not Linked to Mental Health Problems: Study

 Posted on April 26, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  382 words  |  Patria Henriques

Using psychedelic drugs, such as LSD and "magic mushrooms," does not appear to increase the risk of developing mental health problems, a new study suggests. The study researchers analyzed information from more than 130,000 people in the United States, about 22,000 of whom had used psychedelic drugs at least once in the past. Participants were asked questions to gauge whether they had needed mental health treatment in the last year, or experienced symptoms of conditions, including panic disorder, major depressive episode, mania, social phobia and post-traumatic stress disorder. [Read More]

'X-Ray Vision' T-Shirt Shows Inner Workings of the Human Body

 Posted on April 26, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  582 words  |  Fernande Dalal

A new crowdfunded project aims to create a virtual reality T-shirt that allows users to feel like they are peering inside the shirt-wearer's anatomy using a mobile device or VR headset. The Kickstarter project, called the Virtuali-Tee, is a T-shirt that gives people an inside peek at the skeletal, digestive and circulatory systems. The animated T-shirt is designed to teach kids about the inner workings of their bodies. The new product is " [Read More]

85,000-Year-Old Finger Bone May Rewrite the Story of Human Migration Out of Africa

 Posted on April 26, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  889 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

A sliver of bone the size of a Cheeto may radically revise our view of when and how humans left Africa. The 85,000-year-old fossilized human finger bone, unearthed in the Saudi Arabian desert, suggests that early humans took completely different routes out of Africa than was previously suspected, a new study finds. The finding is the oldest human fossil on record unearthed outside of Africa and the Levant (an area encompassing the Eastern Mediterranean, including Israel), and the oldest human remains uncovered in Saudi Arabia, the researchers said. [Read More]

Babies Named After Dads: Which States Have More (And Why)

 Posted on April 26, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1217 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Dale Earnhardt Jr., was one. So was Martin Luther King Jr. And who could forget Harry Connick Jr.? All of these men were named after their fathers — and it's perhaps no coincidence that all three were born in the South. New research suggests that patronyms, or juniors, IIIs and IVs, are more common in states with Southern-style "honor cultures." Honor cultures are societies that place great stock in reputation. In such cultures, men are usually expected to be brave, strong and aggressive in defense of their families. [Read More]

Behind a Visionary: The Science of Steve Jobs

 Posted on April 26, 2023  |  7 minutes  |  1435 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

The death of Apple's Steve Jobs on Wednesday (Oct. 5) triggered an outpouring of mourning and celebration. As newspaper obits remembered Jobs as a "visionary" and the "Henry Ford of the computer industry," fans converged on Apple stores across the country to leave notes, bouquets and actual apples. It's hard to imagine this sort of grief for most other CEOs — would the loss of the head of General Electric or Exxon Mobile spur 10,000 tweets per second? [Read More]

Bizarre Syndrome Makes Visitors to Jerusalem Go Crazy

 Posted on April 26, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  760 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

As Christians and Jews around the world prepare to celebrate the holidays of Easter and Passover, many will flock to the city of Jerusalem. Since ancient times, the city has been a magnet for religious pilgrims from some of the world's largest faiths — namely, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. But for a small percentage of these visitors, their reverence of Jerusalem may become pathological — in other words, a visit to the city may trigger obsessive ideas, delusions or other psychotic experiences. [Read More]