65 Pounds of Plastic Trash Tore This Whale Apart from the Inside
Posted on December 20, 2022
| 2 minutes
| 399 words
| Patria Henriques
See moreA young male sperm whale washed up dead on the southeastern coast of Spain in February, and now scientists know what killed the animal.
During a recent necropsy, investigators discovered nearly 65 lbs. (29 kilograms) of plastic trash crammed into the dead whale's stomach and intestines, including dozens of plastic bags, chunks of mangled rope and glass, a large water container and several "sacks of raffia [a fiber derived from palm trees],"
[Read More]Apple of My Eye: Handheld Device Tells You If Fruit Is Ripe
Posted on December 20, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 789 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
It can be difficult just by looking at apples to know when they've reached their ripest point, and it's wasteful (not to mention disappointing) when you leave an apple out for so long that it becomes too mushy to eat. But now, technology may have a solution.
Scientists at MIT have developed a handheld device that can evaluate how ripe an apple is by measuring the glow of chlorophyll in the fruit's skin under ultraviolet light.
[Read More]Bird Brains: Pigeons Gamble Just Like Humans
Posted on December 20, 2022
| 5 minutes
| 928 words
| Arica Deslauriers
If you had a choice, would you press a button that gave you an evenly spaced $3 per push, or would you choose the button with the big, but rare, payoff of $10 — even if that meant you got only $2 per push on average?
The answer may seem obvious, but anyone who gambles gives up a sure bet of money in their pocket in hopes of a big, unlikely win.
[Read More]Cathedral's stained-glass windows 'witnessed' medieval murder of Archbishop of Canterbury
Posted on December 20, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 850 words
| Arica Deslauriers
(opens in new tab)The stained-glass windows of England's Canterbury Cathedral are so old that they "witnessed" one of medieval England's most infamous murders, a new study reveals.
The analysis shows that some of the cathedral's stained-glass windows, which depict prophets that preceded Jesus, could date as far back as the mid-1100s, making them the oldest in Britain and among the oldest in the world.
This means that some of the windows may have overlooked the murder scene of Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury who was slain at the cathedral's altar by soldiers loyal to Henry II in 1170.
[Read More]Fish Use 'Sign Language' to Help Out Hunting Buddies
Posted on December 20, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 434 words
| Patria Henriques
Two types of fish have been shown to use gestures, or sign language, to help one another hunt. This is the first time these types of gestures have been found to occur in animals other than primates and ravens.
Both types of fish, grouper and coral trout, are known for hunting cooperatively with other kinds of animals. Whereas the grouper hunts with giant moray eels and a fish called the Napoleon wrasse, coral trout partner up with octopuses to snag prey.
[Read More]Hair Plugs? Joe Buck Puts Cosmetic Addictions in Spotlight
Posted on December 20, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 690 words
| Patria Henriques
Fox Sports announcer Joe Buck recently shared that he had an addiction to hair plugs, and it almost cost him his career.
In an exclusive with Sports Illustrated and in his upcoming memoir, Buck described the overwhelming fear he had of losing his hair. The possibility of balding so consumed him that in 1993, at age 24, he had his first hair-replacement treatment. He wrote in the book that, after the procedure, "
[Read More]Here's Why Synthetic Marijuana Isn't Safe
Posted on December 20, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 597 words
| Trudie Dory
Synthetic marijuana compounds, sometimes called K2 or Spice, are actually chemically different from marijuana, and are more dangerous than pot, according to a new review of studies.
Synthetic marijuana compounds are linked to a number of serious side effects, including seizures, psychosis and even death, the review's authors said.
These compounds "produce a variety of dangerous acute and chronic adverse effects … with a greater severity and frequency than observed following marijuana use,"
[Read More]How to Cheat Death
Posted on December 20, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 527 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
When you add up the risks of dying from all sorts of illnesses and accidents — from the 1 in 5 chance of dying of heart disease, to the remote 1 in 3.7 million chance of being eaten by a shark, to the very real risk of bleeding to death from the ears from listening to too much Yanni — your chances of dying come out to be about 110 percent.
[Read More]Man Having Heart Attack on Plane Saved by Passengers
Posted on December 20, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 733 words
| Arica Deslauriers
A man who suffered a heart attack on an airplane was saved by a three passengers — a doctor, a policeman and a pharmacist — with the aid of resuscitation equipment and drugs.
The plane was flying through some of the most remote airspace in the world when the man had a myocardial infarction, followed by cardiac arrest. But thanks to passengers and crew who were trained in basic emergency care, the man survived until the plane landed; he later made a full recovery, according to a report of the incident published Aug.
[Read More]NASA Spotted a Vast, Glowing 'Hydrogen Wall' at the Edge of Our Solar System
Posted on December 20, 2022
| 2 minutes
| 416 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
There's a "hydrogen wall" at the edge of our solar system, and NASA scientists think their New Horizons spacecraft can see it.
That hydrogen wall is the outer boundary of our home system, the place where our sun's bubble of solar wind ends and where a mass of interstellar matter too small to bust through that wind builds up, pressing inward. Our host star's powerful jets of matter and energy flow outward for a long stretch after leaving the sun — far beyond the orbit of Pluto.
[Read More]