Speed of Thought-to-Speech Traced in Brain
Posted on December 8, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 612 words
| Arica Deslauriers
In just 600 milliseconds, the human brain can think of a word, apply the rules of grammar to it and send it to the mouth to be spoken. For the first time, researchers have traced this lightning-fast sequence and broken it down into distinct steps.
Researchers got this rare glimpse into the fine-tuned workings of the brain from the signals sent by electrodes implanted in the brains of epileptics. The electrodes help surgeons locate the parts of the brain that cause epileptic seizures so they can be removed, and also help keep surgeons from removing critical parts of the brain
[Read More]The Key to Life's Emergence? Bubbles, New Study Argues
Posted on December 8, 2022
| 5 minutes
| 885 words
| Trudie Dory
Before life on Earth emerged, by about 3.5 billion years ago, the oceans were a soup of randomly jumbled molecules. Then, somehow, some of those molecules arranged themselves into well-organized strings of DNA, protective cell walls, and tiny organ-like structures capable of keeping cells alive and functioning. But just how they accomplished this organization has long baffled scientists. Now, biophysicists at Ludwig–Maximilians University in Munich think they have an answer: bubbles.
[Read More]The Truth About Skydiving Risks
Posted on December 8, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 693 words
| Trudie Dory
Faulty parachutes can obviously kill skydivers, but more often human error is involved, says an ER physician who practices and studied the sport.
As a skydiver who has treated parachutist injuries and has himself suffered injury, Dr. Anton Westman at Umea University Hospital in Sweden wanted to examine the question of whether the human factor plays a greater role than the equipment in causing injuries and deaths.
"The short answer is yes,"
[Read More]Tummy Tucks May Be Riskier Than Other Plastic Surgeries
Posted on December 8, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 525 words
| Arica Deslauriers
People who undergo tummy tucks may face a higher rate of major complications than those who have other cosmetic plastic-surgery procedures, according to a new study.
Tummy tucks, which doctors call abdominoplasty, involve surgically removing excess skin and tissue from the abdomen to create a smoother and firmer abdominal profile.
In the study, researchers looked at about 25,000 people who had tummy tucks between 2008 and 2013. The study showed that 4 percent of the people suffered major complications after the procedure, which is higher than the average rate of 1.
[Read More]UFO Battles Captured on Video? Not Likely, Expert Says
Posted on December 8, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 608 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
A San Diego-based UFO researcher named Ed Grimsley captured what one writer called "multiple unidentified flying objects" that were "saucer-shaped [and] appeared to hover in the sky and change direction before moving out of sight." The video was taken April 30 with Grimsley's organization, Skywatch.
To the trained eye, however, this video appears to show something much more banal than a UFO battle. [Click here for video]
According to his website, Grimsley "
[Read More]A 55-Foot Fin Whale Washed Up on a Massachusetts Beach. What Killed It?
Posted on December 7, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 554 words
| Patria Henriques
A finback whale that died near the coast of Massachusetts has unwittingly donated its body to science.
On Monday (Aug. 20), the Duxbury Police Department posted on Twitter to ask the public to avoid Duxbury Beach, where a 55-foot-long (17 meters) whale carcass was resting in the surf. New England Aquarium marine biologists were soon on the scene to necropsy the whale, according to Boston.com. Samples have been sent to labs around the country, said aquarium spokesperson Diana McCloy, but it will be weeks or months before scientists learn anything more about the whale's cause of death.
[Read More]Advanced Alien Civilizations May Produce 'Technosignatures' That We Could Find, Experts Say
Posted on December 7, 2022
| 7 minutes
| 1462 words
| Arica Deslauriers
BELLEVUE, Wash. — If life evolved on other planets as it did on Earth, aliens may be zooming around in vehicles that belch pollution into space. Or they might have had their very own Edison — and a planet blanketed in artificial light.
A group of astronomers is searching for these strange signals from distant exoplanets, or what are called "technosignatures," because they may point to the existence of intelligent civilizations elsewhere in the cosmos.
[Read More]Carnivore Comeback: Bears and Wolves Are Thriving in Europe
Posted on December 7, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 694 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Despite having half the land area of the contiguous United States and double the population density, Europe is home to twice as many wolves as the U.S.
A new study finds that Europe's other large carnivores are experiencing a resurgence in their numbers, too — and mostly in nonprotected areas where the animals coexist alongside humans. The success is owed to cross-border cooperation, strong regulations and a public attitude that brings wildlife into the fold with human society, rather than banishing it to the wilderness, according to study leader Guillaume Chapron, a professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences' Grimsö Wildlife Research Station.
[Read More]Human and Chimp Ancestors Might Have Interbred
Posted on December 7, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 700 words
| Patria Henriques
The earliest known ancestors of modern humans might have reproduced with early chimpanzees to create a hybrid species, a new genetic analysis suggests.
Based on the study of human and chimp genomes, the scientists believe the split between the human and chimpanzee lines occurred much more recently than previously thought—no more than 6.3 million years ago and perhaps as recently as 5.4 million years ago.
Human and chimpanzee ancestors began branching apart on the primate evolutionary tree some 9 million years ago, but there are significant gaps in the fossil record.
[Read More]Lost monastery led by powerful 8th-century queen discovered in England
Posted on December 7, 2022
| 2 minutes
| 322 words
| Patria Henriques
Archaeologists in England may have found the lost monastery of Queen Cynethryth, who was queen of the kingdom of Mercia during the eighth century A.D.
Cynethryth, who was married to King Offa, had an unusually high degree of power for a woman at that time.
"Cynethryth is a fascinating figure, a female leader who clearly had genuine status and influence in her lifetime," project leader Gabor Thomas, an archaeology professor at the University of Reading in the U.
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