Massive meteorite impact created the hottest mantle rock ever

 Posted on January 23, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  577 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

It's confirmed: The hottest rock ever discovered in Earth's crust really was super-hot.  The rock, a fist-sized piece of black glass, was discovered in 2011 and first reported in 2017, when scientists wrote in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters that it had been formed in temperatures reaching 4,298 degrees Fahrenheit (2,370 degrees Celsius), hotter than much of the Earth's mantle. Now, a new analysis of minerals from the same site reveals that this record-scorching heat was real. [Read More]

Telescope lasers could give humanity an edge in war against space junk

 Posted on January 23, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  397 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Telescope operators figured out years ago how to make the stars stop twinkling. Now, a team of Australian scientists wants to use the same technology to track space junk and blast it out of space. The problem is Earth's atmosphere: It's uneven and distorts light passing from space to Earth, and Earth to space. That's a problem, because the nice twinkly effect Earth's atmosphere gives stars makes it difficult for ground-based telescopes to accurately observe the heavens. [Read More]

The Milk Myth: What a Body Really Needs

 Posted on January 23, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  753 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Young adults are not drinking enough milk, according to a study published in the July/August issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior by researchers from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Well, at least that's according to the press release about the study, along with a few press reports on the matter. But according to lead author Nicole Larson, the focus on the study was on calcium. Once again, we see the words " [Read More]

Top 10 Leading Causes of Death

 Posted on January 23, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1067 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

IntroWhile some might harbor fears of dying from a lightning strike or shark attack, the cause of your ultimate demise is likely to be much less conspicuous. Here are the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The data are based on deaths in 2013, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Suicide Suicide, or intentional self-harm, was the 10th leading cause of death overall in the United States in 2013, accounting for 41,149 deaths. [Read More]

What to Expect from the Super Blood Wolf Moon Eclipse

 Posted on January 23, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  763 words  |  Trudie Dory

Call in late to work on Monday (Jan. 21) and prepare to spend Sunday night staring at the sky: The Super Blood Wolf Moon eclipse is coming. That's a mouthful, but let's break it down. January's full moon is a supermoon, meaning that the moon is at the point in its orbit where it is nearest to Earth. This is called perigee. The average distance from Earth to the moon is 238,855 miles (384,400 kilometers). [Read More]

Your Intelligence Genes: 52 and Counting

 Posted on January 23, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  861 words  |  Fernande Dalal

A new study finds 52 genes that are related to intelligence — a rousing success in a field that has often struggled to find correlations between smarts and genes. The 52 genes, though, account for only about 5 percent of the variation in intelligence scores among different people. That's because intelligence is a complex trait, said study author Danielle Posthuma, a statistical geneticist at Vrije University in Amsterdam. These genes " [Read More]

126,000 gallons of oil spilled along California coast in 'potential ecological disaster'

 Posted on January 22, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  597 words  |  Fernande Dalal

(opens in new tab)Around 126,000 gallons (573,000 liters) of crude oil has spilled from a ruptured pipeline off the California coast and begun washing up on beaches and wetlands, along with several dead animals. The U.S. Coast Guard reported the spill at 9 a.m. local time on Saturday (Oct. 2), after boaters noticed a sheen on the ocean surface, according to CNN. The oil slick now covers around 13 square miles (33. [Read More]

5 'Health Foods' You Should Avoid (Op-Ed)

 Posted on January 22, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1090 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Katherine Tallmadge is a registered dietitian, author of "Diet Simple: 195 Mental Tricks, Substitutions, Habits & Inspirations(opens in new tab)" (Lifeline Press, 2011), and a frequent national commentator on nutrition topics. This article was adapted from one that first appeared in the Washington Post. Tallmadge contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Eating healthy can be harder than you think, thanks to an enterprising food industry that wants people to consume more than they need. [Read More]

7 Billion-Year-Old Stardust Is Oldest Material Found on Earth

 Posted on January 22, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  949 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Scientists recently identified the oldest material on Earth: stardust that's 7 billion years old, tucked away in a massive, rocky meteorite that struck our planet half a century ago.  This ancient interstellar dust, made of presolar grains (dust grains that predate our sun), was belched into the universe by dying stars during the final stages of their lives. Some of that dust eventually hitched a ride to Earth on an asteroid that produced the Murchison meteorite, a massive, 220-lb. [Read More]

A galaxy from the early universe grew astonishingly fast, then suddenly stopped

 Posted on January 22, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  680 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Before our universe reached its 1 billionth birthday, an unusual galaxy formed and began whipping up new stars at astounding speeds. Then, a mere 800 million years later, the ultramassive galaxy suddenly fell silent, according to a new study. The enormous galaxy, called XMM-2599, stood out as a rarity in the early days of the universe. "In general, early-formed galaxies should be smaller in mass, because the current model of structure formation is hierarchical — small, low-mass galaxies would be expected to form first, and then they would merge to form bigger more massive galaxies at a later time," [Read More]