Humpback whale charges swimmers in Australia, sends two to hospital
Posted on April 14, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 341 words
| Fernande Dalal
Two snorkelers were hospitalized after being smacked by the fins of an angry mama humpback whale off the coast of Australia, news outlets reported on Tuesday (Aug. 4).
The snorkelers were swimming with a whale-watching tour group on Saturday (Aug. 1) near Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia. The reef is a hotspot for marine animal migrations, including elusivewhale sharks, which flock to the area every spring.
The snorkelers were watching a humpback whale mother and calf swim by when the mother began exhibiting defensive behaviors, Australian news sitePerth Now reported.
[Read More]Image Gallery: Great White Sharks
Posted on April 14, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 268 words
| Trudie Dory
Open WideAn intriguing (and terrifying) look inside the mouth of the great white shark.
Catch of the DayGreat white shark jumps well above the ocean waters to catch this fish.
Just Below You...A white shark swims up to the ocean surface.
Eye to EyeThe photographer Jeremy Stafford-Deitsch, who is devoted to educating the public about sharks and shark conservation provided this interesting fact: “At least 100,000,000 sharks are killed annually many to provide for the trade in shark fin soup…"
[Read More]Marijuana Use May Impair Your Coordination
Posted on April 14, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 743 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Smoking pot may impair your coordination and other motor skills, even when you're not high, a new review of studies finds.
In the review, researchers found that people who used marijuana had differences in brain areas called the corticostriatal networks compared with people who didn't use the drug. These areas are connected to motor learning and control, and can affect people's reaction time, memory, and the ability to switch between tasks, according to studies included in the review.
[Read More]New Zealand's Long-Lost Pink and White Terraces May Have Been Found
Posted on April 14, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 1025 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
The location of a long-lost natural wonder in New Zealand has been identified, thanks to an accidentally found diary of a 19th century geographer.
The so-called Pink and White Terraces on the shores of Lake Rotomahana on New Zealand's North Island used to attract scores of adventurous tourists in the late 19th century. The massive deposits of silica sediment created by upwelling geothermal hot springs were as large as a city block and as tall as an 8-story building.
[Read More]Remains of man who was 'vaporized' by Mount Vesuvius 2,000 years ago discovered
Posted on April 14, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 804 words
| Patria Henriques
The skeleton of a man killed by the deadly eruption of Mount Vesuvius almost 2,000 years ago has been unearthed from an ancient beach at Herculaneum — possibly as he ran in an attempt to escape the disaster.
The man was killed just steps from the sea in the ancient Roman town, which like Pompeii was destroyed by the colossal eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79.
Archaeologists think the man was running from the "
[Read More]See the Mysterious 'Bog People'
Posted on April 14, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 624 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The seven mummies on display at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History are nowhere near as famous as King Tut, but they are just as intriguing.
Take the 2,000-year-old body of a teenager, found in the Netherlands. Who was she? Who killed her and why? She certainly was killed; the remains of the cord used to strangle her are still visible around her neck, a century after she was found in a peat bog.
[Read More]Tectonic Plates’ Patterns Revealed
Posted on April 14, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 571 words
| Arica Deslauriers
The biggest jigsaw puzzle in the solar system has a split personality: The number and sizes of Earth's tectonic plates can flip, according to a new study.
Today, the pieces of Earth's broken shell are unequal in size. Of about 50 plates, a mere seven account for 94 percent of the surface. The biggest, the Africa and the Pacific plates, are antipodal, meaning they sit on opposite sides of the Earth.
[Read More]Uncanny Valley Watch: Making Android Faces
Posted on April 14, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 293 words
| Fernande Dalal
Can an android that looks convincingly happy or sad get beyond the creepiness of the "uncanny valley" trap? The FACE android's best efforts to imitate human expressions still leaves it floundering somewhere deep within the valley.
The idea of the uncanny valley coined by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori attempted to describe the uneasy or creepy sensation humans feel when seeing objects with incomplete human appearances or behaviors. An Italian team at the University of Pisa made the FACE humanoid robot to try mimicking realistic human facial expressions, according to New Scientist(opens in new tab).
[Read More]Underwater Eruption Strews Ocean Surface with Dead Fish
Posted on April 14, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 505 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
An underwater volcano that erupted near the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa is giving scientists a closer look at how ocean ecosystems could respond to climate change, from dying fish to adapting plankton.
The ecosystem responded much as the researchers would have expected to the high temperatures and changes in acidity caused by the uneasy volcano south of El Hierro island. But the strength of the response was a surprise, study researcher Eugenio Fraile-Nuez of the Instituto Español de Oceanografía in Spain told LiveScience.
[Read More]Why One Woman Mysteriously Started Hearing 'Divine' Voices
Posted on April 14, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 720 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
A 48-year-old woman in Switzerland stabbed herself several times in the chest, claiming she heard divine voices that instructed her to commit the act as a religious sacrifice, a recent report of the woman's case reveals.
But doctors suspect that these "heavenly" voices likely had an earthly cause; namely, a slow-growing brain tumor that could've caused the woman's religious delusions, according to the case report, which was published Nov. 14in the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry.
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