Exclusive: Early Christian Lead Codices Now Called Fakes

 Posted on January 29, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  865 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Seventy metal books allegedly discovered in a cave in Jordan have been hailed as the earliest Christian documents. Dating them to mere decades after Jesus' death, scholars have called the "lead codices" the most important discovery in archaeological history, and leading media outlets have added fuel to the fire surrounding the books in recent weeks. "Never has there been a discovery of relics on this scale from the early Christian movement, in its homeland and so early in its history," [Read More]

Exercise Linked to Reduced Skin Cancer Risk

 Posted on January 29, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  423 words  |  Trudie Dory

Exercise has many benefits, but you might not have thought it could help protect against skin cancer. In mice, however, that is the case. In a new study, two groups of mice were exposed to ultraviolet B (UVB) light, which is known to cause skin cancer. The group that had a running wheel developed 32 percent fewer tumors. The tumors developed more slowly and were smaller than in the group that did not have gym access. [Read More]

Game Over: These Monkeys Just Crushed Humans on a Computer Game

 Posted on January 29, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  1057 words  |  Patria Henriques

When it comes to winning games and solving puzzles, sometimes monkeys play smarter than humans. Monkeys may show off their physical flexibility as they clamber over tangled tree branches, but the animals also display impressive "cognitive flexibility," or the ability to quickly change how they think about, and work to solve, a problem. Whereas monkeys can think on their feet, humans often become set in their ways and cling to inefficient strategies for problem solving, according to new research. [Read More]

On Ray Bradbury's Birthday, Revisit His Rejected Planetarium Script

 Posted on January 29, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  433 words  |  Trudie Dory

Today (Aug. 22) would have been author Ray Bradbury's 97th birthday. Bradbury, who died in 2012, is acclaimed worldwide for his literary science fiction, but fewer people know about one of his science writing projects that never panned out: a forgotten planetarium-show script for the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington, D.C. Bradbury was working on the NASM project — eventually titled "The Ghosts of Forever: The Great Shout of the Universe! [Read More]

People Don't Know When They're Being Jerks

 Posted on January 29, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  797 words  |  Patria Henriques

How well do you know yourself? New research suggests that people are pretty good at knowing how they're acting, with one exception: whether they're being jerks. According to a study posted on the psychology preprint server PsyArXiv, people are relatively accurate judges, moment to moment, of whether they're acting outgoing or shy. They're also good judges of whether their behavior is conscientious and reliable or a bit more haphazard. But people aren't quite as good at gauging whether they're being rude. [Read More]

Pink 'watermelon snow' threatens major Italian glacier

 Posted on January 29, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  403 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

A pink invader is threatening Italy's massive Presena glacier. The Alpine glacier, once the site of World War I battles between the Kingdom of Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire and now an outdoor and skiing destination, seems to have caught a bad case of "watermelon snow," according to a CNN report. The pink hue comes from algae growing on the ice. Though the itty-bitty algae doesn't damage the glacier directly, it makes the normally white surface darker, allowing it to absorb more light from the sun. [Read More]

Scientists Now Have the Most Detailed Picture Yet of the Neutrino Factory Inside Our Sun

 Posted on January 29, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  473 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Why does the sun shine? Our local star constantly smashes atoms together deep inside its fiery belly to produce its blazing light. But because this internal commotion lies hidden beneath the sun's thick outer layers, scientists have few ways to learn about what goes on at the star's core. But by collecting neutrinos — tiny, ghostly particles that barely interact with other matter and so can fly directly out from the sun’s center— researchers have produced one of the most detailed snapshots ever compiled of the sun's mysterious interior. [Read More]

Steam Machine Turns Poop into Clean Drinking Water

 Posted on January 29, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  545 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Bill Gates wants to turn your poop into clean drinking water, and he's got just the machine to do it. In a recent blog post and video, the billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist showed off what he called an "ingenious machine," a steam-powered sewage processor that burns up solid waste and creates both potable water and electricity. Dubbed the "Omniprocessor," the machine was designed and built by the Washington-based engineering firm Janicki Bioenergy, which is now receiving funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to further develop the technology. [Read More]

The Best States for Romance (The List)

 Posted on January 29, 2023  |  1 minutes  |  165 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Two researchers looked at a slew of demographic and survey data to come up with rankings for all U.S. states regarding positive relationships. Their findings, detailed online Dec. 21 in the Journal of Research in Personality, revealed that Virginia, for instance, may not be for lovers, as its state slogan would suggest. The survey data was based on information from 127,070 adults who answered questions about fear of abandonment (attachment anxiety) and discomfort with intimacy, called attachment avoidance. [Read More]

What is Nordic walking?

 Posted on January 29, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1150 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

You may have heard of Nordic walking, but what exactly does it entail? The term refers to a low-impact, but intensive, walking style that uses poles to propel yourself forward. Gill Stewart, author of The Complete Guide to Nordic Walking and the programme director atNordic Walking UK says: “Nordic walking is a way of involving the whole body with every step you take, because you use two specifically designed poles and a specific walking technique. [Read More]