Depression Linked with Sleep Breathing Problems, Study Finds
Posted on March 28, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 545 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Experiencing breathing problems during sleep may raise your risk of depression, a new study suggests.
Women with sleep apnea, in which breathing becomes shallow or pauses briefly during sleep, were 5.2 times as likely to have depression compared with women without the condition. Men with sleep apnea were 2.4 times as likely to have depression as men without the condition, according to the study from researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
[Read More]Einstein in Love: Letters Illuminate Genius' Dark Side
Posted on March 28, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 547 words
| Fernande Dalal
NEW YORK — Albert Einstein's genius did not extend to his own love life, which was full of messy affairs, bumpy marriages and bitter endings, as judged by his letters to the women in his life.
A reading of the letters written by Einstein to his wives and other women brought the strange, complicated life of the world's most famous scientist to the stage in Alan Alda's play "Dear Albert,"
[Read More]From American Cockroaches to Zebras, New Book Answers 'Does It Fart?'
Posted on March 28, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 1012 words
| Patria Henriques
Dani Rabaiotti didn't expect to become something of an expert on animal farts. It all started on a family vacation when the zoologist's brother asked her if snakes farted. She realized she had no idea. But through a close community of animal researchers on Twitter, she knew someone who did.
When she asked David Steen, a wildlife ecologist and snake expert at Auburn University in Alabama, his tweeted response was a beleaguered "
[Read More]Green Roofs Curb Global Warming, Study Finds
Posted on March 28, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 515 words
| Patria Henriques
Editor's Note: This occasional series looks at powerful ideas — some existing, some futuristic — for fueling and electrifying modern life.
Rooftops covered with plants — logically dubbed “green roofs” — could help fight global warming, scientists now suggest.
Green roofs are growing more popular in cities, with the number of green roofs increasing by more than 35 percent from 2007 to 2008 in the United States, representing more than 3.
[Read More]Greenland ice melt is changing the shape of its coastline
Posted on March 28, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 555 words
| Fernande Dalal
Rapid melt is reshaping coastal Greenland, potentially altering the human and animal ecosystems along the country's coast.
New research published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface on Oct. 27 finds that the ice retreat in Greenland has changed the way glaciers flow and where they dump into the sea. These changes could impact ice loss from Greenland in the future, the researchers wrote.
Recent studies have shown that Greenland is losing 500 gigatons of ice each year, more than can be replenished by new snowfall.
[Read More]How to Tell If Conspiracy Theories Are Real: Here's the Math
Posted on March 28, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 850 words
| Fernande Dalal
A faked moon landing or a hidden cure for cancer are just a couple of large-scale conspiracies that, if true, would have come to light within five years following their alleged cover-ups, according to a mathematical formula put together by one physicist.
David Robert Grimes, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Oxford who studies cancer, is familiar with conspiracy theorists. His mainstream writing for the likes of The Guardian and BBC News has included controversial topics that lend themselves to conspiracy theories, including homosexuality, climate change and water fluoridation.
[Read More]Images: A Ton of Cattle Bones
Posted on March 28, 2023
| 1 minutes
| 100 words
| Fernande Dalal
A Lot of BonesArchaeologists pulled a metric ton of cattle bones from an ancient Corinth theater, perhaps representing yearly feasts in the 4th and 5th centuries A.D.
Collected BonesTrash cans full of bones collected from the Corinth theater.
Cattle SkullA cattle skull found in the Corinth bone deposit. Most of the bones were from cows.
Cattle JawbonesCattle jawbones found in Corinth. Only about a tenth of the bones in the theater have been recovered.
[Read More]Imaginary numbers could be needed to describe reality, new studies find
Posted on March 28, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 846 words
| Patria Henriques
Imaginary numbers are necessary to accurately describe reality, two new studies have suggested.
Imaginary numbers are what you get when you take the square root of a negative number, and they have long been used in the most important equations of quantum mechanics, the branch of physics that describes the world of the very small. When you add imaginary numbers and real numbers, the two form complex numbers, which enable physicists to write out quantum equations in simple terms.
[Read More]Massive Japan Tsunami Topped 130 Feet
Posted on March 28, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 468 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Japan's massive tsunami on March 11 reached heights of up to 131 feet (40 meters), according to the latest data from Japan's Meteorological Agency.
That's the agency's best estimate, but the precise height will likely never be known because the earthquake and tsunami destroyed tide gauges and triggered blackouts and communication failures along the country's coast. The 131-foot tsunami was recorded in Miyako City in Iwate Prefecture, reported the Japan Broadcasting Corporation.
[Read More]New 'Artificial Synapses' Pave Way for Brain-Like Computers
Posted on March 28, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 893 words
| Arica Deslauriers
A brain-inspired computing component provides the most faithful emulation yet of connections among neurons in the human brain, researchers say.
The so-called memristor, an electrical component whose resistance relies on how much charge has passed through it in the past, mimics the way calcium ions behave at the junction between two neurons in the human brain, the study said. That junction is known as a synapse. The researchers said the new device could lead to significant advances in brain-inspired — or neuromorphic — computers, which could be much better at perceptual and learning tasks than traditional computers, as well as far more energy efficient.
[Read More]