Glowing Millipedes Accidentally Found on Alcatraz
Posted on February 17, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 650 words
| Arica Deslauriers
A plan to eliminate rats on Alcatraz, home to the famous old prison in San Francisco Bay, led to the discovery of an unfamiliar glowing creature never before seen on the island.
In early 2012, National Park Service employees placed a non-toxic dye into food for rats to eat; the dye makes the animals excrete fluorescent droppings that glow under black lights, making it easier to track the rodents. A group of workers and volunteers from the UC Davis' entomology club canvassed the island using black lights to search for evidence of rats, which threaten populations of birds on the Rock.
[Read More]Here's Why It's So Hard to Maintain Weight Loss
Posted on February 17, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 587 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Keeping weight off after a diet is no easy feat, and most people who lose weight eventually gain at least some, if not all of it back. This isn't a matter of lack of willpower or effort, but of biology: To maintain weight loss, you are essentially fighting a system that's wired to re-gain lost pounds.
The biology of weight loss, and weight maintenance, is a complex process, but here's a simplified look at the changes that happen following weight loss that can make it all too easy to re-gain weight:
[Read More]Scan Your Brain at Home With New Device
Posted on February 17, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 382 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Have you ever wondered about your brain activity during the course of the day? Science fiction writer Philip K. Dick certainly did; that's why he wrote about things like the cephalochromoscope, a consumer product that let you play games with your own brain patterns, in his 1977 book A Scanner Darkly.
Well, thanks to the hard-working folks at Hitachi, you can nowindulge your curiosity about your own brain patterns - for real.
[Read More]Should you take ibuprofen if you have COVID-19?
Posted on February 17, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 982 words
| Arica Deslauriers
When French Health Minister Olivier Véran warned COVID-19 patients to avoid taking anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen or cortisone, the statement ignited a discussion among experts and a slew of questions from the general public.
If you have a fever, take paracetamol, the health minister said (Paracetamol and Tylenol are both brand names for a drug called acetaminophen). But do such anti-inflammatory drugs actually exacerbate COVID-19? Experts say there's not enough data to say.
[Read More]Stunning hoard of Bronze Age jewelry discovered by local hiker in Sweden
Posted on February 17, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 761 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
A Bronze Age hoard brimming with fine jewelry was discovered in Sweden in early April, when a local man investigated what he thought was a piece of scrap metal sticking out from under a pile of rocks in a hilly, wooded area.
Tomas Karlsson was doing an outdoor navigation activity called orienteering when he uncovered the stash, located just outside of the municipality of Alingsås in southern Sweden. He quickly realized that the metal wasn't scrap — it was ancient bronze jewelry that had since turned green.
[Read More]The Microbes in Your Gut May be Making You Fat
Posted on February 17, 2023
| 8 minutes
| 1617 words
| Patria Henriques
Freelance writer Marlene Cimons is a former Washington reporter for the Los Angeles Times who specializes in science and medicine. She writes regularly for the National Science Foundation, Climate Nexus, Microbe Magazine, and the Washington Post health section, from which this article is adapted. Cimons contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
In 2008, Rob Knight fell ill while vacationing in Peru. Camping along the Inca Trail, he found himself with the usual traveler's symptoms, scrambling for the latrine in the middle of the night.
[Read More]Vintage Bling: Ancient Celts May Have Had Shiny Dental Implants
Posted on February 17, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 623 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Sparkly, gold grills aren't just for Flavor Flav; ancient Celts may have sought out flashy smiles as well. Archaeologists have unearthed a dental implant in a grave in France that dates to the third century B.C.
The implant — an iron pin that may have screwed into the gum to hold a decorative tooth in place — was found in the mouth of a skeleton in a Celtic burial site in La Chêne, France.
[Read More]What Triggers an Avalanche?
Posted on February 17, 2023
| 1 minutes
| 181 words
| Arica Deslauriers
The most common and deadly type of avalanche is called a "slab avalanche," in which a cohesive plate of snow shatters like a pane of glass and slides as a unit off the mountainside, according to the Utah Avalanche Center.
The event is typically triggered not by loud noise, as is sometimes believed, but when snow accumulates very rapidly. The sudden addition of weight can fracture a weak area below. The condition is sometimes a lot like snow sliding in slabs off the windshield of a car as the temperature warms up.
[Read More]Why We Fear Parenting
Posted on February 17, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 653 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Several years go during a "well child visit," a pediatric nurse asked me a question about my then 18-month-old daughter:
“How many words does she have?”
“I have no idea,” I responded, baffled by the question.
“We like them to have 15 words at this age,” she snipped, clearly disapproving of my failure to keep track of my daughter’s vocabulary.
“You should talk to her in more complex sentences,” she advised, assuming I would take her advice and initiate some decent conversations about black holes or the meaning of life with my toddler.
[Read More]Ancient Four-Legged Whale Swam Across Oceans, Walked Across Continents
Posted on February 16, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 568 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Picture an animal that looks like a mix between a rhino and a sea otter: It has a narrow head; a long, muscular tail; and four stocky legs with hoofed toes and webbed feet. A new study suggests that's more or less what the walking, swimming ancestors of modern-day whales looked like about 43 million years ago.
Researchers unearthed the well-preserved bones of an ancient four-legged whale on the coast of Peru, and they detailed their findings in a paper published today (April 4) in the journal Current Biology.
[Read More]