5 Strange Sightings in the Peruvian Amazon
Posted on February 23, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 495 words
| Patria Henriques
Deep in the Peruvian Amazon lurk strange creatures and unique animals and sights, including spiders that make large spider-shaped decoys in their webs, unusually hairy caterpillars and atmospheric specters called solar halos.
These amazing finds were spotted by Jeff Cremer, marketing director for Rainforest Expeditions, an ecotourism company that hosts guests in the Peruvian Amazon and organizes trips to the jungle, as well as Phil Torres, a collaborating biologist.
Here are five of the stunning sights Cremer and Torres have spotted:
[Read More]Amazon Sale: Best Force Friday II Deals You Can Buy Now
Posted on February 23, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 301 words
| Patria Henriques
Force Friday II is upon us and there's never been a better time to stock up on "Star Wars" toys and collectibles.
For the uninitiated, Force Friday is an annual, weekend-long celebration of all things "Star Wars." Think of it as the warm-up for the forthcoming release of the film "The Last Jedi," which hits theaters in December.
To celebrate the occasion, a storm of new "Star Wars" toys will hit retailers today and many older and current sets will also go on sale.
[Read More]Bed Bugs Resist Pesticides
Posted on February 23, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 951 words
| Patria Henriques
Bed bugs are back, as many urbanites know. And while exterminators usually can eliminate bed bugs, a study shows that some of the pesky insects are developing resistance to pesticides.
Bed bugs feed on human blood.
There are several kinds, but the one best adapted to U.S. homes and hotels is Cimex lectularius. Bed bugs hide in bed frames and mattresses typically. They feed about once every five to 10 days, and not just at night.
[Read More]Brain of Mysterious 'Little Foot' Human Relative Was Half-Man, Half-Ape
Posted on February 23, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 547 words
| Patria Henriques
The brain of one of the oldest Australopithecus individuals ever found was a little bit ape-like and a little bit human.
In a new study, researchers scanned the interior of a very rare, nearly complete skull of this ancient homininancestor. Hominins include modern and extinct humans and all their direct ancestors, including Australopithecus, which lived between about 4 million and 2 million years ago in Africa, and early humans of the genus Homo would eventually evolve from Australopithecus ancestors.
[Read More]Children's Bed-Wetting May Be Caused by Constipation
Posted on February 23, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 551 words
| Trudie Dory
Some children who wet their bed might be suffering from constipation, a new study finds.
Researchers examined 30 children and adolescents who were being treated for bed-wetting, and found some had rectums that were distended with stool, despite having normal bowel habits.
After treating the children with laxatives, 25 of the 30 participants did not wet their beds for the next three months.
"Kids are suffering for no reason," said lead author Dr.
[Read More]Dinosaur Blood Vessels Survived 80 Million Years Without Fossilizing
Posted on February 23, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 613 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Tiny, delicate vessels that carried blood through a duck-billed dinosaur 80 million years ago never fossilized and still contain the beast's tissue, a new study finds.
Researchers discovered the prize specimens on the femur (leg bone) of Brachylophosaurus canadensis, a 30-foot-long (9 meters) duck-billed dinosaur that was excavated in Montana in 2007. But it wasn't immediately clear whether the blood vessels were made of organic matter originally from the dinosaur, or whether they had been contaminated over the years and were now made of bacteria or other components.
[Read More]Dirty Truth: Humans Eat Dirt to Shield the Stomach
Posted on February 23, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 662 words
| Patria Henriques
If you crave a snack of dirt and clay, you may be pregnant. New research shows that eating dirt, also called geophagy, is most common during the early stages of pregnancy and in young children, where the clay has a soothing effect on the stomach and can protect the individual from viruses and bacteria.
"This clay can either bind to harmful things, like microbes, pathogens and viruses, that we are eating or can make a barrier, like a mud mask for our gut,"
[Read More]Dragonfly Shows Human-Like Power of Concentration
Posted on February 23, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 472 words
| Trudie Dory
Dragonflies lack humans' big brains, but they still get the job done, according to new research that suggests that these insects have brain cells capable of feats previously seen only in primates.
Specifically, the dragonflies can screen out useless visual information to focus on a target, a process called selective attention. The new study, published Dec. 20 in the journal Current Biology, is the first to find brain cells devoted to selective attention in an invertebrate animal.
[Read More]Eunuchs May Outlive Other Men
Posted on February 23, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 501 words
| Fernande Dalal
It's a life-extending strategy most men probably won't want to pursue, but new research suggests eunuchs live longer than non-castrated guys.
Historical Korean eunuchs — men who had their testicles removed in order to secure high positions in the palace hierarchy — outlived their non-castrated counterparts by as much as 20 years, the study finds. The results will be published tomorrow (Sept. 25) in the journal Current Biology.
In animals, castration tends to lengthen life span, likely because male sex hormones aren't great for the health.
[Read More]Famous T. rex had a bone infection, new medical scans reveal
Posted on February 23, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 714 words
| Trudie Dory
A Tyrannosaurus rex that perished some 68 million years ago was just diagnosed with a bone infection in its jaw, new research finds.
The T. rex fossil was originally discovered in 2010 by commercial paleontologist Craig Pfister, who excavated the bones from the Hell Creek Formation in Montana; the skeleton contains 170 jet black bones, including 50 skull bones, making it one of the most complete T. rex skeletons ever found.
[Read More]