Laser-Blasted Plasma Is Cooler Than Deep Space...Literally
Posted on February 21, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 738 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Researchers who make the coldest plasmas in the universe just found a way to make them even colder — by blasting them with lasers.
The scientists cooled the plasma to around 50-thousandths of a degree above absolute zero, about 50 times colder than in deep space.
This chilly plasma could reveal how similar plasmas behave at the centers of white dwarf stars and deep in the core of gas planets like our cosmic neighbor, Jupiter, researchers reported in a new study.
[Read More]Medieval Graves Disturbed For Surprising Reasons?
Posted on February 21, 2023
| 6 minutes
| 1162 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Once laid to rest, the remains of many who died in medieval Europe were not left in peace. As much as 40 percent of graves from the mid-fifth to mid-eighth centuries appear to have been disturbed after burial.
Grave robbers, searching for wealth buried along with the dead, have frequently born the blame from archaeologists.
"This sort of behavior has always been described as grave robbery," said Edeltraud Aspöck, a postdoctoral researcher at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
[Read More]Mummy Mask May Reveal Oldest Known Gospel
Posted on February 21, 2023
| 6 minutes
| 1086 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
This story was updated at 9:54 a.m. ET on Feb. 9.
A text that may be the oldest copy of a gospel known to exist — a fragment of the Gospel of Mark that was written during the first century, before the year 90 — is set to be published.
At present, the oldest surviving copies of the gospel texts date to the second century (the years 101 to 200).
[Read More]Stephen Hawking Signed This Book Before His ALS Took Over. Now It's Up for Auction.
Posted on February 21, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 359 words
| Arica Deslauriers
A book that the late physicist Stephen Hawking signed in 1973, back when he was still able to hold a pen and scrawl out his autograph, is hitting the auction blocks.
Hawking, along with several of his colleagues, signed the book as a parting gift to one of their co-workers who was leaving his job as a computer operator at the Institute of Astronomy (IOA) at the University of Cambridge, in England.
[Read More]The Biggest and Weirdest Maars on Earth
Posted on February 21, 2023
| 6 minutes
| 1081 words
| Arica Deslauriers
In Alaska, where the winter runs colder, the sun shines longer and the mountains rise taller than any other state, the Land of the Midnight Sun can claim another superlative: The biggest and strangest maars ever found on Earth.
Maars are craters left behind after violent volcanic steam explosions, sparked when rising magma runs into groundwater, which then blows up like a bomb.
"When water turns to steam, it expands its volume by 1,000 times,"
[Read More]Totally Active: Eclipse Photos Reveal Sunspots, Solar Flares
Posted on February 21, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 509 words
| Trudie Dory
The sun put on quite a show on Aug. 21 — and not just the "total solar eclipse" kind. Photos snapped from the path of totality during the solar eclipse reveal a flurry of activity, ranging from sunspots to solar flares, on Earth's closest star.
The shots were taken by amateur photographer (and this writer's father-in-law) John Mitchell from the path of totality just south of Thermopolis, Wyoming. In the early stage of the partial eclipse, Mitchell captured a series of dark smudges on the face of the sun.
[Read More]Ancient Roman Jar Riddled with Mystery
Posted on February 20, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 686 words
| Fernande Dalal
An ancient clay vessel reconstructed from pieces discovered at a Canadian museum is riddled with tiny holes, leaving archaeologists baffled over what it was used for.
The jar, just 16 inches (40 centimeters) tall and dating back about 1,800 years, was found shattered into an unrecognizable 180 pieces in a storage room at the Museum of Ontario Archaeology. But even after it was restored, the scientists were faced with a mystery.
[Read More]Are You a Night Owl? It May Be a Gene Mutation
Posted on February 20, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 890 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Do you get your best work done late at night and then struggle to wake up in the morning? New research suggests your night owl tendencies could be hard-wired in your genes.
In the new study, researchers looked at 70 people from six families and found that a mutation in a gene called CRY1 was common among those who have a condition known as delayed sleep phase disorder (DSPD). In people with this condition, the circadian clock runs behind, so they wake up later than normal, and go to bed later than normal.
[Read More]Bone Fracture Risk Rises with Taking Anti-Epileptic Drugs
Posted on February 20, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 385 words
| Patria Henriques
Taking most anti-epileptic drugs raises the increased risk of breaking a bone in individuals 50 years of age and older, according to a new study.
The results show that the likelihood of fractures was highest for people taking phenytoin, which was followed by carbamazepine. Phenobarbital, gabapentin and clonazepam also ranked highly. The only anti-epileptic drug not associated with an increased likelihood of fracture was valproic acid, according to a statement released by the University of Calgary in Alberta.
[Read More]COVID nightmares are becoming frighteningly common
Posted on February 20, 2023
| 6 minutes
| 1173 words
| Patria Henriques
Having nightmares about being stuck maskless in a crowd or coming down with COVID-19? You're not alone.
A suite of new studies finds that pandemic dreams are remarkably common across multiple countries. People in Finland, Italy, the U.S., Canada and elsewhere around the world report many of the same themes, from dreams about becoming infected to anxiety dreams about social distancing. Some of the examples are metaphorical, such as a cluster of dreams about being attacked by bugs.
[Read More]