No Aliens, But Scientists Find More Evidence for Life on a Saturn Moon

 Posted on March 14, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  578 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Large, carbon-rich organic molecules seem to be spewing from cracks on the surface of Saturn's icy moon, Enceladus, according to a new study of data collected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The discovery means that Enceladus is the only place besides Earth known to satisfy all the requirements for life as we know it, space scientist and study co-author Christopher Glein said in a statement from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio. [Read More]

Scene of 1,500-Year-Old Massacre Uncovered in Sweden

 Posted on March 14, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  388 words  |  Trudie Dory

At the site of an ancient island fort in Sweden, archaeologists have uncovered the victims of a sudden massacre, whose bodies were frozen in time for centuries much like the victims of Pompeii. Researchers think hundreds of people once lived in single-family stone houses within the walled settlement on Öland, a long narrow island off the southeast coast of Sweden in the Baltic Sea. But the fifth-century fort seems to have been left in ruins after an ambush, recent excavations suggest. [Read More]

This Virus May Be Causing Mysterious Polio-Like Illness That's Paralyzing Some Children

 Posted on March 14, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  731 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

A mysterious polio-like illness that spiked in 2014, leading to paralysis in children across the U.S., may have divulged one of its secrets. Researchers have now found the most direct evidence to date of a viral culprit — the remnants of the immune cells that responded to the virus in the spinal fluid of patients.  Acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, is a rare disease of the nervous system that mostly develops in children. [Read More]

World's Smallest Snake Discovered on Barbados

 Posted on March 14, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  461 words  |  Patria Henriques

As slim as a spaghetti noodle and able to fit snugly on a U.S. quarter, a new species of snake has been found hiding out in a forest on Barbados. The reptilian runt is now the world's smallest snake. Blair Hedges, an evolutionary biologist at Penn State, discovered the snake, which just under four inches (10 cm) in length as an adult, in a fragment of forest on the eastern side of Barbados. [Read More]

Ancient 'Frankenstein' Bug Mixed Grasshopper, Wasp & Roach Parts

 Posted on March 13, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  443 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Scientists have recently discovered a mysterious, 100-million-year-old insect trapped in amber — and as far as anyone knows, it is unlike any other insect that has ever lived on Earth. The weird insect, called Aptenoperissus burmanicus, is a mash-up of many other creatures: It has the face of a wasp but no wings, the legs of a grasshopper, the antenna of an ant and the body of a cockroach. "When I first looked at this insect, I had no idea what it was," [Read More]

Ancient Egyptians Held Dwarves in High Esteem

 Posted on March 13, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  552 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Short stature didn't prevent dwarves in ancient Egyptian culture from attaining high positions in society. Some served as assistants to the pharaoh, while others were looked up to as gods. Chahira Kozma, a pediatrician at Georgetown University, examined remains and depictions of dwarves in ancient Egypt and concluded they were respected and that their disorder was not seen as a physical handicap. The study was detailed in a Dec. 27 online version of the American Journal of Medical Genetics. [Read More]

Dueling Skulls: Triceratops Controversy Continues

 Posted on March 13, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  575 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

The debate continues over how many species of horned dinosaurs existed. A new paper concludes that Triceratops and Torosaurus were different species and not, as previously argued, two different age ranges of the same species. Nicholas Longrich, a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University, says an analysis of 35 skulls and fossil distribution patterns provided signs that the Torosaurus was its own creature, and not simply the mature version of Triceratops. [Read More]

Great Molasses Flood of 1919: Why This Deluge of Goo Was So Deadly

 Posted on March 13, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  1049 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

A bubbling flood of molasses that sent a towering wave of goo down the streets of Boston in 1919, catching everything from horses to humans in its sticky grasp, killing 21 people, injuring 150 more and flattening buildings in its wake. Now, scientists have figured out why the deluge of viscous sweetener was so deadly. Cool temperatures may have caused the spilled molasses to flow more slowly, complicating attempts to rescue victims and to begin recovery and cleanup, researchers report in a new study. [Read More]

Is Digital Multitasking Good for Teens?

 Posted on March 13, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  357 words  |  Trudie Dory

The more time teens spend multitasking with various tech devices, the worse they tend to perform on academic tests, a small new study suggests. In the study, the researchers analyzed information from 73 eighth-grade students in Boston, who answered questions about how many hours per week they spent watching TV or videos, listening to music, playing video games, reading electronic media, talking on the phone, and text messaging. The teens were also asked how often they combined these activities, for example, by sending a text message while watching TV [Read More]

Is Global Warming Driving Polar Bears to Cannibalism?

 Posted on March 13, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  722 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Summer and fall are lean times for polar bears in the Arctic. In the colder months, they prey on seals, which sprawl on the sea ice that fringes the bears' terrain. But in the summer, much of this icy real estate melts away, and the seals take to the open seas or move north toward ice floes beyond the polar bears' reach. Left without their usual prey, the bears occasionally resort to a disturbing behavior: cannibalism. [Read More]