The Atkins Paradox: What Diet Studies Don't Reveal

 Posted on March 12, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  819 words  |  Trudie Dory

It's hard to keep a bad diet down. Doctors at Stanford University Medical School published a year-long study last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association comparing four popular diets, from low-carb to low-fat. Once again, the Atkins diet won. The news media loves good irony and thus provided pork rind lovers with more ammunition to combat all those wimpy salad eaters at work. The study calls to mind the words of the late Robert Atkins, the originator of the Atkins diet, who wondered sarcastically at what point he could say, " [Read More]

The BFR in Images: SpaceX's Giant Spaceship for Mars Colony & Beyond

 Posted on March 12, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  478 words  |  Trudie Dory

BFR in 2018SpaceX CEO Elon Musk unveiled this new rendering of the company's Big Falcon Rocket spacecraft ahead of the announcement Sept. 17, 2018 of the first passenger to fly a trip around the moon. The design shows many changes from the 2017 version seen in other images in this gallery. Notable differences include the three pronounced fins and a retractable forward wing. The BFR is Big!The BFR will be 387 feet (118 meters) tall, and it can carry payloads up to 100 metric tons all the way to the surface of Mars. [Read More]

This Ring Bears the Name of the Man Who Condemned Jesus to Death. Who Really Wore It?

 Posted on March 12, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  753 words  |  Fernande Dalal

A copper finger ring, dating back around 2,000 years, with an incised Greek inscription saying "of Pilatus" has been unearthed in the West Bank. The discovery of the ring has led to speculation that it may have belonged to Pontius Pilatus (also called Pontius Pilate), the Roman prefect of Judea between A.D. 26 and 36 who, according to the Bible, ordered the crucifixion of Jesus. However, a team of researchers who analyzed the ring say that it likely belonged to someone else and not to the infamous Roman prefect. [Read More]

Treasure in Great Pyramid Awaits Discovery, Egypt's 'Indiana Jones' Says

 Posted on March 12, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1126 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

TORONTO — Zahi Hawass is back. The famous, and at times controversial, Egyptologist is free of legal charges, free to travel and is launching a worldwide lecture tour with the aim of getting tourists back to Egypt, he told LiveScience in an interview. Hawass also said that he believes there are some fantastic discoveries waiting to be made, including more tombs in the Valley of the Kings and a secret burial chamber, containing treasure, which he believes to be inside the Great Pyramid built by the pharaoh Khufu (also known as Cheops). [Read More]

Whatever Happened to Nuclear Power?

 Posted on March 12, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  745 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Editor's Note: This article is part of an occasional LiveScience series about ideas to ease humanity's impact on the environment. At the turn of the millennium, nuclear power appeared to be on its way out, like land-line telephones. But the nukes industry appears to be in vogue again, thanks in large part to fears of climate change. "Global warming has definitely been a big help to us," said Don Hintz, president of the American Nuclear Society. [Read More]

Woman with Rare Condition Couldn’t Hear Male Voices

 Posted on March 12, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  626 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

A woman in China suddenly developed an unusual condition that made her unable to hear male voices. And while that might seem enviable to some, the hearing loss could carry serious medical repercussions. The woman, who is identified only by the surname Chen, visited a hospital after waking up one morning and being unable to hear her boyfriend's voice, Newsweek reportedyesterday (Jan. 10). Chen also told doctors that the night before, she experienced ringing in her ears (a condition known as tinnitus) followed by vomiting. [Read More]

'Explosive' photo captures 'otherworldly beauty' of spawning fish during a full moon

 Posted on March 11, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  435 words  |  Fernande Dalal

A striking photo capturing the "explosive creation of life" of spawning groupers beat more than 50,000 other photographs to win the grand prize at the 2021 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.  The underwater image, called "Creation," shows camouflage groupers (Epinephelus polyphekadion), a species vulnerable to extinction, emerging from a cloud of eggs and sperm in Fakarava, French Polynesia, in the South Pacific Ocean.  Laurent Ballesta, an underwater photographer and biologist, took the photo on a diving trip to the Fakarava lagoon to see the groupers' spawning event, which occurs in July each year around a full moon. [Read More]

7 Illusions That Blew Our Minds in 2018

 Posted on March 11, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  664 words  |  Fernande Dalal

It's extremely easy to trick our brains — and we are oddly delighted by it. But there's also a practical side to illusions, learning about where the brain gets confused can help us understand how it works to organize information in the first place. Sometimes, a few splashes of color arranged in a very specific way can scream "mistake" to the brain. In response, brain cells will begin to fire to " [Read More]

83 Gargantuan Black Holes Spotted Guzzling Down Dinner at the Edge of the Universe

 Posted on March 11, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  477 words  |  Patria Henriques

Astronomers have discovered 83 supermassive black holes birthed by the universe in its infancy. More precisely, the researchers have detected quasars, or huge, luminous disks of gases and dust that surround supermassive black holes. (The black holes themselves emit no light or energy, of course, though friction from the matter that swirls around and ultimately into a black hole's "mouth" does spit out immense light.) The quasars and their central black holes are 13 billion light-years away from Earth, meaning scientists are seeing the objects now as they appeared only 800 million years after the universe formed. [Read More]

Bee That Was Looking for Love Ends Up Wearing a 'Vest' of Parasitic Beetle Larvae

 Posted on March 11, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  631 words  |  Patria Henriques

At first glance, this bee appears to be wearing what looks like a shiny brown vest, wrapped around its fuzzy midriff. But closer inspection reveals that the bee is crawling with dozens of wriggling, worm-like brown bodies: larvae belonging to the blister beetle species Meloe franciscanus. The bee — a male — is the larvaes' first stop in a parasitic hitchhiking strategy that ultimately leads them right into the bees' homes. Once there, these uninvited guests eat the bees' stores of food. [Read More]