How would we give aliens directions to Earth?

 Posted on June 21, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1071 words  |  Trudie Dory

The universe is inconceivably large and mind-bogglingly old. Given all that time and space, it seems probable that somewhere, sometime, another spark of intelligence flared into existence. But if there are intelligent beings somewhere out there, how on Earth could we connect with them and, assuming we'd like to be friends, how would we give them directions to our planet? There are several techniques scientists could use to send directions to far-away aliens, but more importantly, researchers would have to figure out a way to send a readable galactic map to our guests — which is a tricky problem. [Read More]

Study Reveals Who Gets Late-Term Abortions

 Posted on June 21, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1086 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Younger women, blacks and women with a high number of recent life disruptions are more likely than their counterparts to get second-trimester abortions, a new study finds. The research focuses on a relatively small group of American women, those who end pregnancies after the first trimester, which lasts 12 weeks. As of 2006, 88 percent of abortions occurred before the end of the first trimester, making second-trimester abortions relatively rare. These later abortions, however, are more expensive, more difficult to come by, and carry more medical risk than earlier procedures, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research organization. [Read More]

What Are Saturn's Rings?

 Posted on June 21, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  616 words  |  Patria Henriques

Saturn's rings are one of the most striking features of the solar system. They encircle the sixth planet from the sun in bizarre configurations, each thousands of miles wide but just a few dozen feet thick. So what are they? The rings are mostly ice with a little bit of rock mixed in. Scientists have a better grasp of their dynamics than ever before, thanks to the Cassini spacecraft, which ends its mission on Friday (Sept. [Read More]

Why Do We Yawn?

 Posted on June 21, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  328 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

A number of hypotheses exist to explain why we yawn, but scientists have yet to come to a consensus about the phenomenon. One of the most often-repeated explanations states that a yawn helps draw in large amounts of air to increase blood pressure, heart rate and blood oxygen levels. These physiological changes improve our motor function and alertness, helping to wake us up when we're tired or bored. However, experiments have shown that yawning doesn't induce these changes. [Read More]

World's Largest Aircraft Readies for Takeoff

 Posted on June 21, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  514 words  |  Fernande Dalal

The world's largest aircraft, some 65 feet (20 meters) longer than the world's biggest passenger airliner, is just about ready to leave its hangar near London and take to the skies. At 302 feet (92 meters) long, the hybrid Airlander 10 — which mixes tech from airplanes, helicopters and airships — even dwarfs the largest passenger airliner, the Airbus A380 (also called the Superjumbo), and boasts a weight of 44,100 lbs. [Read More]

Young women may be likelier to die after heart attacks than men

 Posted on June 21, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  1040 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Younger women may be more likely to die in the decade following a heart attack than men of the same age, a new study suggests.  In general, women under age 50 experience fewer heart attacks than men in the same age range. The new study, published Oct. 13 in the European Heart Journal, also reflects this trend; of 2,100 heart attack patients treated at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston between 2000 and 2016, only about 400 were women. [Read More]

Ancient Marine Reptiles Flew Through the Water

 Posted on June 20, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  519 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

The ancient, four-flippered plesiosaur didn't swim like a fish, whale or even an otter — but instead like a penguin, a new study finds. Plesiosaurs, giant marine reptiles that lived during the dinosaur age, likely propelled themselves forward underwater by flapping their two front flippers, much like penguins do today, the researchers said. The paleo-giants probably didn't rely much on their back flippers for propulsion, as that movement would've only marginally increased their speed, computer simulations showed. [Read More]

Are Insects Bigger at the Equator?

 Posted on June 20, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  347 words  |  Patria Henriques

When it comes to enormous insects, the movies may have it partly correct. Many of the world's biggest insects — take, for instance, the African goliath beetle, which can weigh up to 100 grams (about as much as a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich), or the giant stick insects of Indonesia, which can grow up to 2 feet long — congregate in the equatorial tropics. Abundant food, a year-round growing season and warm weather are all reasons that big insects thrive in the tropics, said Matan Shelomi, a graduate student in entomology at the University of California, Davis. [Read More]

Child's Play? 3-Year-Olds Fancy Their Own Ethnic Group

 Posted on June 20, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  531 words  |  Trudie Dory

Even in multicultural settings, preschool children may gravitate toward playing with kids of their own ethnicity, a new study finds. But when kids do engage with playmates of another ethnicity, they show signs of adjusting their play style to match their partner's, researchers reported in June in the European Journal of Developmental Psychology. Even very young children are influenced by the culture around them, the scientists wrote, and studies in the 1980s and 90s found that, when given the choice, children of the same ethnicity preferred to play with one another rather than with kids from different ethnic groups. [Read More]

Forget Selfie Sticks: This Drone Captures Photos and Videos in Midair

 Posted on June 20, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  606 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Instead of extending your arm or using a selfie stick to snap shots of you and your crew, you could use a new pocket-size drone — dubbed the "AirSelfie" — to help you remotely capture aerial photos and videos. The AirSelfie is the brainchild of Italian entrepreneur Edoardo Stroppiana, who came up with the idea in 2014. "AirSelfie is specifically designed and produced for people who used to think drone cameras are extremely complicated to use — too expensive and bulky," [Read More]