The Shoe Fits! 1.5 Million-Year-Old Human Footprints Found

 Posted on October 31, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  727 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Early humans had feet like ours and left lasting impressions in the form of 1.5 million-year-old footprints, some of which were made by feet that could wear a size 9 men's shoe. The findings at a Northern Kenya site represent the oldest evidence of modern-human foot anatomy. They also help tell an ancestral story of humans who had fully transitioned from tree-dwellers to land walkers. "In a sense, it's like putting flesh on the bones," [Read More]

What Caused the Deadly Philippines Earthquake?

 Posted on October 31, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  361 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

A deadly magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck the central Philippines on a national holiday yesterday. The temblor was the strongest to shake the area in 23 years, Renato Solidum, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. An estimated 43,000 people experienced severe shaking, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The likely culprit is the East Bohol Fault, Solidum said. The East Bohol Fault, which crosses southern Bohol Island, helps relieve some of the tectonic pressure on the Philippines. [Read More]

'Mother Lode' of Amazingly Preserved Fossils Discovered in Canada

 Posted on October 30, 2022  |  6 minutes  |  1085 words  |  Fernande Dalal

A treasure trove of fossils chiseled out of a canyon in Canada's Kootenay National Park rivals the famous Burgess Shale, the best record of early life on Earth, scientists say. "Once we started to break fresh rock, we realized we had discovered something incredibly special," said Robert Gaines, a geologist at Pomona College in Pomona, Calif., and co-author of a new study announcing the find. "It was an extraordinary moment. [Read More]

Bizarre Caterpillar That Makes Own Leafy 'Armor' Seen for 1st Time

 Posted on October 30, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  465 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

A caterpillar that was recently discovered in Peru exhibits a behavior previously unknown in caterpillars. It pieces together a tube of leaves and crawls inside; then, it "walks" by grabbing bits of the forest undergrowth with its mouth and pulling itself and its leafy covering forward. This never-before-seen activity was spotted and documented by Joe Hanson, creator and host of the YouTube science channel "It's OK to Be Smart" presented by PBS Digital Studios, while filming in the Peruvian Amazon with entomologist Aaron Pomerantz and guide Pedro Lima. [Read More]

Do All Turtles Have Shells?

 Posted on October 30, 2022  |  1 minutes  |  105 words  |  Trudie Dory

While most turtles sport a hard, protective shell on their backs, leatherback sea turtles have their bony protection embedded under their skin and oily flesh. Hence the name… Most turtle shells are made of scutes, or hard, bony plates outside the turtle's skin, but the leatherback has mini-plates underneath its thick, leathery skin. It also have seven ridges that run along its back, underneath the skin. These large sea turtles recently charted one of the longest migrations of any vertebrate animal, and can be found in every ocean of the world. [Read More]

Faster-Than-Light Travel Could Explain Mysterious Signals Beaming Through the Cosmos

 Posted on October 30, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  835 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

In a distant corner of the universe, something is traveling faster than light.  No, the laws of physics aren't being violated: It's still true that nothing can travel faster than light in the vacuum of empty space. But when light travels through matter, like interstellar gas or a soup of charged particles, it slow downs, meaning other matter might overtake it. And that may explain the weird symmetry in pulses of some of the most energetic light in the universe, called gamma-ray bursts. [Read More]

How Astrophysicist Neil Tyson Got His Kid to Test the Tooth Fairy

 Posted on October 30, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  837 words  |  Trudie Dory

It's A-OK to captivate your child with the story of the tooth fairy, right? Nope, not if it entails telling a big, fat whopper, astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson told "The Late Late Show with James Corden" early Thursday morning (Sept. 15). "We're not going to lie to them," Tyson said to Corden. "The universe is amazing enough that you don't have to invent stuff just to keep kids entertained." [Easy Answers to the Top 5 Science Questions Kids Ask] [Read More]

How Moles Survive Subterranean Life

 Posted on October 30, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  542 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Eastern moles spend so much of their lives underground that their pinhead-sized eyes are covered by a thin layer of skin. But darkness isn't the only challenge of tunnel life, where the low oxygen levels would leave a mere human bedridden. Now, researchers describe a surprising adaptation in the blood of eastern moles (Scalopus aquaticus) that enables them to get a workout burrowing, all the while inhaling the same air they have recently exhaled. [Read More]

How to Turn Your Smartphone Into a Cosmic-Ray Detector

 Posted on October 30, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  446 words  |  Patria Henriques

Want to study high-energy particles streaming through the cosmos at nearly the speed of light? There's an app for that. It's called the Distributed Electronic Cosmic-Ray Observatory (DECO), and unlike the huge, multimillion-dollar particle detectors housed in labs, DECO allows smartphone owners to turn their phone into a pocket-size cosmic-ray particle detector by downloading two apps and sticking a piece of duct tape over the camera lens to block out light particles. [Read More]

Marijuana Use May Lower Sperm Counts 'Quite a Lot'

 Posted on October 30, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  524 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Smoking marijuana more than once a week may lower men's sperm counts by about a third, according to a new study. Researchers found that the men in the study who smoked marijuana more than once a week had sperm counts that were 29 percent lower, on average, than those who did not smoke marijuana, or used the drug less frequently. The researchers thought that amount of reduction in sperm count "was quite a lot," [Read More]