Do Blind People Have a More Acute Sense of Smell?
Posted on December 12, 2022
| 2 minutes
| 402 words
| Arica Deslauriers
New research refutes the age-old myth that the loss of one sense may sharpen other senses. A new study from the University of Montreal found that blind people have no keener sense of smell than the sighted. Vision loss simply makes blind people pay more attention to how they perceive smells, the researchers said.
"If you enter a room in which coffee is brewing, you will quickly look for the coffee machine.
[Read More]Evidence for Oldest Popcorn in South America Discovered
Posted on December 12, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 463 words
| Fernande Dalal
They may not have had television sets, but ancient Peruvians did share one part of our movie-watching culture: popcorn. Researchers have found evidence that societies living along the coast of Peru were eating the air-filled snack about 1,000 years earlier than previously estimated — even predating the use of ceramic pottery.
Corn husks, stalks, cobs and tassels (pollen-producing flowers on corn) dating from 6,700 to 3,000 years ago were unearthed at Paredones and Huaca Prieta, two sites on Peru's northern coast, by American and Peruvian researchers.
[Read More]How Do You Dispose of a Dead Whale? (Hint: Not in a Tiny Dumpster)
Posted on December 12, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 823 words
| Fernande Dalal
See moreHow do you get rid of a dead whale? Not with a standard dumpster, as the city of Rye, New Hampshire, found out the hard way.
In a video posted on Twitter by a reporter at the New Hampshire Union Leader, the carcass of a minke whale flops ignominiously on the pavement after a forklift fails to maneuver it into a too-small dumpster. It looks like something for Fail Blog, but disposing of dead whales is serious business.
[Read More]In Photos: The HMS Victory Wreck Site
Posted on December 12, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 512 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
A British warship that sunk near the English Channel on Oct. 5, 1744 was discovered by a deep-sea exploration company in 2008. The site had been extensively trawled for fish and the wreck site was damaged as a result. Now, the UK government has given the company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc., permission to study and salvage at-risk items, such as the distinctive bronze cannons that were carried aboard. [Read more about the HMS Victory] (Photo credit: Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc.
[Read More]Koala-hunting eagle terrorized Australia 25 million years ago
Posted on December 12, 2022
| 5 minutes
| 878 words
| Fernande Dalal
Twenty-five million years ago, an eagle with half-foot long talons snatched ancient koalas out of trees in Australia, a new study suggests.
Paleontologists discovered 63 fossilized bones from the ancient koala-hunter in 2016, while on an expedition to Lake Pinpa, a salt lake east of the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. After thoroughly examining the bones, the team recently named the newfound eagle species Archaehierax sylvestris. The ancient raptor has no direct descendants living today, they determined.
[Read More]Multiple Sclerosis: Symptoms, Management & New Research
Posted on December 12, 2022
| 7 minutes
| 1488 words
| Trudie Dory
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease that affects the central nervous system: the brain and spinal cord. In MS, the body's immune system mistakenly attacks myelin, the protective coat surrounding nerve fibers. The destruction of myelin leads to "sclerosis," or the formation of scar tissue. It also impairs the ability of nerve cells to transmit signals in the form of electrical impulses.
MS is an autoimmune disorder. That means that "
[Read More]Oldest Fossil of a Baby Snake Discovered Trapped in Amber Tomb
Posted on December 12, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 542 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
A newly hatched baby snake that crawled out of an egg 99 million years ago in Southeast Asia never had the chance to grow up. Instead, it met a sticky end in a patch of resin that eventually formed the wee snake's amber tomb.
But while this Cretaceous-era hatchling from an ancient forest may not have survived long enough to see adulthood, its preserved remains — the oldest known fossil of a baby snake — are offering scientists a unique window into the distant past.
[Read More]Researchers can now collect and sequence DNA from the air
Posted on December 12, 2022
| 5 minutes
| 885 words
| Patria Henriques
We leave DNA all over the place, including in the air, and for the first time, researchers have collected animal DNA from mere air samples, according to a new study.
The DNA that living things, human and otherwise, shed into the environment is called environmental DNA (eDNA). Collecting eDNA from water to learn about the species living there has become fairly common, but until now, no one had attempted to collect animal eDNA from the air.
[Read More]Samurai Text Tells Secrets of Sword-Fighters' 'Supernatural Powers'
Posted on December 12, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 799 words
| Trudie Dory
A newly translated samurai text called "Twelve Rules of the Sword" reveals the secrets of a sword-fighting school that mastered a technique that seemed to give supernatural powers.
Dating back to the 17th century, the text contains knowledge passed down from a samurai named Itō Ittōsai (born around 1560), who fought and won 33 duels in Japan. Researchers aren't sure when he died, but historical records suggest he may have lived to be over age 90.
[Read More]These Ancient Spider Fossils Still Have Silvery, Shimmering Eyes
Posted on December 12, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 441 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Paleontologists working in South Korea found ancient spider fossils with still-glittering eyes.
Spider fossils are rare, the researchers wrote in a paper published online Jan. 28 in the Journal of Systematic Paleontology. Their bodies are so soft that they typically decay entirely soon after death, leaving no trace unless they happen to end up trapped in amber. But 11 spiders from the Cretaceous period have turned up preserved in shale on the Korean Peninsula.
[Read More]