New Way to Kill Viruses: Shake Them to Death

 Posted on January 21, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  593 words  |  Patria Henriques

Scientists may one day be able to destroy viruses in the same way that opera singers presumably shatter wine glasses. New research mathematically determined the frequencies at which simple viruses could be shaken to death. "The capsid of a virus is something like the shell of a turtle," said physicist Otto Sankey of Arizona State University. "If the shell can be compromised [by mechanical vibrations], the virus can be inactivated." [Read More]

Photos: The Poisonous Creatures of the North American Deserts

 Posted on January 21, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1244 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Earth's desertsGeographers tell us that slightly over 20 percent of the Earth's land surface is classified as a desert. Such a classification is given when the land region receives an annual precipitation of no more than 10 inches (25 cm). Somewhat over one-tenth of these desert lands are located in North America in a vast region largely located west of the Rocky and Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains and east of the Sierra Nevada and the Peninsular Mountain Ranges. [Read More]

Rare pink manta ray caught courting lady friend Down Under

 Posted on January 21, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  471 words  |  Patria Henriques

Its pink manta kind of monday today. The only pink manta in the whole world can be found cruising the shallow waters around lady elliot from time to time, around 8 times in 8 years i think is more like the odds ;) . . . . . #thisisqueensland #seeaustralia #southerngreatbarrierreef #nikonaustralia #gbrmarinepark #australiangeographic #ladyelliotislandecoresort #underwaterphotography #ocean #oceanvision #discoverocean #ausgeo #qldparks #aquatech_imagingsolutions #madeofocean #freedive #natgeowild #natgeoyourshot #natgeoau #aussiephotos #ig_australia__ #natgeo #ourblueplanet #padi #australia_shotz #abcaustralia #oceanconservancy #underwater_is_life #snorkel. [Read More]

The Definition of 'Cloud' Gets Cloudy

 Posted on January 21, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  869 words  |  Patria Henriques

Clouds help keep Earth's temperature within a habitable range, and they shuttle life-giving rain to different regions of the planet. Monitoring clouds is a crucial part of weather forecasting. So you'd think scientists know what a cloud is. For more than 200 years, researchers have classified clouds according to a system based on ground observations. But the bulk of cloud observations now are being done by satellite from space. And the newer data reveal the old definitions to be inadequate. [Read More]

Ultrathin 'Invisibility Cloak' Can Match Any Background

 Posted on January 21, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  901 words  |  Trudie Dory

In the movie "Predator," an alien uses a cloaking device to hide in plain sight, but the effect is far from perfect: The alien's attempt to conceal itself is thwarted by distortions of light bending around it. Now, researchers have built an ultrathin "invisibility cloak" that gets around this problem, by turning objects into perfect, flat mirrors. Invisibility cloaks are designed to bend light around an object, but materials that do this are typically hard to shape and only work from narrow angles — if you walk around the cloaked object, for instance, it's visible. [Read More]

Washington Earthquake's Mysterious Source Discovered

 Posted on January 21, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  590 words  |  Fernande Dalal

PASADENA, Calif. — Geologists have finally solved a 142-year-old earthquake mystery in central Washington state. Until now, no one knew the source of a powerful earthquake that rattled windows from Washington to Montana on Dec. 14, 1872. The quake's size, based on historical accounts, was magnitude 6.8. At the time, newspapers put the epicenter in several areas, from underneath the Puget Sound north to Vancouver, British Columbia. But Washington's eyewitness reports, slower to arrive in the sparsely populated state, centered the most intense damage east of the Cascades, near Wenatchee, where a giant landslide temporarily dammed the Columbia River. [Read More]

What Did Obama's Body Language Say During the State of the Union Address?

 Posted on January 21, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  419 words  |  Trudie Dory

Sweeping rhetoric and poignant metaphors can get a politician pretty far. At some point, though, body movements and gestures kick in to help cement a point in viewers' minds, sometimes more so than words do. So what did President Barack Obama's posture and gestures tell us during last night's State of the Union address? Life's Little Mysteries asked Karen Studd, a body language expert, media consultant and associate professor of dance at George Mason University to analyze the president's address. [Read More]

Ancient Logbook Documenting Great Pyramid's Construction Unveiled

 Posted on January 20, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  471 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

A logbook that contains records detailing the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza has been put on public display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The Great Pyramid of Giza was built in honor of the pharaoh Khufu (reign ca. 2551 B.C.-2528 B.C.) and is the largest of the three pyramids constructed on the Giza plateau in Egypt. Considered a "wonder of the world" by ancient writers, the Great Pyramid was 481 feet (146 meters) tall when it was first constructed. [Read More]

Curse of King Tut's Tomb Turns 90

 Posted on January 20, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  587 words  |  Patria Henriques

Happy birthday, curse of Tutankhamun. The rumor that some mysterious force set out to kill the team who opened the tomb of the boy pharaoh turns 90 today (April 5). On April 5, 1923, Egyptologist Lord Carnarvon, the 57-year-old financial backer of the Tutankhamun search who opened the tomb along with Egyptologist Howard Carter, died of an infected mosquito bite he'd slashed open while shaving. Carnarvon's failing health spurred a media frenzy that gave birth to the myth of the " [Read More]

Despite Fatal NYC Accident, Elevators Still Safer than Stairs

 Posted on January 20, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  400 words  |  Fernande Dalal

A woman was killed yesterday (Dec. 14) in New York City when the elevator she was stepping into suddenly lurched upward with its doors open, crushing her against the shaft wall. It was the second death in as many weeks: A woman died at Cal State Long Beach on Dec. 7 when she was crushed while trying to crawl out of a car stuck between floors. Elevators being a vehicle of the masses, these tragic and gruesome accidents raise the question: Just how dangerous are they? [Read More]