Knobby-Headed Beast Roamed Ancient Desert

 Posted on September 13, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  457 words  |  Patria Henriques

More than 200 million years ago a bumpy-faced, cow-size creature, roamed the central desert of what was then the supercontinent Pangea, a new study finds. The creature, known as Bunostegos akokanensis, is from a group called pareiasaurs, large herbivorous reptiles that lived from 266 million to 252 million years ago (during the Middle and Late Permian). Fossils of Bunostegos suggest life on Earth at that time was a lot more diverse than people thought, the researchers said. [Read More]

Moldy Bread? Nope, It's a Photo of the Sahara Desert Taken from Space

 Posted on September 13, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  292 words  |  Fernande Dalal

The dramatic contrast between the burnt-orange dunes and the dull-blue hills of the Sahara Desert in northern Africa makes for a stunning view from the International Space Station, as seen in a new image shot from the ISS. This gorgeous landscape shows the border between Algeria and Libya, which is one of the driest parts of the Sahara Desert, according to NASA's Earth Observatory. For scale, note that the dune portion of the image is about 60 miles (100 kilometers) long. [Read More]

Mummies of ancient Egyptian priests found buried with thousands of afterlife 'servants'

 Posted on September 13, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  504 words  |  Trudie Dory

A massive burial ground holding the remains of several high priests of ancient Egypt, along with their assistants, has been discovered in the northern part of the site of Tuna el-Gebel, Egypt's antiquities ministry announced Thursday (Jan. 30). So far, the archaeologists have unearthed 20 stone sarcophagi (coffins) made of a "very good quality of limestone" in the burial ground, which lies about 170 miles (270 kilometers) south of Cairo, said Mostafa Waziri, the general secretary of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, during a news briefing. [Read More]

Obese Women Can't Avoid Media's Stigma

 Posted on September 13, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  483 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Television appears to influence overweight women more than friends and family, according to a new study that finds high levels of shame about weight even in women whose social networks are supportive. Overweight and obese women are more likely than leaner women to say they feel judged by family and friends, regardless of whether that's actually true, the new study found. "The question this leaves us with is: 'If it isn't the opinions of friends and family that make us feel so bad about being overweight, then what does? [Read More]

Photos: Incredible New Species Discovered in 2016

 Posted on September 13, 2022  |  7 minutes  |  1318 words  |  Fernande Dalal

New speciesWould you like to cross paths with a hairy tarantula from Colombia or a Thai newt that looks like a "Star Trek" Klingon? If the answer is yes, you're in good company. The researchers who discovered these previously unknown species were ecstatic to find and describe them to the scientific world, even as they spent countless hours detailing the characteristics and quirks of each animal in studies published this year. [Read More]

Psyche! Fire Ants Play Dead

 Posted on September 13, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  318 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Opossums do it, some snakes do it and even big bison do it. Now a new study now shows fire ants do it, too. When threatened by danger, the young insects will play dead to fake out an attacker. "No one has ever reported this before, and it was a big shock to me," said Deby Cassill, an evolutionary biologist at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. "Ants from an attacking colony will come up to inspect them, and they'll be curled up just like a dead ant. [Read More]

Radical Science Aims to Solve Food Crisis

 Posted on September 13, 2022  |  8 minutes  |  1497 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Scientists are pondering a new "green revolution," half a century after the first one, to solve a growing food shortage that has reached crisis proportions in some countries. American consumers are experiencing the trickle-down effects of the lack of food. People in Haiti, Mexico, Guinea, Mauritania, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan, Yemen and other countries have taken to the streets in recent weeks and months to protest the rising costs of food. An official with the World Food Program yesterday called it a " [Read More]

Researchers fast-track coronavirus vaccine by skipping key animal testing first

 Posted on September 13, 2022  |  5 minutes  |  892 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

A clinical trial for an experimental coronavirus vaccine has begun recruiting participants in Seattle, but researchers did not first show that the vaccine triggered an immune response in animals, as is normally required.  Now, biomedical ethicists are calling the shortcut into question, according to Stat News. "Outbreaks and national emergencies often create pressure to suspend rights, standards and/or normal rules of ethical conduct," Jonathan Kimmelman, director of McGill University’s biomedical ethics unit, wrote in an email to Stat News. [Read More]

Scientists Can't Agree on Whether Genetically Modified-Mosquito Experiment Went Horribly Wrong

 Posted on September 13, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  583 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

From 2013 to 2015, an English biotech company released millions of genetically modified mosquitoes into neighborhoods in Jacobina, Brazil, in an effort to reduce the number of native disease-carrying mosquitoes. But unexpectedly, some of the gene-edited mosquitoes passed on their genes to the native insects, fueling concerns that they created a more robust hybrid species, according to new findings. Considered the world's deadliest animal, mosquitoes spread a plethora of diseases, including Zika virus, dengue fever, yellow fever and West Nile virus. [Read More]

Smoketree Photos: The Ghosts of the North American Desert

 Posted on September 13, 2022  |  5 minutes  |  1052 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

A unique look and nameThe deserts of the American Southwest are known for their spectacular sunsets, extreme temperatures and a wide variety of unique flora and fauna. The all-too-common scorpion, like other critters, has changed very little in appearance since the time its ancestors walked with the dinosaurs; many of the endemic trees cover their trunks and branches with protective thorns. One such local tree looks from a distance like a puff of rising smoke and is appropriately called the Desert Smoketree. [Read More]