Beyond Birth Control: 5 Conditions 'The Pill' Can Help Treat
Posted on March 4, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 645 words
| Patria Henriques
New rules from the Trump administration issued on Friday (Oct. 6) allow some employers to opt out of covering birth control for their employees, if they have religious or moral objections to contraception.
The new rules will allow more companies to seek an exemption to the "Obamacare" requirement that employers cover contraceptive services. "This provides an exemption, a limited one, for those with religious or moral convictions implicated by the contraceptive mandate,"
[Read More]Confirmed: Earth Is Crushing the Ocean into Salty Diamonds
Posted on March 4, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 682 words
| Trudie Dory
It's been said that diamonds are forever — probably because "diamonds are billion-year-old mutant rocks exposed to many lifetimes of crushing pressures and scorching temperatures in Earth's deep mantle" doesn't have the same snappy ring to it.
Either way, it takes a long, long time for a chunk of carbon to crystallize into a sparkling diamond — so long, in fact, that scientists aren't positive how they're made. One popular theory maintains that many diamonds form when slabs of seabed (part of an oceanic plate) grind underneath continental plates at so-called tectonic subduction zones.
[Read More]Does coronavirus linger in the body?
Posted on March 4, 2023
| 6 minutes
| 1130 words
| Patria Henriques
As millions of people are recovering from COVID-19, an unanswered question is the extent to which the virus can "hide out" in seemingly recovered individuals. If it does, could this explain some of the lingering symptoms of COVID-19 or pose a risk for transmission of infection to others even after recovery?
I am a physician-scientist of infectious diseases at the University of Virginia, where I care for patients with infections and conduct research on COVID-19.
[Read More]Exquisitely-preserved wolf pup mummy discovered in Yukon permafrost
Posted on March 4, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 711 words
| Arica Deslauriers
A female wolf pup mummy, perfectly preserved as it remained locked in permafrost for 57,000 years, is finally giving up some of its secrets, including how the grey wolf died and ended up alone in the ice so long ago.
The mummified grey wolf (Canis lupus) was discovered by a gold miner excavating permafrost in Yukon, Canada, in July 2016, in the Klondike gold fields near Dawson City.
"She is the most complete wolf specimen ever found from the ice age,"
[Read More]Hidden baby Jesus revealed under Leonardo da Vinci’s 'Virgin of the Rocks'
Posted on March 4, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 444 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
The Leonardo da Vinci painting the "Virgin of the Rocks" was hiding another image beneath its surface: a winged baby Jesus, a new X-ray examination has revealed.
This isn't the first signal that the "Virgin of the Rocks" hid older sketches that might have led to a different masterpiece. A similar effort, using infrared light in August 2019, revealed a sketch of a different Virgin Mary posed higher in the frame, as Live Science previously reported.
[Read More]Is 'Fortnite' Sending Kids to Therapy?
Posted on March 4, 2023
| 6 minutes
| 1088 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Being a child psychologist and a father, Randy Kulman is no stranger to video games popular among kids. But a few months ago in his office, after four teenagers in a row mentioned "Fortnite," he started wondering if he was dealing with something new this time.
In the following weeks, more kids and their concerned parents proved his hunch, and so did the numbers. "Fortnite: Battle Royale" is indeed the most popular game in the world right now.
[Read More]Little-Known Disorder: People Can't Recognize Faces
Posted on March 4, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 873 words
| Trudie Dory
Some people can't remember names. Thomas Grüter can't hold onto a face. Instead, this medical doctor, who has what is called prosopagnosia, or face blindness, uses several tricks to avoid an embarrassing social gaffe.
"The first thing is I think, 'Who can I expect where?'" Grüter told LiveScience. For example, if a person is standing in Dr. Smith's office, it's safe to assume it's Dr. Smith. Grüter has also become an expert at recognizing voices.
[Read More]Probiotics May Help Reduce Blood Sugar Levels
Posted on March 4, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 726 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
NEW ORLEANS — The microbes that live in your gut may play a surprising role in your blood sugar levels, a small new study from Canada finds.
The study involved people who were following the DASH diet, which is recommended for people with high blood pressure. The people on this diet who also consumed probiotics, which are considered "good" bacteria, had a decrease in several measures of blood sugar levels over a three-month period, according to the findings.
[Read More]Rare Flesh-Eating Bacteria Invaded Woman's Eye Sockets
Posted on March 4, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 554 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
A woman developed an infection with "flesh-eating" bacteria in her eye sockets — a highly unusual place for the life-threatening infection to take hold, according to a new case report.
The 58-year-old woman went to the emergency room after she developed eye pain and swelling that had become progressively worse over five days, according to the report, published Nov. 7 in The Journal of Emergency Medicine.
An eye exam showed she had severe swelling around both her eye sockets as well as pus discharging from her eyes.
[Read More]Shady Science: How the Brain Remembers Colors
Posted on March 4, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 557 words
| Trudie Dory
When you bring home the wrong color of paint from the hardware store, it may not be your foggy memory at fault. A new study finds that while the human brain can distinguish between millions of colors, it has difficulty remembering specific shades.
For example, most people can easily tell the difference between azure, navy and ultramarine, but when it comes to remembering these shades, people tend to label them all as blue, the study found.
[Read More]