5 Myths About Wind Energy

 Posted on October 5, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  722 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Editor's Note: Each Wednesday LiveScience examines the viability of emerging energy technologies — the power of the future. Wind energy might be the simplest renewable energy to understand. Yet there are misconceptions about what makes the wind industry turn. The United States now has nearly 17,000 megawatts of wind power installed, which can supply about 1.2 percent of the nation's demand for electricity, according to a recent report from the Department of Energy (DOE). [Read More]

Ancient Humans Dined on Bacon from Weird, Spotted Pigs

 Posted on October 5, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  602 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Ancient hunter-gatherers in Europe, whose meat intake was once limited to wild game, may have enjoyed bacon, ham, pork chops and other tasty bites from pigs they owned starting about 7,000 years ago, researchers say. The new findings suggest these hunter-gatherers had domesticated pigs about 500 years earlier than previously thought, yielding new insights into the movements and interactions of prehistoric humans and the exchange of technologies and knowledge, scientists said. [Read More]

Blood Type Linked to Earlier Decline in Fertility

 Posted on October 5, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  801 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

A woman's blood type may yield clues to her fertility, a new study suggests. The results show that, of a group of women in their 30s who sought medical fertility help, those with blood type O were more likely than women with other blood types to have diminished ovarian reserve, meaning their ovaries had few eggs or had eggs unlikely to meet with success during in vitro fertilization procedures. Type O blood is the most common type in the United States. [Read More]

Cat infected with COVID-19 from owner in Belgium

 Posted on October 5, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  557 words  |  Fernande Dalal

A domestic cat in Belgium has been infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus that's spreading across the globe, the government's FPS Public Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment announced March 27, according to news reports.  This is the first human-to-cat transmission of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)(opens in new tab). About a week after its owner got sick with COVID-19, after returning from a trip to Northern Italy, the cat developed coronavirus symptoms: diarrhea, vomiting and respiratory issues, Steven Van Gucht, virologist and federal spokesperson for the coronavirus epidemic in Belgium, told Live Science. [Read More]

Color Me Confused! Iridescence Helps Animals Evade Predators

 Posted on October 5, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  420 words  |  Patria Henriques

Iridescent creatures — such as dragonflies, catfish and boa constrictors — often dazzle onlookers with their shimmering colors. These alluring, luminescent hues may be key to an animal's survival, helping it to confuse and escape from predators looking for a meal, a new study finds. Iridescence is hardly the only conspicuous coloration that befuddles predators, said the study's author, Thomas Pike, a behavioral and sensory ecologist at the University of Lincoln in the United Kingdom. [Read More]

Girl Develops 'Flesh Eating' Infection After Strep Throat

 Posted on October 5, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  426 words  |  Fernande Dalal

A 6-year-old girl in Ohio recently needed to have her leg amputated after she developed a rare complication from an infection with strep throat bacteria. But how does this relatively common type of bacteria cause such an extreme complication? The girl, Tessa Puma, was treated for strep throat in early March, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. At that time, she didn't have symptoms of the illness, but the doctors treated her because she had tested positive for group A Streptococcus, the bacterium that causes strep, after her father had strep throat, the newspaper said. [Read More]

How Do Tesla's Home Batteries Work?

 Posted on October 5, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  758 words  |  Patria Henriques

Last week, Tesla Motors announced an ambitious new product line: batteries to power homes or businesses. The idea is that homes and businesses powered by solar panels could harvest and store energy during the day that could be used to run homes at night, or be used as a backup during a power outage. "Our goal is to fundamentally change the way the world uses energy," the company's founder, Elon Musk, said at a news conference April 30. [Read More]

Hunters to Herders: Ancient Civilization Made Rapid Switch

 Posted on October 5, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  607 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Bones unearthed from an ancient mound in Turkey suggest that humans there shifted their diet from hunting to herding over just a few centuries, findings that shed light on the dawn of agriculture, scientists say.Agriculture began in the Neolithic, or New Stone Age, about 11,500 years ago. Once- nomadic groups of people settled down and began farming and herding, fundamentally changing human society and how people related to nature. [Read More]

Obesity On the Rise in Animals

 Posted on October 5, 2022  |  5 minutes  |  1028 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

The problem of obesity isn't confined to just humans. A new study finds increased rates of obesity in mammals ranging from feral rats and mice to domestic pets and laboratory primates. Americans have grown increasingly heavier, with the average body mass index (or BMI, a measure of height and weight that estimates fatness) increasing from about 25 in the early 1960s to around 28 in 2002, according to the Centers for Disease Control. [Read More]

Photos: Diving for Ancient Offerings in Lake Titicaca

 Posted on October 5, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  220 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Underwater treasureArchaeologists dove into Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and found artifacts dating to hundreds of years ago, which had been put there as offerings, likely by an elite class of people. [Read more about the ancient offerings found in Lake Titicaca] Diving workA diver completes an underwater excavation at the site in Lake Titicaca. It's likely that hundreds of years ago, this spot had a rock outcrop that was slightly above water on which people offering these objects could have stood. [Read More]