Your RNA May Have Come from Space, Meteor Study Suggests
Posted on February 15, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 649 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
A new study suggests that when some ancient meteorites crash-land on Earth, they bring a dash of extraterrestrial sugar with them.
To be clear, this is not table sugar (sadly, scientists still have no insight into whether aliens prefer their coffee black or sweetened). Rather, in the powdered samples of two ancient, carbon-filled meteorites, astronomers have found traces of several sugars that are key to life — including ribose, the sugary base of RNA (ribonucleic acid).
[Read More]11 Tips to Lower Stress
Posted on February 14, 2023
| 7 minutes
| 1354 words
| Trudie Dory
IntroEveryone feels stressed out sometimes, but if you don't keep your stress level in check, it could become overwhelming.
Studies have shown the benefits of lowering stress , and that high levels of worry and stress can negatively impact your health. In 2010, researchers at the University of Rochester School of Medicine found that people with higher job stress also had a higher body mass index (BMI) than employees with less stressful positions.
[Read More]15 incredible places on Earth that are frozen in time
Posted on February 14, 2023
| 9 minutes
| 1901 words
| Fernande Dalal
Where time stands stillThere are places in this world that never stop changing, like Rome — built on the ruins and debris of its previous iterations — or New York, with its ever-rising skyline.
And then there are places where time stands still. Whether frozen in time by natural disaster or simply left behind because no one cared to stay, these spots stand virtually undisturbed, encapsulating a moment of the past.
[Read More]3.7-Billion-Year-Old Rock May Hold Earth's Oldest Fossils
Posted on February 14, 2023
| 6 minutes
| 1105 words
| Trudie Dory
Tiny ripples of sediment on ancient seafloor, captured inside a 3.7-billion-year-old rock in Greenland, may be the oldest fossils of living organisms ever found on Earth, according to a new study.
The research, led by Allen Nutman, head of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Wollongong in Australia, described the discovery of what look like tiny waves, 0.4 to 1.5 inches (1 to 4 centimeters) high, frozen in a cross section of the surface of an outcrop of rock in the Isua Greenstone Belt in southwestern Greenland, a formation made up of what geologists regard as the oldest rocks on the Earth's surface.
[Read More]A Little Robotic Submarine Could Ply Alien Seas
Posted on February 14, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 810 words
| Trudie Dory
NASA is designing a robot submarine to explore the ultrachilly, hydrocarbon-filled seas on Saturn's moon Titan — the only body in the solar system, apart from Earth, with liquid on its surface. Researchers have been testing the probe with a bucket-sized mock alien ocean in a lab.
The seas of Titan are very different from their counterparts on Earth: instead of seawater, Titan's seas consist mainly of a frigid mixture of methane and ethane, at a temperature of around minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 184 degrees Celsius).
[Read More]Devious sperm 'poison' their rivals, forcing them to swim in circles until they die
Posted on February 14, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 520 words
| Trudie Dory
Some sperm cells are ruthless manipulators that will literally poison their competition in the race to fertilize an egg, new research shows.
In a study published Feb. 4 in the journalPLOS Genetics, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics (MPIMG) in Berlin studied mouse sperm cells under the microscope to better understand the effects of a particular DNA sequence known as the t-haplotype. The team knew from previous research that sperm cells carrying this sequence tend to swim straighter (rather than in circles of death) and faster on average than competing sperm without it.
[Read More]Egyptian mummy speaks again after 3,000 years
Posted on February 14, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 695 words
| Patria Henriques
The voice of an ancient Egyptian priest has been heard for the first time in more than 3,000 years, thanks to a detailed reconstruction of his vocal tract from his mummified remains.
The project researchers used interior medical scans of the famous mummy of Nesyamun — now resting in the Leeds City Museum in the United Kingdom — to create a digital, 3D model of the insides of the individual's throat and mouth, which were reproduced on a 3D printer.
[Read More]Even After Weight Loss, Obesity Can Reduce Life Span
Posted on February 14, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 554 words
| Patria Henriques
People who have been overweight or obese at any time during their lives may be more likely to die early, even if they lose weight later, a new study suggests.
Among the people in the study, those who had ever been overweight were 19 percent more likely to die during the 23-year study period, compared with those who had never exceeded normal weight.
Those who had ever been obese (with a body mass index, or BMI, from 30.
[Read More]Go Ahead, Drink Bacon Grease for Breakfast
Posted on February 14, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 713 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Two very big and very expensive health studies were published in February to the glee of people everywhere who enjoy drinking bacon grease for breakfast. Maybe you saw the reprints in Cynicism Today. Both studies had a "cheesesteak does your body good" feel to them.
One study found that a low-fat diet didn't reduce the risk of cancer or heart attacks. The other found that taking calcium supplements did more harm than good.
[Read More]How Dragonfish Open Their Fearsome Mouths So Wide
Posted on February 14, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 549 words
| Trudie Dory
Barbeled dragonfish — predatory fish with long, dark bodies that inhabit the deep sea — are unnerving to look at. Their name refers to glowing barbell-shaped lures that dangle from their oversize lower jaws and attract unsuspecting prey in the cold, dark ocean depths. Those jaws, studded with prominent, sharp teeth, can swing wide enough to gulp down large fish whole — even prey larger than the swallower.
And a new study has discovered one of the secrets to their exceptional gape — a specialized head joint that is unique to dragonfish.
[Read More]