To Advance Science, It's Time to Tackle Unconscious Bias (Op-Ed)

 Posted on December 6, 2022  |  5 minutes  |  982 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Geraldine Richmond chairs the board of directors for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a professor of chemistry at the University of Oregon, where she holds the Presidential Chair in Science and is the U.S. Science Envoy to the Southeast Asian Lower Mekong River countries. Richmond contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.  Over the past year, science has revealed the chirping song of gravitational waves (ripples in space-time that confirmed Einstein's theory of general relativity), advances in using a person's own immune system to treat cancer, new insights into climate-change impacts, and findings from the first flyby of the dwarf planet Pluto and its moon, Charon. [Read More]

To Stay Stable At Sea, Look to the Horizon

 Posted on December 6, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  417 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Looking into the distance has long been touted as a way to stay upright and free of seasickness despite the pitch and roll of a boat. Unlike some old wives' tales, horizon-gazing is good advice, according to a study published Jan. 26 in the journal Psychological Science. Staring at the horizon really does make people steadier while at sea. The results could help researchers better understand the maddening phenomenon of motion sickness, said study author Thomas Stoffregen, a cognitive scientist at the University of Minnesota. [Read More]

Trump Asked About 'Difference Between HIV and HPV,' Bill Gates Says

 Posted on December 6, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  276 words  |  Trudie Dory

Bill Gates recently divulged to his staff an interesting detail from his meetings with President Donald Trump: Gates says Trump repeatedly asked him about the difference between two notorious viruses, HIV and HPV. Gates made the claim in video footage obtained by MSNBC host Chris Hayes. The video shows Gates speaking to staff at a recent meeting of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates' private charitable organization, according to NBC News. [Read More]

What Is Psoriasis?

 Posted on December 6, 2022  |  5 minutes  |  1009 words  |  Patria Henriques

Psoriasis is a disease that causes people to develop thick patches of inflamed skin covered with silvery scales. It's an autoimmune disease, meaning that the immune system becomes overactive and attacks healthy cells in the body by mistake.  With psoriasis, an overactive immune system leads to skin cells that grow too quickly: New skin cells form in days rather than weeks, which causes them to build up rapidly on the surface of the skin, forming the characteristic thick patches and scales of psoriasis, according to the National Psoriasis Foundation. [Read More]

Why Pulling All Nighters Is a Real Drain

 Posted on December 6, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  279 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Getting a full night's sleep conserves about the same amount of energy as you expend during a two-mile walk, researchers recently found. Missing out on that sleep, however, will run you down, from an energy standpoint, more than previously believed. Pulling an all-nighter burns 135 more calories than your body burns while sleeping, or roughly the energy content of that two-mile walk or a glass of milk. Wait is that all? [Read More]

Women Willing to Delay Antibiotics for UTIs

 Posted on December 6, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  621 words  |  Fernande Dalal

More women than previously thought may be willing to delay taking antibiotics to treat a urinary tract infection in order to reduce the potentially unneeded use of antibiotics, a new Dutch study shows. More than one-third of women in the study with UTI symptoms said they were willing to wait a week to see if the infection would improve on its own before starting antibiotics. And more than 70 percent of the women who didn't use antibiotics for a week showed improvements or had their symptoms disappear completely, according to the study published Thursday (May 30) in the journal BMC Family Practice. [Read More]

Your Brain Boots Up Like a Computer

 Posted on December 6, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  484 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

As we yawn and open our eyes in the morning, the brain stem sends little puffs of nitric oxide to another part of the brain, the thalamus, which then directs it elsewhere.  Like a computer booting up its operating system before running more complicated programs, the nitric oxide triggers certain functions that set the stage for more complex brain operations, according to a new study. In these first moments of the day, sensory information floods the system—the bright sunlight coming through the curtains, the time on the screeching alarm clock—and all of it needs to be processed and organized, so the brain can understand its surroundings and begin to perform more complex tasks. [Read More]

6 Infertile Women Get Pregnant After Weight-Loss Surgery

 Posted on December 5, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  555 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Weight-loss surgery may treat infertility in some obese women, a new study says. Six women in the study who were infertile due to polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), a condition that can occur with weight gain and cause infertility, became pregnant following weight-loss surgery, the researchers say. The study was small and more research is needed to confirm the findings. But for women with PCOS, weight-loss surgery may be a cure for infertility, said study researcher Dr. [Read More]

Antarctica: 100 Years of Exploration (Infographic)

 Posted on December 5, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  746 words  |  Patria Henriques

Terra AustralisFor at least 2,000 years philosophers believed that the spherical Earth must have a large unknown continent at the bottom of the globe to provide symmetry with the large continents to the north. On maps this huge continent was called "Terra Australis" or Southern Land. Europeans finally sighted the ice of Antarctica in the 18th century. Dec. 14, 2011, is the 100th anniversary of the first expedition to reach the South Pole, led by Roald Amundsen. [Read More]

Dogs know when humans are lying to them

 Posted on December 5, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  830 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Dogs may be able to tell when humans are deceiving them, according to a new study. Specifically, researchers found thatdogs react differently to false information given to them by a misinformed human than they do to a human who is flat-out lying to them. The findings suggest that dogs have a "theory of mind" that they use to explain what their owners are up to. Children typically develop this ability around age 4. [Read More]