Is Mysterious Figure at Stanley Hotel a Ghost?

 Posted on April 21, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1081 words  |  Trudie Dory

A visitor to a famous—and famously haunted—hotel in Colorado claims to have captured a ghostly image. According to a CNN story, "Tourist Henry Yau recently took a picture at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, which appears to show two ghostly apparitions standing on a staircase. In the photo, a woman can be seen at the top of the stairs in a period outfit with a child beside her." The photo has gone viral, leaving many scratching their heads and others heading to the Stanley to see for themselves. [Read More]

Man survives attack by great white shark off California beach

 Posted on April 21, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  425 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

A 6- to 8-foot-long great white shark bit the right leg of a 35-year-old man body-boarding off Grey Whale Cove State Beach in San Mateo County, California, Saturday (June 26) morning. Though the bite was "severe," the man was able to make his way to shore, Bay Area news site SFist reported. There, a fisherman named Thomas Masotta heard the injured man calling for help; Masotta made a tourniquet with straps from his backpack and then called the authorities, Tracking Sharks reported. [Read More]

New Advice: Don't Sit Up Straight

 Posted on April 21, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  394 words  |  Fernande Dalal

The longstanding advice to "sit up straight" has been turned on its head by a new study that suggests leaning back is a much better posture. Researchers analyzed different postures and concluded that the strain of sitting upright for long hours is a perpetrator of chronic back problems. Using a new form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), researchers studied 22 volunteers with no back pain history. The subjects assumed three different positions: slouching; sitting up straight at 90 degrees; and sitting back with a 135-degree posture—all while their spines were scanned. [Read More]

Oldest Crystals on Earth Originated in Asteroid Craters

 Posted on April 21, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  411 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

The oldest pieces of rock on Earth, zircon crystals, may have formed in craters left by asteroid impacts early in the planet's life. Zircon crystals are more than 4 billion years old. Since the Earth itself is just over 4.5 billion years old, these ancient crystals can offer insight into the planet's history. Fifteen years ago, the crystals first made headlines, when research into the rocks' formation revealed the presence of water on Earth's surface soon after the planet formed. [Read More]

Spherical Drone Display Looks Like 360-Degree Flying Screen

 Posted on April 21, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  290 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Forget plane-pulled banners ― there may be a new way to advertise in the sky. The Japanese telecom company NTT DOCOMO recently revealed what it claims is the "world's first spherical drone display." Although it appears to be a solid, globe-shaped screen while in flight, the display is actually an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, or drone) inside a spherical frame with curved LED strips. The LEDs spin rapidly during flight, creating the illusion of a spherical screen. [Read More]

Staying Well: A Guide to Flu Season When You're Pregnant

 Posted on April 21, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1276 words  |  Trudie Dory

During pregnancy, coming down with the flu is riskier than usual. During the 2009 outbreak of H1N1 influenza, for example, pregnant women made up 5 percent of all U.S. deaths due to the virus, despite constituting only about 1 percent of the population at the time. The risk is greater as pregnancy continues, according to a 2010 paper in the journal JAMA, which found that, of the 56 deaths among pregnant women in the epidemic, 36 of those deaths (64. [Read More]

Sumerian Beer May Have Been Alcohol-Free

 Posted on April 21, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  463 words  |  Fernande Dalal

The fermented cereal beverage enjoyed by Sumerians, so-called Sumerian beer, may have been alcohol-free, suggests a recent review of ancient Sumerian practices. While ancient writings and vessel remnants show that Mesopotamia's inhabitants were fond of fermented cereal juice, how the brew was actually made is still a mystery. To investigate the brewing technologies of Mesopotamia, the late Peter Damerow, a historian of science and cuneiform-writing scholar at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, reviewed archaeological finds of ancient beer production and consumption, as well as 4000-year-old cuneiform writings, which included Sumerian administrative documents and literary texts dealing with myths and legislation. [Read More]

The Tastiest Sausages Bring Their Own Microbes to the Party

 Posted on April 21, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  683 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Scientists in Italy have crafted a recipe for tastier sausage — and the secret ingredient is the microbes found in meat, according to a new study. Many types of sausages are made with the aid of bacterial fermentation, a process in which microbes convert the sugars in food into other compounds such as acids, gases and alcohols, giving the meat its unique flavor. In the new study, researchers found that using bacteria naturally found in sausage — a process known as spontaneous fermentation — rather than adding commercially available bacteria to the meat can greatly improve the taste and smell of sausage and other processed meats. [Read More]

Traffic Makes Grasshoppers Sing Higher, Louder

 Posted on April 21, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  354 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

City-dwelling male grasshoppers sing louder and at a higher pitch than their country kin so that their females can hear them over the din of traffic, suggests the first study to examine the effect of urban noise on insect song. Ulrike Lampe and her colleagues from Bielefeld University in Germany caught 188 male bow-winged grasshoppers in the northwest of the country, half from the sleepy countryside and the other half from bustling roadsides. [Read More]

Wingsuit Pilot Crashes Into Africa's Table Mountain

 Posted on April 21, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  349 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Professional BASE jumper Jeb Corliss is being treated for two broken legs and an injured neck after he crashed into South Africa's Table Mountain yesterday (Jan. 16). Corliss, a 35-year-old American, was in Table Mountain National Park for a wingsuit gliding stunt. He jumped from a 197-foot-high (60 meters) cliff, but he clipped the side of the mountain on his way down. Corliss released his emergency chute but crashed onto a hiking trail near the base. [Read More]