5 Things Women Should Know About Ovarian Cancer

 Posted on September 23, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  846 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

IntroductionOvarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer among women, and it causes more deaths than any other type of female reproductive cancer. Here are five things every woman should know about ovarian cancer. The numbersOvarian cancer is a relatively rare, but deadly, cancer. The National Cancer Institute estimates 22,280 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year, and 15,500 women will die of the disease. (For comparison, the NCI estimates that 226,870 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and 39,510 women will die of that disease this year. [Read More]

7 Iconic American Animals

 Posted on September 23, 2022  |  5 minutes  |  1019 words  |  Fernande Dalal

American IconsAmerican flags will be flying high on the Fourth of July, and Uncle Sam look-alikes will be out at the fireworks displays. But these symbols aren't the only American icons, which can be found aplenty in the amazing animal species found from sea to shining sea. From the official symbols, such as the bald eagle, to the animals that conjure a specific piece of Americana, like the grizzly bear, the following animals are true American icons. [Read More]

A Dream Deferred: America's Changing View of Civil Rights

 Posted on September 23, 2022  |  6 minutes  |  1229 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Fifty years ago, on Aug. 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. stood in front of more than 250,000 protesters in Washington, D.C., and called for the end of racial discrimination in the United States in his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech. The political rally, which became known as the March on Washington, and King's speech became cornerstones of the American civil rights movement. But the day after people celebrated the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and the legacy of the civil rights movement, many minority groups, including African-Americans, are still fighting for equality, sociologists say. [Read More]

A Natural Compass: Rock Cracks Point North

 Posted on September 23, 2022  |  5 minutes  |  859 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Night has fallen, and you are lost in the middle of an unfamiliar desert. There are ways to find your bearings by looking up at the stars. But how about looking down at the rocks? According to Leslie McFadden of the University of New Mexico, there may be a kind of compass in the alignment of cracks in certain rocks. In trying to explain how a boulder falls apart when water is scarce, McFadden has incorporated the power of the Sun, and the simple fact that it rises in East and sets in the West, roughly speaking. [Read More]

Abandoned moonshine still linked to Al Capone uncovered in South Carolina woods

 Posted on September 23, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  397 words  |  Patria Henriques

Archaeologists in South Carolina have uncovered the remnants of a 1920s-era moonshine still that may have been run by one of Al Capone's criminal associates. While digging in a wooded region known as "Hell Hole Swamp" (part of South Carolina's Francis Marion National Forest) outside Charlottesville, the researchers discovered a metal barrel, a green garden hose, cinder blocks and various pieces of scrap metal, according to South Carolina'sPost and Courier. [Read More]

Baby octopuses grow hundreds of temporary organs, then lose them without a trace

 Posted on September 23, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  749 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Your internal organs grow and change throughout your life, but rarely do they vanish without a trace. For baby octopuses, things are not so simple. Before they are born, embryonic octopuses sprout hundreds of temporary, microscopic structures known as Kölliker's organs (KO). These tiny organs cover every surface of the octopus's body, sometimes hiding inside little pockets in the skin, and sometimes extending (or "everting") like tiny folded-up umbrellas. Once everted, each organ may bloom open, revealing a burst of bristly fibers. [Read More]

Coffee Tastes Bitter, So Why Do People Drink It?

 Posted on September 23, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  570 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

It may sound counterintuitive, but people who are supersensitive to coffee's bitter taste actually drink more of it, a new study finds. This sensitivity isn't simply a matter of taste, either, but rather is influenced by a person's genetic makeup, the researchers said in the study, which was published online today (Nov. 15) in the(opens in new tab)journal Scientific Reports(opens in new tab). "You'd expect that people who are particularly sensitive to the bitter taste of caffeine would drink less coffee," [Read More]

Creepy Surprise: Medieval Skeleton Discovered Under Uprooted Tree

 Posted on September 23, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  345 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

When an old beech tree toppled over during winter storms in Ireland this year, a skeletal surprise was hiding in the gigantic mass of roots pulled from the ground: the remains of a medieval boy. The 215-year-old tree was uprooted in May in Collooney, a town in the county of Sligo, on the northwest coast of Ireland. Preliminary analyses of the bones by osteoarchaeologist Linda Lynch and others at Sligo-Leitrim Archaeological Services (SLAS), a private consultancy, revealed the remains of a young man who was between 17 and 20 years old when he died. [Read More]

Does This 'Unicorn Puppy' Really Have an Extra Tail?

 Posted on September 23, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  305 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

This puppy may not be quite as unique as a unicorn, but he's close: The pint-sized pup appears to have a tail protruding out of his face. The 10-week-old puppy was rescued this month by Mac's Mission, an animal shelter in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, that works with special-needs dogs, according to NBC Today. The appendage on his forehead is about a third of the size of his actual tail, Today reported. [Read More]

Dozens of ancient penguin 'mummies' discovered at lost nesting site in Antarctica

 Posted on September 23, 2022  |  5 minutes  |  959 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

On a dry, windy cape in southernAntarctica, the ground is strewn with dead, mummifiedpenguins. The rocks around them are littered with bones, pebbles and guano stains — the telltale marks of a freshly abandoned Adélie penguin colony. Scenes like this are common around Antarctica's Ross Sea, which is home to millions of Adélies and other thriving penguin populations. Still, the sight at Cape Irizar puzzled biologist Steve Emslie, a professor at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, when he visited in January 2016; he knew that Adélie penguins hadn't been spotted there in hundreds of years. [Read More]