Mysterious Sounds Recorded at Cuba Embassy Were … Crickets

 Posted on January 31, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  556 words  |  Trudie Dory

In late 2016, dozens of staffers at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba fell sick after reportedly hearing mysterious noises in their hotels or homes. Afterward, they reported severe physical symptoms, including vertigo, headaches, ear pain and even cognitive difficulties and hearing loss. Researchers obtained a recording of the sounds captured by embassy workers in Cuba, and analysis of the acoustic signal revealed striking similarities to insect calls. Further investigation identified the sounds as the call of the Indies short-tailed cricket (Anurogryllus celerinictus). [Read More]

Nuclear Sphere: Weird Globe Could Revolutionize Fusion Energy

 Posted on January 31, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  760 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

A team of researchers has a plan to achieve nuclear fusion that actually produces energy, and their proposal looks very different from the fusion projects the world has already seen. If the team is right, its strange, spherical hydrogen-boron reactor could be built in useful form before any ongoing conventional fusion projects reach completion. The secret behind the new reactor design? It relies on completely different elements than older projects do, and it uses different methods to heat up its core. [Read More]

Sports bras for running deals: Save money on Lululemon, Sweaty Betty, Nike and more

 Posted on January 31, 2023  |  11 minutes  |  2214 words  |  Trudie Dory

For many women, finding a good sports bra for running deal is essential to being comfortable and confident when running. Sports bras reduce breast movement during physical activity, prevent chafing, and reduce discomfort, all of which can help you focus on what matters – clocking up those miles. We’ve pulled together the very best sports bras for running deals available, to give you a head start. A recent Ergonomics study found a good sports bra can reduce breast movement during running by up to 74%, in comparison with not wearing a bra at all, or wearing an everyday bra. [Read More]

Surviving Infidelity: What Wives Do When Men Cheat

 Posted on January 31, 2023  |  8 minutes  |  1567 words  |  Patria Henriques

Dressed in a black suit with a subdued silk scarf, Silda Wall Spitzer stood by her husband, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer as he announced his resignation to a room full of reporters. When the cameras stopped flashing, however, a husband and wife were left to deal with an alleged violation of marriage and above all, busted trust. Gov. Spitzer has referred publicly to the alleged infidelity as a "private matter," [Read More]

These invasive 'comb jellies' cannibalize their own babies every year

 Posted on January 31, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  863 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Later this summer, around the time school usually starts in North America, thousands of invasivejellyfish-like creatures in the Baltic Sea will begin eating their children. Any parent who has just spent a summer in close quarters with their kids might understand the motivation, but it's far more than mere annoyance that drives the Baltic jellies to their annual baby jelly buffet. According to a new study published May 7 in the journalCommunications Biology(opens in new tab), cannibalism may simply be a fact of life for jellies living in nutrient-poor waters outside their natural habitats, providing adults a few extra weeks of energy after they've decimated local prey populations. [Read More]

Watch Rare Footage of Whales Blowing 'Bubble Nets' to Capture Prey in a Vortex of Doom

 Posted on January 31, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  474 words  |  Trudie Dory

Blowing bubbles at the dinner table is generally considered to be very bad manners by human standards. But for humpback whales, it's a necessary part of trapping their dinner; humpbacks blow streams of spiraling bubbles to form "nets" of air around groups of the tiny marine creatures that the whales eat.  Recently, researchers captured rare footage of this incredible sight, using cameras flying overhead and attached to feeding whales in waters near southeastern Alaska. [Read More]

What's the Link Between Recalled Blood Pressure Meds and Cancer?

 Posted on January 31, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  607 words  |  Patria Henriques

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a series of recalls of blood pressure medication over the last 10 months, all linked to concerns that the drugs may be linked to an increased risk of cancer. But what makes these drugs a cancer risk? All of the medications were found to contain a set of impurities in the drugs' active ingredients. The impurities are organic chemicals, apparently formed as byproducts during drug production, that are known to cause cancer in lab animals. [Read More]

Why the 1930s Dust Bowl Was So Bad

 Posted on January 31, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  350 words  |  Fernande Dalal

The Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s was arguably one of the worst environmental disasters of the 20th century. New computer simulations reveal the whipped-up dust is what made the drought so severe. Scientists have known that poor land use and natural atmospheric conditions led to the rip-roaring dust storms in the Great Plains in the 1930s. Climate models in the past few years also have revealed the effect of sea surface temperatures on the Dust Bowl. [Read More]

Why the Biggest Animals Aren't the Fastest

 Posted on January 31, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  703 words  |  Trudie Dory

Across the animal kingdom, the speediest animals are always of middling size. Cheetahs outrun lions, dolphins outpace orcas, and peregrine falcons fly faster than bald eagles. Bigger bodies mean larger, more powerful muscles, so there was no clear reason for this rule — after all, why shouldn't larger animals use their power advantage for speed? Now, scientists have discovered a mathematical reason: According to new research, the largest animals are limited by how much energy they can mobilize to accelerate. [Read More]

2,700-Year-Old Polynesian Tattoo Kit Found — and the 'Needles' Were Made of Human Bone.

 Posted on January 30, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  624 words  |  Patria Henriques

A set of four tiny combs from the Polynesian kingdom Tonga might be among the world's oldest tattoo kits. The tools had been sitting in storage in an Australian university for decades. A team of researchers recently reassessed the artifacts and found that the combs — two of which are made from human bone — are 2,700 years old. Archaeologists have known that tattooing was practiced in several cultures since prehistory. [Read More]