Wildfires: Causes, Costs & Containment
Posted on June 18, 2023
| 6 minutes
| 1186 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Wildfires burn millions of acres every year, leaving death and destruction in their wake. While natural causes (and climate change) play a part, nearly all wildfires are caused by people. Also, the number of wildfires has increased in recent years, and they are burning longer.
DefinitionThe National Park Service uses several terms to describe fires.
A wildland fire is the overarching term describing any non-structure fire that occurs in vegetation and natural fuels.
[Read More]Ancient Source of Earth's Biggest Eruptions Found
Posted on June 17, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 405 words
| Fernande Dalal
Editor's note: This story was updated to reflect the correct condition of the mantle.
A half dozen of the most titanic volcanic eruptions in Earth's history — including one potentially linked with the extinction of the dinosaurs — might all stem from the same ancient reservoir of super-hot rock near the Earth's core, scientists find.
Gigantic deluges of lava known as flood basalts have been linked with mass extinctions throughout history.
[Read More]Caffeine May Kill Some Cancer Cells
Posted on June 17, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 574 words
| Patria Henriques
A cup of joe a day may help keep skin cancer away: A new study shows that caffeine helps kill off human cells damaged by ultraviolet light, one of the key triggers of several types of skin cancer.
The finding, detailed in Feb. 26 online issue of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, could one day lead to the development of caffeine creams or ointments to help reverse the effects of UV damage in humans and prevent some skin cancers.
[Read More]Chewing Gum Touted as Diet Strategy
Posted on June 17, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 696 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
A new study funded by a chewing gum manufacturer suggests that its brand of sugar-free gum might reduce calorie intake in some people.
The study, presented at the Experimental Biology 2009 meeting in New Orleans, was reported over the weekend by some media outlets with little context. Yet like all heath-related studies, this one should not be considered in isolation nor should it spur a new diet strategy.
In the study, 115 men and women came in for two sessions.
[Read More]Denmark Is Building a $12 Million Border Wall for Pigs
Posted on June 17, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 410 words
| Patria Henriques
This little piggy went to market; This little piggy was denied entry at the Danish-German border and had to stay home.
That's because workers in Denmark began building a wall yesterday (Jan. 28) to secure the country's southern border from the specific threat of German wild boars. Officials hope the wall will help protect Denmark's sizable domestic pig population from the ravages of African swine fever (ASF) — a disease that's fatal to pigs but benign to humans — without impeding human travelers.
[Read More]Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' Reprint Races Up German Best-Seller Chart
Posted on June 17, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 473 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
A critical version of Hitler's notorious autobiography, "Mein Kampf," is now a best-seller in Germany.
The autobiography has sold about 75,000 copies and spent 35 weeks on the German "Der Spiegel" best-seller list in 2016, The New York Times reported. The book had been banned in Germany for seven decades; the state of Bavaria held the copyright until the end of 2015 and continually thwarted efforts to republish the book. But the copyright expired Dec.
[Read More]If You Get the Flu, When Should You Go to the ER?
Posted on June 17, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 599 words
| Patria Henriques
Emergency rooms around the U.S. are crowded with flu patients as the country experiences one of the most intense flu seasons in years, according to news reports. But if you do catch the flu, how do you know if you need to go to the ER?
Most patients with the flu will recover on their own without medical care. But in some cases, the flu can be life-threatening, and so it's important to know how to recognize signs of a flu emergency, according to the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP).
[Read More]Medieval Text Resolves Mystery of Viking-Irish Battle
Posted on June 17, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 652 words
| Fernande Dalal
The famous Irish king, Brian Boru, is widely credited with defeating the Vikings at the Battle of Clontarf more than 1,000 years ago. But not everyone heaps praise on the king. For the past 300 years, historians have cast doubt on whether Boru's main enemies were the Vikings, or his own countrymen.
Perhaps, say these so-called revisionists, the Battle of Clontarf was actually a domestic feud — that is, a civil war — between different parts of Ireland.
[Read More]Most of Alaska's Permafrost Could Melt This Century
Posted on June 17, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 627 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
SAN FRANCISCO — The permafrost in some of Alaska's most iconic national parks could all but disappear this century, new research suggests.
Right now, half of the ground in Denali National Park's is frozen year-round, but if global warming continues at the current pace, just 1 percent of this land could remain permafrost by the year 2100, according to new research presented here at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.
[Read More]Pregnancy Alters Gut Bacteria
Posted on June 17, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 422 words
| Fernande Dalal
Pregnancy changes not only the way a woman's tummy looks, but the community of bacteria living within her gut, according to a new study.
During the first trimester of the study subjects' pregnancies, researchers found little variation in the makeup of gut bacterial communities from woman to woman, and between pregnant and non-pregnant women.
During the third trimester, however, gut bacteria varied greatly from woman to woman, and there was less diversity of gut bacteria within any given woman, the study found.
[Read More]