Earth's Magnetic Field Nearly Disappeared 565 Million Years Ago
Posted on July 2, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 672 words
| Trudie Dory
Five hundred and sixty-five million years ago, Earth's magnetic field almost disappeared.
But a geological phenomenon might have saved it, a new study suggests. Earth's then-liquid core likely began to solidify around that time, which strengthened the field, the group reported yesterday (Jan. 28) in the journal Nature Geoscience(opens in new tab). This is important because the magnetic field protects our planet and its inhabitants from harmful radiation and solar winds — streams of plasma particles thrown our way by the sun.
[Read More]How Olympic Athletes Fare in Freezing Cold
Posted on July 2, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 710 words
| Fernande Dalal
Athletes at the 2018 Olympic Games are dealing with some bitter-cold temperatures — sometimes in the single digits Fahrenheit (below freezing Celsius) — as well as blustering wind gusts that make it feel even colder, according to news reports.
But does the chill affect athlete's performance?
Indeed, cold weather has a number of effects on the body that could result in reduced performance if athletes aren't prepared for it, experts told Live Science.
[Read More]Monster Mash: Protein Folding Gone Wrong
Posted on July 2, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 595 words
| Fernande Dalal
Imagine a 1950s horror movie monster — a creeping, gelatinous, gluey tangle of gunk that strangles everything around it. That's what amyloid plaques are like when they form in body tissues. These gooey protein clumps are associated with many chronic and debilitating disorders, including type 2 diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Huntington's.
Amyloid plaques were a mystery for many years. The German physician Alois Alzheimer first noticed them in the early 1900s in the brain of a deceased patient who had experienced a peculiar form of memory loss and mood swings — symptoms of the disease that now bears his name.
[Read More]New Kidney Stone Treatment Would Nudge Rather Than Blast
Posted on July 2, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 740 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Passing kidney stones is often described as the worst pain people have ever experienced. Even worse, about half of kidney stone sufferers will get another stone within the following five years. Worse still, it's often the initial treatment that leads to the subsequent stones.
But scientists are working on a new technique that could help prevent reoccurring kidney stones and maybe even get rid of smaller fragments before they become large and painful.
[Read More]Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded for 3D Images of Life's Molecules
Posted on July 2, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 309 words
| Trudie Dory
The 2017 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to three scientists for their work in producing 3D images of life's molecular machinery.
Because of the achievements of this year's laureates, Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson, scientists can now freeze biomolecules (such as proteins) mid-movement and image them at an atomic resolution, according to Nobelprize.org.
With this cryo-electron microscopy, researchers can "visualize processes they have never previously seen, which is decisive for both the basic understanding of life's chemistry and for the development of pharmaceuticals,"
[Read More]Pregnant Fossil Suggests Ancient 'Sea Monsters' Birthed Live Young
Posted on July 2, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 637 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
A giant marine reptile was likely ready for her baby shower about 78 million years ago when she died. The fossilized pregnant plesiosaur was carrying a large fetus when she was unearthed in Kentucky, the first expectant plesiosaur mom to be found since the species was discovered almost 200 years ago.
"This is the first known pregnant plesiosaur. It demonstrates that the plesiosaur gives live birth and did not crawl out on land [to lay eggs].
[Read More]Roadside C-Section Pulls a Live Fawn from a Dead Deer
Posted on July 2, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 415 words
| Arica Deslauriers
An Oklahoma wildlife official's quick thinking recently saved the life of an orphaned fawn: He performed emergency surgery to deliver the newborn deer after the deer's mother was struck and killed by a car.
The harrowing story was shared in a Facebook post yesterday (June 10) by the Oklahoma Game Wardens, part of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC). On June 9, game warden Ryan Walker responded to a call reporting a deer that had been killed by a vehicle on a state highway — with a young fawn seen nearby.
[Read More]Sumatran Tiger Cub Born at Sacramento Zoo
Posted on July 2, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 313 words
| Arica Deslauriers
What weighs 3 pounds, has its eyes closed and is striped?
A newborn male Sumatran tiger cub, born at the Sacramento Zoo on March 3, stands to be a boon for the critically endangered species.
The as-yet-unnamed cub was born to mom Bahagia at 2:55 a.m. and weighed 3 pounds (1.4 kilograms), a good size for a Sumatran tiger cub, which are usually only 2 pounds at birth. Both mother and baby tiger are in good health, the zoo noted in a release.
[Read More]The Science Behind Japan's Deadly Earthquake
Posted on July 2, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 653 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
The fifth largest earthquake ever recorded hit Japan today (March 11), sending huge tsunami waves crashing onshore and reportedly killing at least 300 people.
The 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck at 2:46 p.m. local time (12:46 a.m. EST), near Honshu, Japan, an island that is home to about 100 million people. The temblor was the fifth in the past two days to hit the region, and major aftershocks can be expected for months, possibly even a year.
[Read More]Watch This Squishy, See-Through Robot Grab a Live Goldfish
Posted on July 2, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 658 words
| Trudie Dory
Squishy, nearly transparent robots that flap, squeeze and kick when pumped with water could be the next underwater spies, at least when it comes to sneaking up on aquatic life.
In a robotic test, one of these jelly-like machines was quick enough to grab and release a goldfish, a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found.
The researchers, led by engineer Xuanhe Zhao and graduate student Hyunwoo Yuk, created a series of the transparent robots from a rubbery material called hydrogel, including a fin-like bot that can flap back and forth, a "
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