Drivers on Cell Phones Kill Thousands, Snarl Traffic

 Posted on July 12, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  1055 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Finally, empirical proof you can blame chatty 20-somethings for stop-and-go traffic on the way to work. A new study confirms that the reaction time of cell phone users slows dramatically, increasing the risk of accidents and tying up traffic in general, and when young adults use cell phones while driving, they're as bad as sleepy septuagenarians. "If you put a 20-year-old driver behind the wheel with a cell phone, their reaction times are the same as a 70-year-old driver who is not using a cell phone," [Read More]

Giant Clams Fed Early Humans

 Posted on July 12, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  460 words  |  Trudie Dory

Giant clams two feet long might have helped feed prehistoric humans as they first migrated out of Africa, new research reveals. The species, Tridacna costata, once accounted for more than 80 percent of giant clams in the Red Sea, researcher now say. Today, these mollusks, the first new living species of giant clam found in two decades, represent less than 1 percent of giant clams living there. This novel clam, whose shell has a distinctive scalloped edge, was discovered while scientists were attempting to develop a breeding program for another giant clam species, Tridacna maxima, which is prized in the aquarium trade. [Read More]

How to Fight Viral Epidemics in the Future

 Posted on July 12, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  1002 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Emerging viral diseases are at the center of health news right now. The most significant of them, in terms of human cases and death toll, is the re-emergence of Ebola virus, which is causing the biggest outbreak of the disease in history. But there is also chikungunya fever, which appeared in the United States for the first time in July, and enterovirus D68, a previously rare disease causing an outbreak of respiratory illness among U. [Read More]

If the Falling Chinese Space Station Hits You, Is Anyone Liable?

 Posted on July 12, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  814 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

China's Tiangong-1 space station is expected to hit Earth sometime over Easter weekend, between March 30 and April 2, according to the European Space Agency's (ESA) Space Debris Office in Darmstadt, Germany. Authorities aren't sure where it will hit, except somewhere under the station's orbital path— between 43 degrees north and 43 degrees south latitudes. That orbital path includes the United States and most of the world's population. On the off chance a piece of Tiangong-1 hits you, is anyone liable? [Read More]

Images: Rare Footage of the Devastation of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

 Posted on July 12, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  221 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Devastation RevealedAt 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, one of the largest earthquakes in California history shook the city of San Francisco awake.Estimated to measure somewhere between magnitude 7.7 and 8.3, the quake destroyed thousands of homes, ignited some 30 fires and killed upwards of 700 people. This striking new footage recovered from a California flea market reveals the devastation — and perseverance — that arose in the aftermath. [Read the full story on the long-lost earthquake footage. [Read More]

Mount St. Helens Remains a Mystery 30 Years Later

 Posted on July 12, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  958 words  |  Fernande Dalal

The catastrophic eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980 transformed modern understanding of volcanoes. But scientists today still struggle to successfully tap the deepest secrets of the mountain's foulest moods. The 1980 outburst, a colossal event by modern volcano standards, killed 57 people as rocky debris, scalding hot steam and gas swept down the volcano's slope at more than 683 miles per hour (1,100 kilometers per hour) and reached temperatures of 572 degrees Fahrenheit. [Read More]

Olympics Wise Up On Gender Testing, Finally

 Posted on July 12, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  1025 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Alarms sounded last week when Beijing Olympics officials set up a gender-testing lab, as media reports claimed that female athletes might once again have to endure humiliating and potentially inconclusive tests to compete. Such fears have a basis in Olympics history, but could prove unfounded this time. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) now has gender testing labs ready only in the event of challenges to individual athletes by an official. [Read More]

Pot-Bellied Dinosaur Skeleton Found in Utah

 Posted on July 12, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  541 words  |  Trudie Dory

The most complete skeleton of a type of pot-bellied dinosaur, a therizinosaur, has been discovered in southern Utah. Such remains shed light on the evolution of leafy and meaty diets back in paleo times, suggesting that iconic predators like Velociraptor may have evolved from less fearsome plant-eating ancestors. The newly discovered dinosaur, dubbed Nothronychus graffami, lived some 93 million years ago. When alive, the animal would have stood at 13 feet (4 meters) and sported a beaked mouth and forelimbs tipped with 9 inch- (22 cm)-long sickle claws. [Read More]

Why Does Hair Turn Gray?

 Posted on July 12, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  277 words  |  Fernande Dalal

As people age, they are confronted with the prospect of life with gray hair. But why does hair turn gray? Each strand of your hair — most adults have more than 100,000 strands — is anchored to your scalp with a root. Just beneath the skin, the root is surrounded by a tube of tissue called a follicle. The follicles contain pigment cells, which produce melanin, the same chemical that make freckles or turns your skin a bronze color after a day in the sun. [Read More]