Polar Bears Now Eat Dolphins, Thanks to Global Warming

 Posted on April 11, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  712 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Faced with a rapidly changing habitat, polar bears are adapting with a new entrée: For the first time, a polar bear was seen preying on a white-beaked dolphin carcass that had been trapped in the ice in Svalbard, a group of Norwegian islands in the Arctic Ocean. In April 2014, a male polar bear with a full belly was spotted near a recently devoured white-beaked dolphin, which could have weighed 120 to 680 lbs. [Read More]

Raccoon Toilets Sanitary for Critters, Deadly for Humans

 Posted on April 11, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  598 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Raccoons create latrines, particular locations that visit they repeatedly. While this practice may be sanitary for the animals, humans – particularly small children prone to putting strange objects in their mouths – can contract a deadly, parasitic roundworm when they encounter these animal outhouses. However, recent research may have struck upon a prevention strategy. The study found that sterilizing these latrines and leaving out medicated bait for the raccoons – as is done to control rabies – can reduce the presence of the parasite. [Read More]

Roman Emperor Hadrian's Villa Brought to Life with Gaming Software

 Posted on April 11, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  900 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

In ruins today, Hadrian's Villa can only hint at its second-century glory. But a new digital archaeology project promises to transport computer users to the Roman emperor's opulent compound as it might have been nearly 2,000 years ago. Five years in the making, the Digital Hadrian's Villa Project brings to life all 250 acres (101 hectares) of the estate in Tivoli, Italy, through 3D reconstructions and gaming software. The project launched Friday (Nov. [Read More]

Science Fiction or Fact: Could a 'Robopocalypse' Wipe Out Humans?

 Posted on April 11, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  1023 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

In this weekly series, Life's Little Mysteries explores the plausibility of popular sci-fi concepts. Warning: Some spoilers ahead! If a bunch of sci-fi flicks have it right, a war pitting humanity against machines will someday destroy civilization. Two popular movie series based on such a "robopocalypse," the "Terminator" and "Matrix" franchises, are among those that suggest granting greater autonomy to artificially intelligent machines will end up dooming our species. (Only temporarily, of course, thanks to John Connor and Neo. [Read More]

Scientists discover on-off switch for bacteria that breathe electricity

 Posted on April 11, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1178 words  |  Patria Henriques

Deep beneath the seabed, teensy bacteria "exhale" electricity through long, skinny snorkels, and now, scientists have discovered how to switch these microbes' electric breath on and off.      These bizarre bacteria rely on two proteins, which band together in a single hair-like structure called a pilus, the researchers reported in a new study, published Wednesday (Sept. 1) in the journal Nature(opens in new tab). Many of these pili lie just beneath the bacterial membrane and help push the snorkels out of the cell and into the surrounding environment, thus allowing the microbe to breathe. [Read More]

Some Crabs Crabbier Than Others

 Posted on April 11, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  411 words  |  Patria Henriques

Is one crab more crabby than another? It could be true. Crabs apparently can have different personalities from one another, the first discovery of personality in crustaceans. People consistently differ from one another in behavior, differences known as personalities. The same is known to hold true in many other animals, such as dogs or cats. The vast majority of investigations of animal personality focus on animals with backbones. Although there is no reason in theory why personalities should not also exist in creatures without backbones, " [Read More]

Surprising Pollution Problem: Too Many Trees (Op-Ed)

 Posted on April 11, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  788 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Jamie Workman, writer for the Environmental Defense Fund, contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Back in 1981, President Ronald Reagan caused an uproar when he warned that trees "cause more pollution than automobiles do." Go ahead, snicker. I sure did. But recently I discovered that he was actually right (albeit for all the wrong reasons). Today, our Western forests — from the Rockies to the mountains of the Sierra Nevada — are loaded with several billion excess trees. [Read More]

The Evolution of Anxiety

 Posted on April 11, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  560 words  |  Patria Henriques

I’m standing frozen in terror at the entrance of an amusement park, holding the hand of an excited child, and thinking, “No. No, No. I can’t go in here.” My kid unhooks her hand, wipes the sweat on her skirt, and says sweetly, “It will be OK, Mommy. You can pick the first ride because you’re so scared,” Alert as a rabbit in a hunter’s field, I scan a few rides and choose one designed to delight a 5-year-old. [Read More]

What Is Distilled Water?

 Posted on April 11, 2023  |  1 minutes  |  204 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Distilled water shares a supermarket shelf with filtered water and spring water; at home, it competes with tap water. But what makes distilled water different? People have produced distilled water since ancient times via distillation — the process of boiling water in a still, then collecting the condensed steam. Impurities get left behind when the water evaporates. This removes harmful microbes as well as harmless (and beneficial) minerals such as calcium and magnesium. [Read More]

'Gluten-Free' Probiotics Often Contain Gluten

 Posted on April 10, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  506 words  |  Patria Henriques

Many probiotic supplements contain small amounts of gluten, but whether such traces are harmful for people who can't eat gluten is still unknown, a new study finds. The researchers tested 22 popular probiotic supplements, most of which were labeled as "gluten free." More than half of these products (55 percent) had detectable levels of gluten, the researchers found. Probiotic supplements are pills that contain "good" bacteria, and are touted as helping to maintain a healthy digestive system. [Read More]