Mosquitoes Sucked Less Blood (and Had Less Sex) While Listening to Skrillex, Study Finds

 Posted on October 1, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  504 words  |  Fernande Dalal

In a blow to dubstep fans everywhere, a team of insect researchers has found that female mosquitoes listening to Skrillex had less sex and sucked less blood than mosquitoes who spent 10 minutes in silence. The authors of the new study, published March 25 in the journal Acta Tropica, wanted to test whether loud music could be used to manipulate mosquito behavior as an "environmentally friendly" alternative to insecticides. Because mating and blood-sucking are the main means by which mosquitoes transmit deadly diseases like Zika virus and dengue fever, interrupting those behaviors with obnoxious noise could also mitigate the spread of disease, the authors wrote. [Read More]

Mummified kitten 'strangled' to death before being offered to the gods, new 3D scans reveal

 Posted on October 1, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  657 words  |  Patria Henriques

Two thousand years ago, an Egyptian priest picked up a baby cobra by its tail, whipped it through the air and slapped it hard against the ground. Thwack! As the snake's skull and spine cracked, its brief and uncomfortable life was over. But its usefulness to the Egyptians was just beginning. The young snake would soon become an animal mummy — just one of millions of linen-bound corpses that were dressed, blessed and offered to the gods between roughly 700 B. [Read More]

Pacific Crab Invades Atlantic

 Posted on October 1, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  282 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

There's a new face appearing on Atlantic Ocean "most wanted" posters: the Dungeness crab. Marine scientists are worried that this west coast crab could be invading east coast waters after it was unexpectedly found off the coast of Massachusetts by a fisherman on July 19. Lou Williams, the fisherman, took the out-of-place catch to aquaculture specialists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who sent out mug shots to other scientists around the country. [Read More]

Raven 'queen' missing from Tower of London, feared dead

 Posted on October 1, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  551 words  |  Fernande Dalal

One of the iconic ravens that resides in the Tower of London is missing, and officials fear the worst. Will the tower fall, as legend warns? (Probably not.) Merlina, a female raven (Corvus corax), joined the corvid community at the tower in 2007, and has reigned since then as "the ruler of the roost," tower representatives tweeted in a thread on Jan. 13.  But Merlina, one of seven royal ravens in the tower, has been missing for several weeks, " [Read More]

Spider Phobia Cured With 2-Hour Therapy

 Posted on October 1, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  781 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Getting up close and personal with a furry tarantula is probably the very last thing someone with a spider phobia would opt for, but the encounter may be the ticket to busting the brain's resistance to arachnids. A tried-and-true exposure therapy, this one lasting just hours, changed activity in the brain's fear regions just minutes after the session was complete, researchers found. "Before treatment, some of these participants wouldn't walk on grass for fear of spiders or would stay out of their home or dorm room for days if they thought a spider was present," [Read More]

Sultan of Schwing: How Moroccan Ruler Could Sire 1,000 Kids Revealed

 Posted on October 1, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  627 words  |  Patria Henriques

Sultan Moulay Ismaïl of Morocco, "The Bloodthirsty," reputedly sired hundreds of children and perhaps more than a 1,000. Now computer simulations suggest this could have been possible if the ruler had sex about once a day for 32 years. Ismaïl, who reigned from 1672 to 1727, was the first great sultan of the Moroccan Alaouite dynasty, the current royal house of the kingdom. He was Sharifian — that is, he claimed descent from Muhammad, the founder of Islam. [Read More]

Why the Full Moon Makes Scorpions Glow In the Dark

 Posted on October 1, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  473 words  |  Fernande Dalal

The horror, the horror: As if scorpions weren't frightening enough, when illuminated by ultraviolet rays from a black light, the armored arachnids glow an unnatural neon blue. UV light that hits these creepy crawlies gets converted by proteins in their exoskeletons into light of a blue hue, which is visible to the human eye. Scorpions are already outfitted with armor, pinchers, and painful and poisonous stingers, so one has to wonder: Is glowing in the dark really necessary? [Read More]

Women Who Use IUDs May Have Lower Risk of Cervical Cancer

 Posted on October 1, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  668 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Women who use an intrauterine device for birth control may have a lower risk of developing cervical cancer, according to a new review and meta-analysis. In the new study, published yesterday (Nov. 8) in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, researchers found that the rate of cervical cancer was one-third lower in women who used an intrauterine device (IUD) than in those who did not use such a device. The researchers cautioned that because the review didn't include clinical work to determine how an IUD might prevent cervical cancer, the results don't mean people should get the device for cancer prevention, said lead author Victoria Cortessis, an epidemiologist at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. [Read More]

'Supermoon' Lunacy: Does the Moon Make Us Crazy?

 Posted on September 30, 2022  |  5 minutes  |  992 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

With the so-called supermoon upon us, as our only natural satellite makes its largest appearance Saturday (March 19) in more than 18 years, should we expect any lunacy? For centuries legend has held that full moons make people go crazy. Full moons have been linked in popular culture with a rise in suicides and even epileptic seizures, but there's little to no scientific evidence backing these ideas up. [Learn more about the full moon  and the " [Read More]

Arizona Woman Dies from Rare Rodent-Borne Virus

 Posted on September 30, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  664 words  |  Patria Henriques

Update on April 27, 2017: An Arizona woman who contracted a rare, rodent carried virus called hantaviurs, died last week after a 3-month battle with the disease, according to her family. "Kiley Rianna Terrell Lane left this world and joined her Heavenly Father peacefully on April 18th surrounded by her loving husband, mother, sister, and family," her family wrote on her YouCaring page. "Kiley's family continues to want to build awareness about hantavirus and elevate the conversation around this serious illness…If one person is tested early and avoids the pain and agony Kiley endured, it is a life [positively] impacted," [Read More]