In Photos: Urban Bobcats Stroll through the American Southwest

 Posted on June 20, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  700 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Welcome to the neighborhoodBobcats, Lynx rufus, are small, burly cats that are found throughout North America. There are 12 recognized subspecies of bobcats that range from southern Canada to northern Mexico. In the American Southwest, where man has continued to build his homes farther from the center of established cities, the urban bobcat has become a common subdivision neighbor. Anybody home?Bobcats by nature are carnivores. In these newly developed communities, close to their undisturbed natural environments, the urban bobcat is often seen in the early morning or late evening strolling through the newly developed neighborhood in search of small prey. [Read More]

Man to Attempt Fastest Antarctic Crossing

 Posted on June 20, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  548 words  |  Patria Henriques

As if breaking a world record by crossing the Gobi desert in the air wasn't enough, adrenaline junkie Pete Ash is now making a run at a world record in a climate just as extreme but considerably colder. Ash and his 11-person team will try to set the world record for the fastest mechanized crossing of Antarctica in November and December using a kite buggy, a light, steerable vehicle, the Norwich EveningNews24 in the UK reports. [Read More]

Men Pay the Ultimate Price to Attract Women

 Posted on June 20, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  571 words  |  Trudie Dory

While it is tough to be a woman, being a man can be downright deadly. Women live longer than men. And now scientists suggest a simple Darwinian reason: Competing for a mate can wear a guy out or get him killed. "Women live longer in almost every country, and the sex difference in lifespan has been recognized since at least the mid-18th century," said Daniel Kruger at the University of Michigan. [Read More]

Monkeys Recognize Family, Even if Separated at Birth (Op-Ed)

 Posted on June 20, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  850 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Macaque monkeys grow up with their mothers and are often not familiar with their fathers. But they can recognise the paternal side of the family even without ever being introduced to them, according to a study published in the journal Current Biology. The researchers suggest that just looking at another monkey is enough to know whether they are related. [Read More]

NASA's Perseverance rover is about to collect its first Martian rock sample

 Posted on June 20, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  559 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

After about five months settling into its new home on the Red Planet, NASA'sPerseverance rover is about to collect its first-ever sample of Martian rock in one of the most intricate long-distance science projects ever conducted, according to a NASA statement. Over the next two weeks, Perseverance, or Percy as it’s sometimes called — a rhinoceros-size rover that landed on Mars on Feb. 18 — is expected to locate a pair of ancient, identical rocks on the dusty floor of Jezero Crater, then perform in-situ experiments on one of them before collecting a core sample of the other. [Read More]

Some Obscure, All Extraordinary: Historical Women in Science Honored

 Posted on June 20, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1099 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

NEW YORK — In April 1749, Émilie du Châtelet's was 42 years old, pregnant, living with her ex-lover Voltaire in her husband's chateau and working 17 hours a day to finish the mathematical commentary for her French translation of Isaac Newton's "Principia." Voltaire had already begun an affair with another woman (his niece) years before, and by that time, du Châtelet, too, had moved on to new lover, Jean François de Saint-Lambert, a French military officer, poet and the father of her unborn child. [Read More]

Teen Brain on Pot: New Study Examines First Exposures

 Posted on June 20, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  776 words  |  Trudie Dory

The chemical tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in marijuana is known to trigger responses in brain regions related to thinking, perception, coordination and memory, and to have a lasting impact on users when taken frequently over time. But much less is known about how a growing brain responds to its first introduction to marijuana. An upcoming, long-term study, however, could shed light on the ways that marijuana and other substances and experiences affect a teenager's developing brain. [Read More]

US Spy Agencies Want to Store Data on DNA Computers

 Posted on June 20, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  347 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Government intelligence agencies have a plan to build computers that store information inside DNA and other organic molecules. Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), a group within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that develops technologies for U.S. intelligence services, announced plans to develop "tabletop"-sized machines that can store and retrieve data from large batches of polymers — a term that refers to a wide variety of long, stringlike molecules. Polymers can store data in the sequence of individual atoms or groups of atoms. [Read More]

Viking sword placed on warrior's left side likely prepared him for 'mirror afterlife'

 Posted on June 20, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  792 words  |  Patria Henriques

Archaeologists in Norway have unearthed the 1,100-year-old grave of a Viking warrior, whose steel sword was placed in an unusual spot: on his left side. Though the sword's sinistral position is still somewhat perplexing, one theory is that the Vikings perceived the afterlife to be a mirror image of the real world, so whoever buried this warrior may have been accounting for that, said Raymond Sauvage, the excavation's project manager and an archaeologist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) University Museum. [Read More]

Winner of Alan Alda's 'Flame Challenge' Draws on Animation and Song

 Posted on June 20, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  397 words  |  Fernande Dalal

A flame may seem like a simple thing, but explaining why it exists can be tricky.  Ben Ames, a graduate student in quantum optics, made an animated video with a musical conclusion to provide an explanation an 11-year-old could understand. His entry won actor Alan Alda's "The Flame Challenge." Ames, who is studying at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, begins his explanation with an introduction of the atoms involved. Carbon and hydrogen are locked up in the wax and wick of the candle, while oxygen is present as a gas in the surrounding air (represented as Legos in the video). [Read More]