Babies Feel Pain Before Birth
Posted on September 30, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 473 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Researchers are homing in on the exact time during an infant's development when it begins to tell the difference between basic touch and pain. A new British study indicates most babies can start sensing pain a few weeks before they are born.
These findings may help to improve clinical care for preterm babies.
"Babies can distinguish painful stimuli as different from general touch from around 35 to 37 weeks gestation, just before an infant would normally be born,"
[Read More]Butt Implants Linked to Rare Cancer in First Reported Case
Posted on September 30, 2022
| 2 minutes
| 411 words
| Patria Henriques
A woman with buttock implants was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that, until now, has largely been linked to breast implants, according to a new report of the woman's case.
The case marks the first time that this cancer — called anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) — has been tied to buttock implants, the report authors said.
ALCL is a type of lymphoma, which is a cancer of immune-system cells.
[Read More]Dinosaurs Dug Deep, Possibly to Survive Catastrophe
Posted on September 30, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 588 words
| Fernande Dalal
An underground den of dinosaurs now reveals the first evidence that at least one species of "terrible lizards" could burrow.
The findings, detailed in the March 21 issue of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, suggest dinosaurs could have endured extremes of heat or cold by finding shelter within dens of their own making. They also hint that such burrowing dinosaurs could have even survived the initial brunt of whatever eventually killed most of them off in the so-called K-T extinction some 65 million years ago.
[Read More]Face on Mars: Why People See What's Not There
Posted on September 30, 2022
| 2 minutes
| 417 words
| Fernande Dalal
The ability to take in visual cues and basically fill in the blanks allows humans to process information very quickly, but new research shows that it also can lead to misperceptions - like seeing things that are not there.
"It's a manifestation of over-learning, such as when we find a man's face on Mars' surface or in a forest or on a cloud," said Takeo Watanabe of Boston University. "We've over-learned human faces so we see them where they aren't.
[Read More]Gestational Diabetes: Symptoms, Diagnosis & Complications
Posted on September 30, 2022
| 6 minutes
| 1163 words
| Trudie Dory
Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that develops, or is first diagnosed, during pregnancy. The condition, like other forms of diabetes, involves high blood sugar levels.
Often times, gestational diabetes is a temporary disorder that occurs around the second trimester of pregnancy and disappears after a woman gives birth.
But women who've had gestational diabetes should be monitored closely after birth, because they are more likely to develop diabetes later in life, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
[Read More]How a Boxing Match Turns Fatal
Posted on September 30, 2022
| 5 minutes
| 910 words
| Patria Henriques
Nearly six years ago, in a nationally televised boxing match aboard the former aircraft carrier U.S.S. Intrepid, 26-year-old Beethavean Scottland was knocked out by opponent George Jones's right-left combination to his chin after 10 rounds of fighting. One week later, he died as a result of the blow to his head.
Though fatal fights don't occur often in boxing, physicians and officials need better, more objective methods for judging when a fight could become deadly, neurosurgeon Vincent Miele of West Virginia University said.
[Read More]How do boa constrictors avoid suffocating when they squeeze their prey?
Posted on September 30, 2022
| 6 minutes
| 1156 words
| Patria Henriques
Boa constrictors famously hunt by ambushing their prey and then squeezing the captured animals to death with their muscular coils.
But as a boa constricts its body around a victim and cuts off blood flow to that animal's brain, how does the snake avoid squeezing all the air from its own lungs and suffocating itself in the process?
It turns out, a boa constrictor can rapidly adjust which section of its ribcage it uses to breathe, according to a study published March 24, 2022, in the Journal of Experimental Biology(opens in new tab) (JEB).
[Read More]Mystery, Math, Media: PBS's "Cyberchase" Gets It Right
Posted on September 30, 2022
| 5 minutes
| 992 words
| Patria Henriques
This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation.
Kids love their cartoons. When they grab a bowl of cereal, jump onto the couch and spend hours engrossed in animated "edutainment," they're being entertained — but are they being educated?
Research shows that the viewers of the PBS KIDS GO! math mystery series "Cyberchase" actually are learning important math concepts and gaining other benefits when watching the show.
[Read More]New State of Water: Strange 6-Sided Molecule Found
Posted on September 30, 2022
| 5 minutes
| 985 words
| Arica Deslauriers
A strange new behavior of water molecules has been observed inside crystals of beryl, a type of emerald, caused by bizarre quantum-mechanical effects that let the water molecules face six different directions at the same time.
Under normal conditions, the two hydrogen atoms in each water molecule are arranged around the oxygen atom in an open "V" shape, sometimes compared to a boomerang or Mickey Mouse ears.
But in a new experiment, scientists have found that hydrogen atoms of some water molecules trapped in the crystal structure of the mineral beryl become "
[Read More]Oil Drilling Contaminated Western Amazon Rainforest, Study Confirms
Posted on September 30, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 763 words
| Patria Henriques
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Peru's Amazon rainforest is extensively contaminated from decades of oil and gas drilling, researchers reported yesterday (June 12) here at the annual Goldschmidt geochemistry conference.
In the past decade, volatile demonstrations by indigenous groups and tangled lawsuits against oil companies have exposed the toxic legacy of decades of oil drilling in the Western Amazon. People living in the rainforest say they are suffering health effects from the nearby polluted drilling and waste sites, and from eating plants and wildlife laced with heavy metals and petroleum compounds.
[Read More]