Grisly Discovery: 9,000-Year-Old Decapitated Skull Covered in Amputated Hands
Posted on June 28, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 693 words
| Patria Henriques
Under limestone slabs in a cave in Brazil, scientists made a ghoulish new discovery: a decapitated skull covered in amputated hands.
These 9,000-year-old bones may be evidence of the oldest known case of ritual beheading in the New World, raising new questions as to how this grisly practice began in the Americas, the researchers said in a new study.
Decapitation was likely common in the New World, according to the scientists.
[Read More]Marijuana-Related ER Visits Spike Among Colorado Teens
Posted on June 28, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 419 words
| Trudie Dory
The number of marijuana-related ER visits made by teens and young adults more than quadrupled at one Colorado hospital after the state legalized the drug, a new report finds.
Researchers analyzed information from people ages 13 to 21 who visited the emergency room at Children's Hospital Colorado or one its satellite urgent-care centers between January 2005 and June 2015.
The investigators found that the number of yearly ER visits that involved teens and young adults who had recently used marijuana increased from 146 visits in 2005 to 639 visits in 2014.
[Read More]Men Who Delay Fatherhood May Extend Grandkids' Lives
Posted on June 28, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 663 words
| Arica Deslauriers
How old a man is when he has children may affect the lifespans of his grandchildren, a new study suggests.
Men in the study who were older when they had children tended to have kids and grandkids with longer telomeres — caps on the ends of chromosomes that protect the chromosomes from damage.
People with longer telomeres have been found to have a decreased risk of dying over a given time period, compared with people with shorter telomeres, and longer telomeres are thought to protect against aging, the researchers said.
[Read More]Nature's Wrath: The Most Dangerous U.S. Cities
Posted on June 28, 2023
| 1 minutes
| 199 words
| Patria Henriques
Mother Nature has various ways of reminding us who is in charge. The particular threats and the extent of risk vary greatly based on where you live [See Top 10 US Threats].
While there is no easy way to gauge overall risk of disaster, researchers love to try. One recent study found that in general, the world's population is migrating to coastal areas, where the threat of hurricanes and flooding from rising seas are now well known.
[Read More]Nope, Women's Cycles Don't Make Them Crave Macho Men
Posted on June 28, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 971 words
| Arica Deslauriers
What do women want? According to one long-held psychology hypothesis, the answer to that question depends on when in her menstrual cycle you ask her: When she's not fertile, she wants a nurturing homebody. When she's ovulating, she wants He-Man.
Now, new research — available on the preprint website PsyArXiv but not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal— casts doubt on this "ovulatory-cycle-shift" hypothesis. Heterosexual women aren't especially drawn to masculine hardbodies when they're fertile, the study finds.
[Read More]Really Micro Machines: Molecular Cars Prep for First-Ever Race
Posted on June 28, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 715 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Tiny vehicles made from a single molecule will go head-to-head in the first ever NanoCar Race tomorrow (April 28), and the competition will be broadcast live on YouTube.
The race is made possible by a one-of-a-kind scanning tunneling microscope (STM) at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Toulouse, France, that lets four users manipulate molecules on the same surface simultaneously. Four independently operated ultrafine metallic tips deliver electrical pulses that will propel the so-called "
[Read More]Shark Bay Bloodbath: 70 Sharks Devour a Humpback Whale
Posted on June 28, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 372 words
| Arica Deslauriers
On May 20, tourists on an Australian cruise witnessed an incredible but gruesome sight: approximately 70 tiger sharks tearing apart the carcass of a humpback whale in Shark Bay.
The tour company, Eco Abrolhos, encountered the bloody scene during the fourth day of a 14-day cruise, as the group traveled near Steep Point, Dirk Hartog Island, according to a post on the company's Facebook page. They used an aerial drone to capture footage of the carnage and shared the video on Facebook, showing scores of tiger sharks circling and ripping into the dead whale, as clouds of gore stained the turquoise water.
[Read More]Sweet Therapy: Chocolate May Help Prevent Irregular Heartbeat
Posted on June 28, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 945 words
| Trudie Dory
Eating chocolate has been linked with a reduced risk of heart disease and stroke, and now a new study from Denmark suggests that regular consumption of the treat may help to prevent the development of atrial fibrillation, a type of irregular heartbeat.
Researchers found that adults in the study who ate chocolate at least once a month — or more frequently than that — had rates of atrial fibrillation that were 10 to 20 percent lower than those who ate chocolate less than once a month, according to the findings published today (May 23) in the journal Heart.
[Read More]Tetris Therapy: Game May Ease Traumatic Flashbacks
Posted on June 28, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 691 words
| Fernande Dalal
The video game Tetris may quell flashbacks of traumatic events in a way that other kinds of games can't, researchers have found.
The curious effect might have to do with how the shapes in the game compete with images of a traumatic scene when it comes to getting stored in one's memory.
Tetris, one of the most popular video games of all time, involves moving and rotating shapes falling down a playing field with the aim of creating horizontal lines of blocks without gaps.
[Read More]U.S. Considers 5 New Species for Endangered List
Posted on June 28, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 460 words
| Fernande Dalal
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released its most recent updates to the list of candidates being considered for protection under the Endangered Species Act.
With five new additions and one removal, there are now 251 species listed as candidates for protection under the Endangered Species Act.
The USFWS considers a plant or animal species a candidate if they have enough information on the organism's status and any threats facing its population to consider them threatened or endangered.
[Read More]