Why Are Tree Rings Lighter or Darker?
Posted on February 10, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 398 words
| Arica Deslauriers
New wood formed in a tree during spring and summer is light in color. Toward the end of a growing season, new cells formed are smaller and have darker thicker walls. The wood is more dense and darker.
That annual pattern creates rings. They tend to be wider in wet, good-growing years.
The thickness and darkness of the dark part (as well as the light part) can vary depending on many things in a given season: precipitation, sunlight, temperatures, and disease and insect infestations, volcanic eruptions and fire.
[Read More]Achoo! Why Is The Pollen So Bad Right Now?
Posted on February 9, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 607 words
| Fernande Dalal
Many places around the United States are experiencing a record-breaking run of warm weather, but not everyone is embracing this year's early spring.
The no-jacket-required temperatures, along with a set of other complementary weather conditions, have sent trees into a flurry of pollen production, setting the stage for the scratchy throats, itchy eyes and achy noses that the allergy-afflicted among us know all too well.
On Weather Channel maps, large swaths of the country are shaded dark red — the color code for "
[Read More]Adorable Animal Holiday Stories That Will Make You Jolly
Posted on February 9, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 787 words
| Arica Deslauriers
'Tis the season to be jolly, and what could be more jolly than amusing animal stories? From Christmas tree lights powered by electric eels to the "magical" origin of flying reindeer, here are some of our favorite holiday critters.
Eel-powered decorations
Zoos and aquariums have come up with some creative holiday exhibits in the past, but this one ranks among the best: An aquarium in Kamakura, Japan, allured guests with a Christmas tree tastefully lit with electricity from electric eels.
[Read More]Apocalypse Now? Doomsday Predictions Are Just Recycled Bogus Theories
Posted on February 9, 2023
| 8 minutes
| 1559 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Old doomsday predictions never die. They just get recycled.
Just six years after radio preacher Harold Camping promised the apocalypse, and five years after the end of the Mayan calendar was supposed to extinguish life on Earth as we know it, new doomsday predictions have arrived. This time, they come via YouTube and a man named David Meade, who claims that the first spiritual sign of the apocalypse will arrive tomorrow (Sept.
[Read More]Artist's 'Cloning Agency' Replicates Jesus, Lady Gaga
Posted on February 9, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 894 words
| Patria Henriques
The second coming of Jesus Christ may be on the horizon — along with the third, fourth and fifth incarnations, depending on how quickly an artist's new "cloning tincture" catches on.
Conceptual artist Jonathon Keats is giving everyone the chance to become the Christian messiah — and a number of other historical personages and celebrities as well — through his Epigenetic Cloning Agency, which opens a new branch at a Berlin gallery today (May 31).
[Read More]Caves
Posted on February 9, 2023
| 1 minutes
| 45 words
| Fernande Dalal
Neanderthals and Denisovans Lived (and Mated) in This Siberian Cave
By Laura Geggel published 31 January 19
The Neanderthals and Denisovans — both relatives of modern humans — were roommates, literally, for thousands of years in a remote Siberian cave, two new studies find.
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Geologic History of North America Gets Overturned
Posted on February 9, 2023
| 6 minutes
| 1073 words
| Fernande Dalal
It's time to redraw the map of the world during the reign of the dinosaurs, two scientists say.
Picture the U.S. West Coast as a tortured tectonic boundary, similar to Australia and Southeast Asia today. Erase the giant subduction zone researchers have long nestled against western North America. Drop a vast archipelago into the ancient Panthalassa Ocean, usually drawn as an empty void, the kind on which medieval mapmakers would have depicted fantastical beasts.
[Read More]Infant 'Water on the Brain' Linked to Fat Molecule
Posted on February 9, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 595 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Babies born with hydrocephalus, also called "water on the brain," may be suffering the effects of a fat molecule called LPA, a new study in mice suggests.
Until now the cause of this disorder, in which fluid builds up inside the head, was not known. Fetal hydrocephalus affects about 1 in 1,500 newborns each year and can lead to head enlargement, brain damage and death.
The findings may lead to a way to treat hydrocephalus using medication that prevents this fat molecule, called lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), from binding to cells.
[Read More]Large Salmonella outbreak linked to onions, CDC warns
Posted on February 9, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 523 words
| Fernande Dalal
A Salmonella outbreak tied to whole red, white and yellow onions has sickened more than 650 people in 37 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The onions were imported from Chihuahua, Mexico, and distributed by ProSource Inc., according to a statement from the agency.
The affected onions may have a sticker or packaging with the name of the distributor (ProSource Inc.) and country of origin (Mexico).
[Read More]Mysterious Sandbar Island That Formed Last Summer Is Gone Once Again
Posted on February 9, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 296 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Blink and you'll miss it: A mysterious island that emerged off the coast of North Carolina overnight is gone once again, new satellite images reveal.
Shelly Island, a sandbar that appeared seemingly overnight off the coast of Cape Point on Cape Hatteras National Seashore in 2017, has disappeared again, due to a series of punishing storms that battered the coast and redistributed the sand off the shoreline. The new images, taken on Feb.
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