Herodotus lied about famous Greek battle against Carthage, new study finds

 Posted on April 12, 2023  |  7 minutes  |  1280 words  |  Patria Henriques

Herodotus(opens in new tab), the famed ancient Greek historian, lied about a pivotal battle between the Greeks and the Carthaginians, a new study finds.  In his magnum opus "The Histories," Herodotus detailed the First Battle of Himera on Sicily in 480 B.C. He wrote that when the "barbarian" Carthaginians attacked the Greek colony of Himera, a coalition of Greek allies from other Sicilian cities joined the fray, leading to a Greek victory. [Read More]

Less Than Half of Americans Think People Are Born Gay, Poll Shows

 Posted on April 12, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  518 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Same-sex marriage has been rapidly gaining support in the United States, and yet Americans have been divided for the last decade on whether they think people can be born gay, a new Gallup poll shows. Forty-two percent of Americans say people can be born gay, down slightly from 2013, when 47 percent said the same, the survey found. Meanwhile, more than a third of Americans (37 percent) attribute homosexuality to external factors, such as a person's upbringing and environment. [Read More]

Low-Fat vs. Low-Carb Diets: Which Trims More Fat?

 Posted on April 12, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  559 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Following a low-fat diet may help dieters lose more body fat than following a low-carb diet, according to a new study. Researchers found that people in the study lost 3.1 ounces (89 grams) of fat per day, on average, when they followed a low-fat diet for six days. In comparison, the same people lost 1.9 ounces (53 grams) of fat per day while following a low-carb diet for the same amount of time. [Read More]

Normal or Not? A Sexual Attraction to Objects

 Posted on April 12, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  462 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Editor's Note: With the release of the latest edition of the mental-health manual, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM), LiveScience takes a close look at some of the disorders it defines. This series asks the fundamental question: What is normal, and what is not? Many people would consider a sexual attraction to objects, such as shoes or underwear, abnormal or unnatural. But is it a mental illness? [Read More]

Plastic in Birds' Stomachs Reveals Ocean's Garbage Problem

 Posted on April 12, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  371 words  |  Patria Henriques

Plastic found in the stomachs of dead seabirds suggests the Pacific Ocean off the northwest coast of North America is more polluted than was realized. The birds, called northern fulmars, feed exclusively at sea. Plastic remains in their stomachs for long periods. Researchers have for several decades examined stomach contents of fulmars, and in new study they tallied the plastic products in dead fulmars that had washed up on the coasts of Washington, Oregon and British Columbia, Canada. [Read More]

Scientists Want to Use Lasers to Guide Aliens to Earth. What Could Go Wrong??

 Posted on April 12, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  703 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

We could build a laser that could send signals to extraterrestrial intelligence. Not we as in the staff of Live Science. (That's probably beyond our skill set.) But we as in humanity. A new paper published yesterday (Nov. 5) in The Astrophysical Journal has found that humanity could feasibly build an infrared laser hot and bright enough that — if we shined it directly at nearby exoplanets — alien astronomers should be able to detect it using sky-watching technology not too much more advanced than our own. [Read More]

SpaceX's Crew-1 astronauts break 47-year US space record

 Posted on April 12, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  329 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Four astronauts living aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have broken a 47-year-old record after spending the longest time in space by a crew launched from U.S. soil. The astronauts, collectively known as Crew-1 — Michael Hopkins, Shannon Walker and Victor Glover of NASA and Soichi Noguchi of the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) — were also the first full mission crew to be transported into orbit by a private company. (A smaller demonstration mission to the ISS, crewed by just two astronauts who stayed in space for a short while, preceded Crew-1 by several months. [Read More]

Spicy Foods Trick the Brain to Use Less Salt

 Posted on April 12, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  673 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Fans of spicy foods might be doing their hearts a favor by adding more heat to their meals, a new study from China suggests. Researchers found that people in China who enjoyed spicy foods the most tended to eat less salt and have lower blood pressure than those who enjoyed spicy foods the least, according to the study. And the link between spicy and salty foods could be traced all the way to the brain. [Read More]

This Ancient Belt Buckle Retrieved from ‘Russian Atlantis’ Looks Like a Bedazzled iPhone Case

 Posted on April 12, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  585 words  |  Patria Henriques

From the depths of Russia's "Atlantis" — a famed archaeological site in southern Siberia that lies underwater for most of the year — archaeologists emerged with what looks like a like a jewel-studded case for an iPhone. But the black rectangle, which measures about 7 inches (18 centimeters) long and around 4 inches (9 cm) wide, is no electronics accessory; it's an ancient belt buckle made of jet — a gemstone made from pressurized wood — inlaid with small beads of mother-of-pearl, carnelian and turquoise, The Siberian Times reported. [Read More]

This Crafty Spider Doesn't Have Venom...But It Does Have a 'Slingshot'

 Posted on April 12, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  687 words  |  Trudie Dory

Does the idea of a spider using its web to catapult itself at high speeds give you the willies? Then be forewarned: the triangle weaver spider (Hyptiotes cavatus) does just that. Which makes it the only known creature, besides humans, to employ a strategy known as "external power amplification, a new study finds. The concept of external power amplification is simple. Basically, an animal uses an external device (in this case, the spider's web) to store energy, like a person storing energy in a bow with a pulled-back arrow. [Read More]