Loss of Arctic Ice Imperils Polar Bear Births
Posted on April 8, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 342 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Loss of Arctic sea ice is linked to a decrease in polar bear birth rates in Canada's Hudson Bay, according to new research. If the trend continues, the polar bears in the region could be facing a population crisis.
In fact, if climate change continues unabated, the researchers say, polar bear populations across the entire Arctic will be in serious trouble.
Polar bears rely on sea ice during their hunting season, using the solid floes to reach waters rich with seals — polar bears' main food source.
[Read More]Magic for Stroke Patients: The One-Sided Workout
Posted on April 8, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 676 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Stroke sufferers often face a long road to recovery, particularly when their damaged limbs are too weak to exercise. Such damage usually manifests itself laterally, with one side of the body more affected than the other.
But scientists at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, have found that strength training for stroke patients solely on their stronger side will somehow, almost magically, strengthen the weaker side.
They report on this advance in post-stroke recovery in the journal Experimental Brain Research.
[Read More]New Theory on Why Stonehenge Was Built
Posted on April 8, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 749 words
| Patria Henriques
Editor's Note: This story was updated April 24 at 10:20 a.m. ET.
A site near Stonehenge has revealed archaeological evidence that hunters lived just a mile from Stonehenge roughly 5,000 years prior to the construction of the first stones, new research suggests.
What's more, the site, which was occupied continuously for 3,000 years, had evidence of burning, thousands of flint tool fragments and bones of wild aurochs , a type of extinct giant cow.
[Read More]Scientists Freeze Water with Heat
Posted on April 8, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 370 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Imagine water freezing solid even as it's heating up. Such are the bizarre tricks scientists now find water is capable of.
Popular belief contends that water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius). Surprisingly, if water lies in a smooth bottle and is free of any dust, it can stay liquid down to minus 40 degrees F (minus 40 degrees C) in what's called "supercooled" form. The dust and rough surfaces that water is normally found in contact with in nature can serve as the kernels around which ice crystals form.
[Read More]Smarter Men Have More Sperm
Posted on April 8, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 360 words
| Trudie Dory
Women tend to like smart men because they're usually more successful and better providers. But here's another reason: Their sperm is better, a new study says.
Researchers at King's College London, the University of Delaware and the University of New Mexico recently compared results from five intelligence tests given to 425 Vietnam War vets in 1985 as part of the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention's Vietnam Experience Study. These vets, aged 31 to 44, also provided sperm samples, so the researchers analyzed the sperm per milliliter of semen, plus how many of the sperm swam normally, and other measures of sperm health.
[Read More]Sudden eruption from 'dead' sunspot could bring auroras as far south as New York
Posted on April 8, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 517 words
| Patria Henriques
Skywatchers, get set for a storm from the sun — and hopefully an ensuing display of the northern lights.
After a dead sunspot hurled a ball of plasma, or superheated gas, toward Earth(opens in new tab) earlier this week, medium-sized auroras may stretch farther south than usual as Earth's atmosphere(opens in new tab) absorbs the material.
A G2 geomagnetic storm watch will persist for Thursday (April 14), while a slightly milder G1 storm watch is forecast for Friday (April 15), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)(opens in new tab).
[Read More]Why Some People Crave More Salt
Posted on April 8, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 532 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Recent efforts to reduce salt content in foods might be harder for some to swallow — literally.
Some people experience the taste of salt more intensely than others, and this taste difference might be due, at least in part, to hereditary factors, a new study suggests.
So-called "supertasters" taste saltiness, bitterness and sweetness more acutely than others, said study researcher John Hayes, an assistant professor of food science at Penn State University.
[Read More]38 Baby Skulls of Weird Jurassic-Era Mammal Relative Found
Posted on April 7, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 673 words
| Arica Deslauriers
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — About 185 million years ago, a hairy, beagle-size animal celebrated motherhood by having 38 babies in the same clutch, according to a new study of the skeletal remains of both mama and babes.
The animal, known as Kayentatherium wellesi, wasn't quite a mammal, but rather a cynodont, a mammal relative that lived during the Jurassic period. And the prodigious number of babies she had is more than twice the average litter size of any mammal living today, meaning that K.
[Read More]Blood Cells Change Shape to Fit Through Tiny Vessels
Posted on April 7, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 273 words
| Trudie Dory
Human red blood cells rushing through the body to carry oxygen and carbon dioxide to and from the organs are forced to squeeze through smaller and smaller blood vessels. A new study has discovered how exactly the teeny hat-shaped cells deform themselves to fit through these micro-tunnels.
The research could help scientists better understand certain blood disorders like malaria and sickle cell anemia.
Blood cells must squeeze through the body's smallest blood vessels, called capillaries, to do their job, but capillaries often become narrower than the cells in their normal disc shape.
[Read More]Bone walls made of human limbs and skulls discovered under church in Belgium
Posted on April 7, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 664 words
| Patria Henriques
Archaeologists recently discovered walls built from a macabre material: human bones, including shattered skulls, while excavating the grounds of a church in Ghent, Belgium.
By the end of the excavation, archaeologists had uncovered nine walls, built mostly with adult thighs and shin bones. The intermediate zones were filled with skulls, many of them fragmented, according to Ruben Willaert, Restoration & Archeology / Decoration, the Dutch company that found the walls during an excavation ahead of construction for a new visitor's center at the cathedral.
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