Photos: Headless Roman Gladiator Skeletons Identified

 Posted on April 25, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  426 words  |  Patria Henriques

A new analysis of headless skeletons is revealing more about the lives of these mysterious men, who were likely Roman gladiators. For instance, DNA analysis suggests they had poor childhood health and were used to holding and wielding weapons. Here's a look at the decapitated Roman-age bodies. [Read the full story on the decapitated gladiators] Amazing care Skeleton number 8 from the Driffield Terrace excavation, a decapitated male between the ages of 26 and 35. [Read More]

Remains of USS Hornet, Storied WWII Aircraft Carrier, Discovered at Bottom of South Pacific

 Posted on April 25, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  483 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

After a fierce battle in 1942, the USS Hornet succumbed to an onslaught from Japanese dive-bombers, torpedo planes and destroyers, which hit the ship with torpedoes. But now, after years of searching, shipwreck hunters have finally located the Hornet's remains at the bottom of the South Pacific. In January, the 250-foot-long (76 meters) research vessel Petrel, owned by the late Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, found the wreckage near the Solomon Islands under about 17,490 feet (5,330 m) of water. [Read More]

Salmonella's Tricky Attack Plan Revealed

 Posted on April 25, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  512 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

As the tomato scare spreads across the country, scientists have discovered how the salmonella bacteria silently builds to formidable numbers while lurking inside your body for days. More than 380 people have been infected with a rare strain of salmonella bacteria in the recent outbreak, most likely spread by shipments of tainted tomatoes, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Most of the victims became ill between April 10 and June 5, and could have eaten the toxic food up to three days before they actually got sick, the CDC said. [Read More]

Tubby 'tardigrade' crawls across sun's surface in spectacular images

 Posted on April 25, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  531 words  |  Patria Henriques

No, tardigrades haven't colonized the sun. But a tardigrade-shaped speck on a solar mission's images recently led to some joking about the unlikely solar presence of a wee water bear. Today (July 16), when the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA unveiled the latest images captured by the agencies' Solar Orbiter mission, some sharp-eyed viewers were quick to point out a small, dark blotch on the left-hand side in one of the image sequences. [Read More]

Water on Mars may have flowed for a billion years longer than thought

 Posted on April 25, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  436 words  |  Patria Henriques

Observations by a long-running Mars(opens in new tab) mission suggest that liquid water may have flowed on the Red Planet as little as 2 billion years ago, much later than scientists once thought. Scientists charted the presence of chloride salt deposits left behind by flowing water using years of data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter(opens in new tab) (MRO), which has been orbiting the Red Planet since 2006.  By studying dozens of images of salt deposits taken by the spacecraft's Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), the scientists interpreted a younger age for the salt deposits using a method " [Read More]

What is bone density?

 Posted on April 25, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  957 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

What is bone density? Put simply, it is a metric used to measure the strength of your bones – and a helpful method of assessing the potential risk of osteoporosis, a condition that weakens bones and makes them more liable to break. Bone osteogenesis – the strengthening and development of our bones – is a desirable outcome, regardless of age and physical condition, as it is critical in maintaining a functioning skeletal system. [Read More]

Baby dinosaurs hatched in the Arctic 70 million years ago

 Posted on April 24, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  1014 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Baby dinosaurs toddled around the chilly region that is now the Alaskan Arctic about 70 million years ago, according to the "unexpected" discovery of more than 100 baby dinosaur bones and teeth there, a new study reports. It was surprising to find evidence of a prehistoric nursery in such a cold place, the researchers said. Even during the warm Cretaceous period (145 million to 66 million years ago), Alaska had an average monthly temperature of about 43 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius), and for about four months of the year, the dinosaurs would have lived in permanent darkness and dealt with snowy weather, they said. [Read More]

Bones of Neolithic immigrants killed in massacre found in Spanish cave

 Posted on April 24, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  795 words  |  Fernande Dalal

The bones of nine Neolithic people found in a cave in northern Spain suggest they were killed and then beaten after death, in a massacre that may have been caused by their migration into the region more than 7,000 years ago. Archaeologists say the vicious attack has the hallmarks of a "xenophobic" clash between enemy groups. The team found theskeletons inside the cave at Els Trocs, on a mountain slope in the Bisaurri region of the Spanish Pyrenees range of mountains. [Read More]

Fukushima's Radioactive Ocean Water Arrives At West Coast

 Posted on April 24, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  755 words  |  Trudie Dory

Radiation from Japan's leaking Fukushima nuclear power plant has reached waters offshore Canada, researchers said today at the annual American Geophysical Union's Ocean Sciences Meeting in Honolulu. Two radioactive cesium isotopes, cesium-134 and cesium-137, have been detected offshore of Vancouver, British Columbia, researchers said at a news conference. The detected concentrations are much lower than the Canadian safety limit for cesium levels in drinking water, said John Smith, a research scientist at Canada's Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. [Read More]

Heart Disease and Diabetes Risks Tied to Carbs, Not Fat, Study Finds

 Posted on April 24, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  840 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Is the pendulum swinging back? In what seems contrary to mainstream dietary advice, a small new study shows that doubling the saturated fat in a person's diet does not drive up the levels of saturated fat in the blood. Rather, the study found that it was the carbohydrates in people's diets that were linked with increased levels of a type of fatty acid linked to heart disease and type-2 diabetes. The results of the study, which followed 16 middle-aged, obese adults for 21 weeks, were published Nov. [Read More]