Your Brain Is a Mosaic of Male and Female

 Posted on November 17, 2022  |  6 minutes  |  1067 words  |  Trudie Dory

There is no such thing as a "male brain" or a "female brain," new research finds. Instead, men and women's brains are an unpredictable mishmash of malelike and femalelike features, the study concludes. Even in brain regions previously thought to show differences based on sex, variability is more common than consistency. "Our study demonstrates that although there are sex/gender differences in brain structure, brains do not fall into two classes, one typical of males and the other typical of females, nor are they aligned along a 'male brain–female brain' continuum," [Read More]

'SpongeBob' Cartoon Can Cloud Kids' Concentration

 Posted on November 16, 2022  |  5 minutes  |  1009 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Mom and Dad warned that television would rot your brain, and a new study suggests it's true — at least from certain frenetic-style cartoons. Kids who watched just nine minutes of the fast-paced children's cartoon "SpongeBob SquarePants" did worse afterward at tasks requiring focus and self-control than did kids who watched a slow-paced cartoon and kids who entertained themselves by coloring. The study was small, and scientists weren't sure how long the brain-drain effect persists. [Read More]

1 in 3 Americans Will Have Diabetes by 2050, CDC Says

 Posted on November 16, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  588 words  |  Fernande Dalal

In the United States, 1 in 3 people will have Type 2 diabetes by 2050 if current trends continue, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The projections, released today (Oct. 22), are alarming to U.S. health officials, who say the numbers highlight the need for interventions to keep the number of new cases from climbing. Currently, 1 in 10 Americans has Type 2 diabetes. [Read More]

Aliens May Be Rearranging Stars to Fight Dark Energy, Awesome Study Suggests

 Posted on November 16, 2022  |  5 minutes  |  931 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

How to dominate the universe in three easy steps … Step 1: Harvest all of your planet's resources. Step 2: Harvest all of your nearest star's energy. Step 3: Harvest all the energy from all the stars in your local galaxy; then move on to another galaxy.   Congratulations! Your species now has all the elbow room it needs to grow into a universal superpower. That's one Russian astronomer's perspective, anyway. [Read More]

Archaeologists Discover 3,000-Year-Old Megalithic Temple Used by a 'Water Cult'

 Posted on November 16, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  459 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Archaeologists have discovered a 3000-year-old megalithic temple in Peru that an ancient "water cult" used for fertility rituals. The temple, found at the Huaca El Toro archaeological site, is located in modern-day Oyotún in the Zaña Valley of  northwestern Peru. It is the first megalithic temple, or one made from large stones, found in this valley, which sits between two rivers that join together and give rise to the Zaña River. [Read More]

Genetically Engineered Plants Could Clean Humanity's Messes

 Posted on November 16, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  838 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Genetically engineered grass and trees could help remove toxins and explosive residues from the environment more quickly and cheaply than ever. For more than a decade, researchers have investigated whether genetically modified or transgenic plants could help clean up contaminated sites by taking up pollutants using their roots. The genes that researchers plugged into these plants could then break down impurities such as carcinogens, or cancer-triggering molecules. "So many of us have been impacted by cancer that I am strongly motivated to find ways to reduce the amount of carcinogens from our environment in a fast and economical way," [Read More]

Germs May Be Good For You

 Posted on November 16, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  495 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Exposing kids to nasty germs might actually toughen them up to diseases as grown-ups, mounting research suggests. A new study suggests that higher levels of exposure to common everyday bacteria and microbes may play a helpful role in the development of the body's inflammatory systems, which plays a crucial role in the immune system's fight against infection. "Inflammatory networks may need the same type of microbial exposures early in life that have been part of the human environment for all of our evolutionary history to function optimally in adulthood," [Read More]

How Change of Seasons Affects Animals and Humans

 Posted on November 16, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  851 words  |  Trudie Dory

Tomorrow (Sept. 22) at 11:09 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, the center of the sun will cross Earth's equator, marking the autumnal equinox, and the start of fall in the Northern Hemisphere. For a brief period, days and nights around the world each last close to 12 hours (day and night are not exactly equal, as the term “equinox” is meant to imply). Then, as the Earth continues its path around the sun, days become shorter and nights lengthen, with the change becoming more pronounced in the higher latitudes, but remaining nonexistent at the equator. [Read More]

In Images: Ghostly Faces in Space

 Posted on November 16, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  240 words  |  Patria Henriques

Jesus ToastPeople have always found faces and patterns in unusual places, a phenomenon known as pareidolia. Though this image of Jesus on toast is doctored, a grilled cheese sandwich with the image of the Virgin Mary sold for $28,000 on eBay in 2004. Shroud of TurinOne of the most famous examples, the Shroud of Turin is reputed to hold the image of Jesus's face and body Bucegi SphinxThe natural rock formation known as the Bucegi sphinx in Romania looks a bit like the Egyptian monuments. [Read More]

In Photos: Elusive Mountain Lions Come Out of Hiding

 Posted on November 16, 2022  |  6 minutes  |  1091 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Any other nameThere is no animal across the Americas that has been given more names than the hemisphere's dominant hunting cat often known as the mountain lion, Puma concolor — which translates to "lion of one color," referring to the adult mountain lion's beautiful tan-colored coat. Regardless of their regional names, these magnificent predators are the second largest member of the cat family in the Americas (jaguar takes the top slot) and the fourth largest cat found in the world. [Read More]