Photos: Viking warrior is actually a woman

 Posted on March 27, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  414 words  |  Trudie Dory

Warrior womanIn 2017, a group of researchers in Sweden did a genetic analysis on the bones of a warrior Viking, long assumed to be male. However, the results showed that the individual had XX chromosomes, revealing that the deceased was, in fact, a woman. There were so many questions about this discovery, that the researchers just published a new study that delved deeper into the finding. Here is an illustration of what the female warrior may have looked like. [Read More]

Rare 'Functional Amnesia' Gets 1st Comprehensive Study

 Posted on March 27, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  595 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Amnesia — the loss of memories, or the inability to form new ones — is typically triggered by damage to structures in the memory-forming part of the brain, called the limbic system. And it's usually associated with causes such as a severe blow to the head, oxygen deprivation, drug or alcohol abuse, or degenerative brain disease. However, there is another rare type of memory loss, called psychogenic amnesia, that appears independent of a brain disorder or injury and is linked to psychological factors. [Read More]

The Real Truth About Tornadoes (Op-Ed)

 Posted on March 27, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1114 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

This open letter was written by six, leading tornado experts from research institutions across the United States. Their brief bios follow below. The authors contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Twisters returned to the national spotlight after a Nov. 17 outbreak viciously tore through 12 states, leaving eight people dead. Research data show that climate change caused by human behavior is fueling more frequent and intense weather, such as extreme precipitation and heat waves — so it's only natural to wonder if this applies to tornadoes, too. [Read More]

To Keep AI from 'Eating a Table,' Scientists Make It Read Wikipedia

 Posted on March 27, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  631 words  |  Patria Henriques

Though artificial intelligence is often maligned by futurists and others as something to fear, what about the everyday, humdrum actions a robot may have to carry out, such as knowing you can put food on a table but you can't eat the table? Turns out, AI is not yet sophisticated enough to grasp some common-sense knowledge about how words, especially those for physical objects, interact with one another, a group of scientists says. [Read More]

What Causes Hiccups?

 Posted on March 27, 2023  |  1 minutes  |  160 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

A hiccup is a contraction of your diaphragm, the muscular membrane in your chest that figures importantly in breathing. Inhaling contracts the diaphragm and exhaling relaxes it. Hiccups are spasmodic, involuntary, and as useless as they are annoying. A post-Thanksgiving distended stomach can irritate the diaphragm and cause a fitful spell of hiccups. Exercise or stress can cause them as well. More often, though, the reflex has no apparent cause. [Read More]

Where to Spot UFOs (Infographic)

 Posted on March 27, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  434 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Seeking answers to unexplained observations would seem a part of the human DNA, with our search for the "God particle" and other truths motivating many a scientist. And while unexplained flying objects have no real science going for them, that hasn't stemmed any interest and want to believe in them. And while UFO sightings abound all year, apparently there was a spike this August 2011. In fact, for some states the number of UFO sightings doubled compared with normal. [Read More]

Which US Cities Are Most Vulnerable to Hurricanes?

 Posted on March 27, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  681 words  |  Trudie Dory

When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and other areas of the Gulf Coast five years ago this week, becoming the most economically destructive storm in history, it highlighted our vulnerability to the forces of Mother Nature. Today a number of U.S. cities remain vulnerable to a major hurricane due to their geography and geology. Here are some of the cities most at risk: 1. Gulf Coast cities, including Houston, New Orleans, Mobile, Ala. [Read More]

Why do people confess to crimes they didn't commit?

 Posted on March 27, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  981 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

The confession has been called the king of evidence, as good as a conviction. And so it seems incredulous that innocent people would incriminate themselves by confessing to something they didn't actually do.  But more than 300 men and women, after spending months, years, even decades in U.S. prisons, have been exonerated of crimes they originally confessed to during the past 60 years, according to the National Registry of Exonerations, a program run by the University of California, Irvine; the University of Michigan Law School and the Michigan State University College of Law . [Read More]

Best Disposal Method for Old Medications Found

 Posted on March 26, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  522 words  |  Trudie Dory

Placing those old unused prescriptions that have piled up in your medicine cabinet in the trash is the least harmful way to get rid of them, a new study suggests. Take-back and incineration programs are expensive, create emissions, and not many people know about them or use them, so that's not the best choice, the study found. And flushing old drugs down the toilet introduces harmful chemicals directly into the water supply and the environment. [Read More]

From 'Magic' Mushrooms to Meth: The ER Rates for Drug Users

 Posted on March 26, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  556 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Alcohol and marijuana may be the most commonly used recreational drugs in the world, but "magic" mushrooms appear to be the safest, a new survey finds. Of the more than 12,000 people surveyed worldwide who said they used magic mushrooms in 2016, just 0.2 percent said that they needed emergency medical treatment, according to the survey. At the opposite end, the drug that resulted in the most emergency medical treatments was methamphetamine: Nearly 5 percent of the 1,500 people who reported using it said they wound up needing treatment, the Global Drug Survey found. [Read More]