Fossilized Poop Reveals Ancient Hyena's Main Entrée

 Posted on February 12, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  386 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

By reading the genes in ancient poop, researchers have uncovered the diet and descendents of the cave hyena, which roamed throughout Eurasia alongside the Neanderthals. The cave hyena, named Crocuta crocuta spelaea, lived for about 1 million years in Eurasia, before dying out some 10,000 to 30,000 years ago. Not only were they about 25 percent larger than modern hyenas, they were also more powerful and had a stronger bite, study researcher Jean-Marc Elalouf, of the Instituteof Biology and Technology Saclay, in France, told LiveScience. [Read More]

Green Valley Food Corp. Recalls Various Products

 Posted on February 12, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  746 words  |  Trudie Dory

Green Valley Food Corp. of Dallas, Texas is recalling approximately 35,159 cases of a variety of products because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes or Salmonella. On 12/12/2011 a random sample was taken from a customer the product tested positive for Salmonella. Green Valley Food Corp. voluntarily recalled the alfalfa-based products when we were notified of the positive result on 12/23/2011 and 12/24/2011. On 12/21/2011 random samples were taken of our facility, several samples had a positive result for Listeria monocytogenes. [Read More]

Kermit the Frog Look-Alike Among 5 New Species Uncovered

 Posted on February 12, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  994 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

This story was updated May 4 at 1:15 p.m. EDT. The planet is crawling with critters, but scientists are meeting some of them only just now. During the past month, researchers have published studies on a handful of previously unknown animals. We'll take a look at these newly introduced types of lizards, frogs, spiders, scorpions and crabs that live in the nooks and crannies of the wild. [In Photos: The Wacky Animals of Madagascar] [Read More]

Muddy Demise: Bird-Like Dinosaur Died While Struggling to Free Itself

 Posted on February 12, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  694 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

More than 66 million years ago, a feathered dinosaur with two skinny legs and a bony crest on top of its head got mired in the mud, likely putting up a mighty struggle before dying and eventually fossilizing, a new study finds. The donkey-size dinosaur, known as an oviraptorid, was preserved nearly intact, and found lying on its chest with its neck and wings outstretched, the researchers said. Like other oviraptorids, which were close cousins to birds, it couldn't fly, but it had a sharp, toothless beak that likely enabled it to eat shellfish, plants, nuts and eggs. [Read More]

Oldest Water on Earth Found Deep Underground

 Posted on February 12, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  721 words  |  Trudie Dory

A pocket of water some 2.6 billion years old — the most ancient pocket of water known by far, older even than the dawn of multicellular life — has now been discovered in a mine 2 miles below the Earth's surface. The finding, announced in the May 16 issue of the journal Nature, raises the tantalizing possibility that ancient life might be found deep underground not only within Earth, but in similar oases that may exist on Mars, the scientists who studied the water said. [Read More]

Part of This Boy's Brain Was Removed. The Rest of His Brain Made Sure He Wouldn't Notice.

 Posted on February 12, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  1019 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Four years ago, a young boy had a large part of his brain removed. In the years that followed, he showed neuroscientists, once again, how adaptable the brain can be. The boy — who is referred to as U.D. in the medical literature — had one-third of his right hemisphere removed, including a part of the brain responsible for sight. But according to a new case report about U.D., the left side of his brain started to take on the visual tasks normally reserved for the missing part of the right side of the brain. [Read More]

Spidey Science: 4 Bits of Real Science in 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2'

 Posted on February 12, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  809 words  |  Patria Henriques

NEW YORK — The world of "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" is larger than life, and it contains some serious web-slinging scientific action. From modern laboratories to genetic engineering, the new "Spider-Man" movie is packed full of extreme, cutting edge and mostly fictional science. The newest sequel in the comic book franchise, due for release nationwide on May 2, may not be very realistic, but it does draw on some real-life science that researchers use today. [Read More]

What is Bariatric Surgery?

 Posted on February 12, 2023  |  7 minutes  |  1328 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Bariatric surgery is a surgical operation on the stomach and intestine used to treat obesity. It is an option for people who are still severely obese after attempting to lose weight through other methods, such as diet and exercise, or who have a serious health condition related to their obesity, such as type 2 diabetes. Weight-loss surgery: How it worksBariatric surgery makes the stomach smaller — either by restricting the size of the stomach with a band, or physically removing a portion of the stomach with surgery. [Read More]

Why Your Blood Pressure Should Be Checked in Both Arms

 Posted on February 12, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  282 words  |  Fernande Dalal

People who have different blood pressure readings in their right versus left arm may be at increased risk for serious heart problems later in life, a new study suggests. Researchers analyzed blood pressure readings from more than 3,300 people ages 40 and older in Massachusetts. The study looked at only the systolic blood pressure, or the "top" number in a blood pressure reading. People whose systolicblood pressure readings differed by 10 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) or more between their right and left arms were 38 percent more likely to have a cardiovascular problem, such as a heart attack or stroke, over a 13-year period compared with people with smaller differences between their arms. [Read More]

4 Bacteria Strains Gang Up to Cause Deadly Flesh-Eating Infection

 Posted on February 11, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1177 words  |  Trudie Dory

The patient arrived at the hospital with what looked like a run-of-the-mill bacterial infection. But then, things turned much more serious: The patient developed a "flesh-eating" infection that ultimately required the amputation of both arms and both legs.   What caused the infection to spin out of control? It turned out it wasn't an infection with a single type of bacteria, but rather a mashup of four different strains of the same species. [Read More]