Searching for the Vikings: 3 Sites Possibly Found in Canada

 Posted on October 19, 2022  |  6 minutes  |  1215 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Three archaeological sites that may have been used by Vikings around 1,000 years ago were excavated recently in Canada. If confirmed, the discoveries would add to the single known Viking settlement in the New World, located at L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland. Excavated in the 1960s, that Viking outpost was used for a short period of time around 1,000 years agoas well. Sagas from the time of the Vikings tell tales of their journeys into the New World, mentioning places named " [Read More]

Striking Photo Reveals Dark Side of Sunshine

 Posted on October 19, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  357 words  |  Patria Henriques

A new striking image of a 69-year-old truck driver shows just how much damage the sun can do. This photograph, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, shows what dermatologists call dermatoheliosis — sun damage, a common sign of aging. What makes it striking is that this man, a retired truck driver, shows the damage on only one side of the face. "He was a truck driver for the majority of his life and never wore sunscreen," [Read More]

Venom-Squirting Scorpions Blind Enemies with Toxin

 Posted on October 19, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  619 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Some scorpions are able to spray their venom, an ability they use defensively to try to temporarily disable predators, allowing the stinging arachnids to escape the jaws of death, a new study suggests. From skunks to bombardier beetles, a wide range of animals spray chemicals defensively. But only a relatively few species are known to squirt highly toxic venom when threatened, most notably spitting cobras. In the 1960s and 1970s, researchers discovered that at least seven species of the Afrotropical scorpion in the genus Parabuthus could also defensively spray venom. [Read More]

'Lucy' Species May Have Been Polygynous

 Posted on October 18, 2022  |  6 minutes  |  1121 words  |  Fernande Dalal

The ancient relative of humanity dubbed "Lucy" may have been one of a harem of gals who mated with a single male, according to research that suggests her species was polygynous. Among the earliest known relatives of humanity whose skeletons were made for walking upright was Australopithecus afarensis, the species that included the famed 3.2-million-year-old Lucy. Members of the Australopithecus lineage, known as australopithecines, are among the leading candidates for direct ancestors of the human lineage, living about 2. [Read More]

Amazing astrophotography: How some of the most iconic space images were captured

 Posted on October 18, 2022  |  9 minutes  |  1758 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Space photography produces stunning, otherworldly displays of intricate shapes and fiery colors, but it has also become essential in astronomers' attempts to understand the universe(opens in new tab). Since the first astronomical photo was taken of the moon in 1840(opens in new tab), technology has advanced to allow scientists to snap the clearest and most accurate cosmic images. Wide-field cameras enable orbiting cameras to shoot an extended area, while capturing objects in infrared, X-ray and other wavelengths reveals the fine details of explosions, collisions and other cosmic events. [Read More]

China is looking for 'other Earths' to colonize

 Posted on October 18, 2022  |  5 minutes  |  889 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

China has announced its first plans to search the stars for nearby habitable planets that could one day expand humanity's "living space" across the Milky Way.  In the project, called Closeby Habitable Exoplanet Survey (CHES), officials propose launching a 3.9-foot-aperture (1.2 meters) space telescope roughly 930,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) to a gravitationally stable Lagrange point between Earth and the sun, according to the Chinese state-run news service CGTN. Lagrange points trek around the sun at exactly the same rate as Earth does, meaning a craft at one of those points will remain the same distance from our planet indefinitely. [Read More]

Dispersant Makes Oil 52 Times More Toxic

 Posted on October 18, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  738 words  |  Patria Henriques

For microscopic animals living in the Gulf, even worse than the toxic oil released during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster may be the very oil dispersants used to clean it up, a new study finds. More than 2 million gallons (7.5 million liters) of oil dispersants called Corexit 9527A and 9500A were dumped into the Gulf of Mexico in an effort to prevent oil from reaching shore and to help it degrade more quickly. [Read More]

Don't Be Confused If This Starfish Makes Your Mouth Water

 Posted on October 18, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  478 words  |  Trudie Dory

If this starfish is making your mouth water, you're not alone. When a photo of Plinthaster dentatus went viral on Twitter last week, pasta-lovers did a double take — the sea star looked just like a piece of ravioli. See moreThe photo of the starfish, captured on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's recent expedition to the deep Atlantic Ocean, propelled the tasty looking echinoderm to fame. But until now, the " [Read More]

Dry Cleaning's Dirty Trick

 Posted on October 18, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  731 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

In most big cities you will see drycleaners attempting to go green.  For many, though, green refers to money, not environmental consciousness. There's a curious sign in the storefronts of many drycleaners boasting of a new "organic" cleaning technique that is non-toxic and environmentally benign.  Clearly they are trying to capitalize on the consumers' pursuit of all things wholesome. The new cleaning fluid they are using, called DF-2000, is indeed very organic, as organic as gasoline and every major dry-cleaning fluid since the creation of the industry 150 years ago. [Read More]

Fact Check: What a 9,000-Year-Old Earth Really Looked Like

 Posted on October 18, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  802 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

U.S. House Rep. Paul Broun, a Georgia Republican, doesn't believe in evolution, the Big Bang theory, or the teachings of embryology. In fact, in a Sept. 27 talk at Liberty Baptist Church in Hartwell, Ga., the member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, who is also a medical doctor, called those areas of science "lies straight from the pit of hell." But Broun also advanced his own theory of life on Earth. [Read More]