A Pair of Gargantuan Space Bubbles Might Be Spitting Cosmic Rays at Earth
Posted on October 12, 2022
| 2 minutes
| 383 words
| Fernande Dalal
Astronomers have discovered a distant galaxy that's giddily blowing bubbles like a toddler with a glass of chocolate milk. Unlike milk bubbles, however, these two huge galactic balloons are filled with gas, stretch a few thousand light-years across and appear to be crackling with charged particles 100 times more energetic than any found on Earth.
Using data from the Hubble Space Telescope and NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory, researchers detected the bubbles jiggling near the center of a galaxy named NGC 3079, located about 67 million light-years away from Earth.
[Read More]Big Lionfish Found at Disturbing Depths
Posted on October 12, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 483 words
| Trudie Dory
The relentless scourge of lionfish has crept to unexpected depths: Off the coast of Florida, researchers say they found the venomous invader thriving around a sunken ship at 300 feet (91 meters) below the water's surface.
"We expected some populations of lionfish at that depth, but their numbers and size were a surprise," researcher Stephanie Green, of Oregon State University, said in a statement.
Last month, Green and colleagues investigated the seafloor near Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
[Read More]Bizarre Physics Phenomenon Suggests Objects Can Be Two Temperatures at Once
Posted on October 12, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 791 words
| Arica Deslauriers
The famous thought experiment known as Schrödinger's cat implies that a cat in a box can be both dead and alive at the same time — a bizarre phenomenon that is a consequence of quantum mechanics.
Now, physicists at the University of Exeter in England have found that a similar state of limbo may exist for temperatures: Objects can be two temperatures at the same time at the quantum level. This weird quantum paradox is the first completely new quantum uncertainty relation to be formulated in decades.
[Read More]Fitbit Flex: Fitness Tracker Review
Posted on October 12, 2022
| 6 minutes
| 1172 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Fitbit Flex(opens in new tab)(opens in new tab)$129.99(opens in new tab)View(opens in new tab)We check over 250 million products every day for the best pricesEditorial note: The Fitbit Flex has been discontinued. If you're looking for a new wearable, we'd recommend looking through our breakdown of the best Fitbit or reading through our best fitness trackers guide.
The Fitbit Flex is an activity tracker aimed at measuring your exercise, diet and sleep.
[Read More]How Guillemot Eggs Clean Themselves
Posted on October 12, 2022
| 2 minutes
| 406 words
| Patria Henriques
Unlike birds that incubate their young in carefully built nests, sea-loving guillemots lay their eggs in rather precarious places — on rock ledges and exposed cliffs in crowded breeding colonies throughout the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans.
The bottom-heavy shape of guillemot eggs prevents them from tumbling off cliffs: When the eggs get knocked over, they spin in a tight circle. New research shows that guillemots also have tiny structures on their eggshells that keep the eggs from falling and help them stay clean.
[Read More]Loud Sex Can Be Deadly for Flies
Posted on October 12, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 449 words
| Patria Henriques
Flies may not scream out in ecstasy during sex, but they do create quite a buzz with their wings. And now researchers have found these mating moans can be heard by bats hungry for a meal.
The result: Wild Natterer's bats get a double-size meal of copulating flies; the mating flies, rather than offspring, get death.
In the study, detailed this week in the journal Current Biology, Stefan Greif from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany and colleagues found bats didn't seem to notice the flies walking on a ceiling or just sitting.
[Read More]Muscles in a Vial: Can a Single Shot Turn You Into Captain America?
Posted on October 12, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 496 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Thor is a god, the Green Lantern linked up with some aliens, and the X-Men got their powers from genetic mutations. But Captain America, the latest superhero to attempt box-office domination this summer, owes his abilities to science. Through an experiment, the skinny weakling Steve Rogers becomes a super-soldier who pushes the limits of human performance.
In the movie, the so-called "rebirth" takes place inside a heavily wired and illuminated pod.
[Read More]Scientists just reconstructed one of the oldest family trees ever charted
Posted on October 12, 2022
| 5 minutes
| 930 words
| Trudie Dory
A nearly 6,000-year-old tomb unearthed in England holds the remains of 27 family members, representing a five-generation lineage descended from one man and four women, researchers have found using DNA analysis.
The findings suggest there were polygamous marriages in the upper echelons of Neolithic society at that time, because the researchers think it was unlikely that the ancestral man had four wives one after another; instead, he probably had more than one wife at the same time.
[Read More]Study Reveals Why Women Apologize So Much
Posted on October 12, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 642 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
If you think you hear women saying "I'm sorry" more than men, you're right. Women apologize more often than men do, according to a new study.
But it's not that men are reluctant to admit wrongdoing, the study shows. It's just that they have a higher threshold for what they think warrants reparation. When the researchers looked at the number of apologies relative to the number of offenses the participants perceived they had committed, the researchers saw no differences between the genders.
[Read More]Underwater photos: Elusive octopus squid 'smiles' for the camera
Posted on October 12, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 501 words
| Arica Deslauriers
In September, a remotely operated vehicle on a dive off Hawaii had a run-in of sorts with a curious and shiny octopus squid. Though scientists first thought the graceful swimmer was a whiplash squid, they later accurately identified it as the Dana octopus squid. Here's a look at what the ROV's cameras picked up while face-to-face with the arm-y animal.
Lights, action!
The Dana octopus squid, Taningia danae is 3 to 7 feet (1 to 2 meters) in length and was flashing the lights that tip two of its arms, when the ROV called Deep Discoverer caught the animal on video.
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