Climate Partly to Blame for German Migration to America in 19th Century
Posted on November 23, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 808 words
| Fernande Dalal
Today, Germany is a top migration destination, second only to the United States. But in the 19th century, Germans were fleeing their homeland in huge numbers in search of better prospects abroad.
More than 5 million Germans moved to North America during that era, including the ancestors of Donald Trump and the Heinz family. And now, new research shows that climate was a major factor driving this migration pattern.
"Up until today, the migration from Europe into North America was the largest migration in history,"
[Read More]Comet Likely Didn't Cause Bizarre 'Wow!' Signal (But Aliens Might Have)
Posted on November 23, 2022
| 6 minutes
| 1192 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
An astronomer thinks he's pinpointed the source of a mysterious radio signal from space: a passing comet that nobody knew about. But his colleagues said they're still skeptical of the explanation, noting that comets don't emit radio waves in the right way.
Antonio Paris, an astronomer at St. Petersburg College in Florida, recently published a paper in the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences saying the mysterious "Wow! signal," a truly bizarre radio signal detected almost 40 years ago, seems to match up with the location of a comet called 266P/Christensen that hadn't been cataloged at the time.
[Read More]Earth is fighting a laser duel with the exploding Carina Nebula
Posted on November 23, 2022
| 2 minutes
| 369 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Four orange laser beams blaze through the Milky Way while an angry purple nebula transfixes us with its death-stare. Happily (or sadly, depending on how much news you've consumed this week), Earth is not doomed; in fact, it's an Earthly telescope that's launching the lasers in this epic image from the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
Dubbed ESO's picture of the week, this shot looks like a cosmic battle to the death, but it actually captures a clever astronomical trick that scientists use to peer across time and space.
[Read More]For Breast Cancer Risk, Red Wine May Be Better than White
Posted on November 23, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 664 words
| Trudie Dory
Women who drink red wine may have a lower risk of breast cancer than women who drink white wine, a small new study suggests.
The results show that premenopausal women who drank 8 ounces of cabernet sauvignon every night for about a month had lower estrogen levels than women who drank white wine. Increased estrogen levels have been linked to breast cancer.
Much research has linked increased consumption of alcohol with an increased risk of breast cancer, the researchers say.
[Read More]Images: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Posted on November 23, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 766 words
| Fernande Dalal
Holy SiteCandles lit by sacred fire light up the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in April 2011. The church is said to be built over the original burial place of Jesus Christ. The structure in the middle of the dome is the Holy Edicule, which is built directly over the tomb. Marble slabs have covered the original bedrock of the tomb since at least A.D. 1555.
Conserving the Christ's tombThe Holy Edicule, the shrine that surrounds the rock tomb traditionally believed to belong to Jesus Christ, sits within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
[Read More]Intense exercise could trigger ALS in those with genetic risk
Posted on November 23, 2022
| 5 minutes
| 892 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Exercise may trigger the onset of the deadly nerve disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a new study finds.
The research showed that people who exercised vigorously, and who also carried genes tied to ALS, developed the disease at younger ages than those who were sedentary. The findings suggest that exercise could exacerbate a genetic predisposition to the devastating disease.
"We are used to thinking of exercise being good. In this unusual case, intense exercise is bad for you,"
[Read More]Jaguar Mom Eats Dead Cub, and Zoo Caretakers Can't Explain Why
Posted on November 23, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 671 words
| Patria Henriques
A newborn jaguar cub lived a mere two days before it died and — to the horror of its caretakers at Associação Mata Ciliar in Brazil — its mother gobbled it up.
Why would a mother eat her cub? It's hard to say, because there's still much to learn about how jaguars act not just in the wild but also in captivity, said Howard Quigley, Jaguar Program executive director and conservation science executive director for Panthera, a global wild-cat conservation organization, who was not involved in the cub's case.
[Read More]More Than 30,000 Miles of Roads Built in Amazon in 3 Years
Posted on November 23, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 508 words
| Arica Deslauriers
How long does it take to build a little more than 30,000 miles (50,000 kilometers) of new roads through the rain forest? A new study finds that, in the Brazilian Amazon, such development can happen in just three years.
While roads cover only a tiny fraction of the total land surface of South America's largest nation, their effect on local ecosystems — particularly rain forests — may be huge. In an attempt to better understand road-building's effect on the Amazon, researchers from Imperial College London used road maps and satellite images to track the recent development of the Amazon road network.
[Read More]NASA Video Captures Stunning Volcano Eruption View from Space
Posted on November 23, 2022
| 2 minutes
| 305 words
| Patria Henriques
On June 12, 2009, the International Space Station happened to be passing over the Sarychev Volcano just as it was beginning to erupt. A newly released video based on several stunning snapshots taken by astronauts reveals the beauty and power of the erupting volcano.
Sarychev Peak, which rises to a height of 4,908 feet (about 1,500 meters), is the tallest peak on Matua Island in the northern part of the Kuril Islands, a Russian archipelago in the northwest Pacific Ocean.
[Read More]Scent of a Kitten: Perfumer Debuts 'Kitten Fur' Fragrance
Posted on November 23, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 473 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Our sense of smell plays an important role in how we interpret the world around us. And for people who love cats, there are few scents as welcome as the smell of the soft fur on a kitten's head.
That delectable scent is now available in a bottle. Perfume company Demeter Fragrance Library (DFL) recently announced the release of a new fragrance dubbed "Kitten Fur." The perfume captures "the olfactory essence of the warmth and comfort of that "
[Read More]