What If All of Earth's Insects Keeled Over?
Posted on January 27, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 701 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
"Ewwww ... a bug!" is the reaction many people have when they feel an insect's six legs crawling on them. This revulsion is lamentable, for not only are the vast majority of insects completely harmless, we humans and most other complex life on the planet would be in dire shape without them.
"If insects were to disappear, the world would fall apart — there's no two ways about it," said Goggy Davidowitz, a professor in the departments of entomology and ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona.
[Read More]Woman Loses Vision After Mosquito Bites
Posted on January 27, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 859 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
A woman who caught chikungunya fever while vacationing in the Caribbean wound up losing some of the vision in her right eye permanently, according to a new report of her case.
The findings suggest that vision problems may be an underreported effect of the mosquito-transmitted virus, which has spread in recent years from Africa and Asia to the Caribbean, Latin America and parts of the United States, the report's authors said.
[Read More]10 science records broken in 2020
Posted on January 26, 2023
| 7 minutes
| 1307 words
| Fernande Dalal
This year was filled with record-breaking scientific discoveries. Some earned the title of "oldest," including the 7 billion-year-old stardust found to be the oldest material on our planet and a 31,000-year-old burial that held the remains of the oldest-ever found identical twins. Others earned the title of "longest," including a bird that traveled for 11 days straight from Alaska to New Zealand and a lightning bolt that stretched for more than 440 miles (700 kilometers).
[Read More]5 Facts About Couples Who Live Together
Posted on January 26, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 620 words
| Trudie Dory
IntroductionAn increasing number of U.S. couples shack up before they tie the knot.
Most women ages 30 or younger said they've lived with a partner outside of marriage (known as cohabiting) at some point in their lives, according to a new survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And just 23 percent of women now say they were married when they first lived with their partner, down from 30 percent in 2002, and 39 percent in 1995.
[Read More]5 Myths About the Male Body
Posted on January 26, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 535 words
| Patria Henriques
Macho menFrom rumors about feet size to sex life, there's a lot of cultural misinformation circulating about men and their physiques. And men themselves offer precious little clarification what with their tendencies toward joshing around and playing things close to the chest. So for the record, here are five classic assumptions about men's bodies that are totally false. -- Robin Nixon
Men think about sex every 7 seconds"That is as many times as we breathe everyday,"
[Read More]Distracting Thoughts Block Women from Orgasm
Posted on January 26, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 450 words
| Trudie Dory
The old adage that a woman's biggest sexual organ is between her ears may be true, according to new research that finds that a lack of erotic thoughts during sex is linked to the trouble some women have reaching orgasm.
Women who reported more trouble reaching orgasm during sex also had more automatic negative thoughts during the act. These negative thoughts included everything from those lacking erotic imagery to thoughts of sexual failure and sexual abuse.
[Read More]Here's What Happens When You Break Apart a Fidget Spinner & Swallow It
Posted on January 26, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 482 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Whether fidget spinners really help kids focus is unclear, but one thing is for sure: Don't take the ball-bearing toy apart and swallow the pieces. That's a lesson one Washington state teen learned the hard way.
The girl, who is in her late teens and had a history of depression, reportedly broke off the toy's three prongs and swallowed them, which led to severe neck pain and vomiting, according to a new report of the case.
[Read More]London's Burning: How a Skyscraper Melts Cars
Posted on January 26, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 510 words
| Arica Deslauriers
London isn't famous for hot weather, but that may change soon, and not because of global warming: The design of a new skyscraper in the city is melting cars and setting buildings on fire.
"It's absolutely ruined," Martin Lindsay told the BBC, referring to his Jaguar XJ. Lindsay had the misfortune of parking his luxury car across the street from the office building for an hour; the Jaguar now has melted panels, mirrors and other parts.
[Read More]Never-ending detonations could blast hypersonic craft into space
Posted on January 26, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 901 words
| Fernande Dalal
A never-ending detonation could be the key to hypersonic flight and space planes that can seamlessly fly from Earth into orbit. And now, researchers have recreated the explosive phenomenon in the lab that could make it possible.
Detonations are a particularly powerful kind of explosion that move outward faster than the speed of sound. The massive explosion that rocked the port of Beirut in Lebanon last August was a detonation, and the widespread destruction it caused demonstrates the huge amounts of energy they can produce.
[Read More]Routine Scans May Cause Thyroid Problems
Posted on January 26, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 744 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
People who undergo common procedures, such as CT scans and angiograms, may be at greater risk for thyroid problems, according to a recent study.
The study found that people who received intravenous iodinated contrast media, which helps doctors see blood vessels and organs during imaging procedures, had a higher chance of developing hyperthyroidism than those who did not.
"We were surprised at how potent it was. People had twice the likelihood of developing hyperthyroidism when they received iodinated contrast media,"
[Read More]