Men's Porn Use Linked to Unhappy Relationships

 Posted on June 11, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  617 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Young women who report that their romantic partners look at porn frequently are less happy in their relationships than women partnered with guys who more often abstain, new research finds. The study bolsters some anecdotal evidence that men's porn use can shake the self-esteem of their girlfriends or wives, though certainly not all couples have conflicts over pornography, said study researcher Destin Stewart, a clinical psychology intern at the University of Florida. [Read More]

NASA Crushes 2012 Mayan Apocalypse Claims

 Posted on June 11, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  642 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have put out a new video to address false claims about the "Mayan apocalypse," a non-event that some people believe will bring the world to an end on Dec. 21.  In the video, which was posted online Wednesday (Mar. 7), Don Yeomans, head of the Near-Earth Objects Program Office at NASA/JPL, explains away many of the most frequently cited doomsday scenarios. [See video] Addressing the belief that the calendar used by the ancient Mayan civilization comes to a sudden end in December 2012, and that this will coincide with a cataclysmic, world-ending event, Yeomans said: " [Read More]

Robots Learn to Lie

 Posted on June 11, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  585 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Is it important that computers and robots tell us the truth? Or should they learn to lie - like their human makers? In an experiment performed in a Swiss laboratory, 10 robots with downward-facing sensors competed for "food" - a light-colored ring on the floor. At the other end of the space, a darker ring - "poison" - was placed. The robots earned points for how much time they spent near food as opposed to poison. [Read More]

Santa's Checkup: Should We Fret About St. Nick's Health?

 Posted on June 11, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  738 words  |  Fernande Dalal

He is overweight, constantly flushed, trying to accomplish a superhuman feat – and may be using cookies to deal with the stress. Should we be worried about Santa's health? [Santa Claus: The Real Man Behind the Myth] In advance of his epic journey on Christmas Eve, we asked a doctor to give him a checkup. Red nose and cheeks While some may attribute a ruddy appearance to fever or worse (too much mulled wine? [Read More]

Secret Vatican Manuscript's Mysterious Purple Spots Decoded

 Posted on June 11, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  727 words  |  Patria Henriques

Loricatus' story is known today because the villagers near his cave petitioned for his sainthood on a 16-foot-long (5 meters) parchment that now resides in the Vatican Secret Archives in Vatican City. However, much of the scroll has been damaged by mysterious purple spots — and the spots are similar to ones that mar parchments made of animal skins all over the world, said Luciana Migliore, an ecotoxicologist at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. [Read More]

Stomach Acid Drugs May Heighten Risk of Death from Infections

 Posted on June 11, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  587 words  |  Trudie Dory

Stomach acid might cause a lot of people a lot of pain, but it also serves an important purpose in the body: it stops incipient infections in their tracks. Now, a new study says that medications that suppress the production of stomach acid can make people more susceptible to complications of gastrointestinal infections, including raising the risk of dying. The study examined hospital patients infected with the drug-resistant bacteria Clostridium difficile, which is infamous for causing diarrhea in hospitalized patients and responsible for more deaths in the United States than all other intestinal infections combined. [Read More]

The FDA Wants to Take Nicotine Out of Tobacco. How Do You Do That?

 Posted on June 11, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  628 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Changes could be coming to cigarettes in the U.S.: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today (March 15) that it is taking steps to lower nicotine levels in cigarettes. But exactly how do you take the nicotine out of tobacco? The agency plans to propose a new rule that would limit nicotine levels in tobacco, with an ultimate goal of lowering the amount of the compound to nonaddictive levels, FDA Commissioner Dr. [Read More]

US Life Expectancy Depends on Income, Study Finds

 Posted on June 11, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  313 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

The last century brought increases in life expectancy in the U.S., but the trend is leveling off, a new study says. Researchers analyzed data going back to 1930, and projections through 2055. Results showed that the average life expectancy for an American born today is 78.49 years, and that number will rise by about three years by 2055, the researchers said. In 1900, life expectancy in the U.S. was 47.3 years, in 1930 it was 59. [Read More]

'Flesh-Eating' Bacteria May Be Spreading to Beaches Once Thought Off-Limits. Here's Why.

 Posted on June 10, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  608 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

"Flesh-eating" bacteria that live in the ocean may be spreading to previously unaffected beach waters thanks to climate change, according to a new report. The report authors described five cases of severe flesh-eating bacterial infections in people who were exposed to water or seafood from the Delaware Bay, which sits between Delaware and New Jersey. Such infections have historically been rare in the Delaware Bay, as the bacterium responsible for the disease, called Vibrio vulnificus, prefers warmer waters, such as those in the Gulf of Mexico. [Read More]

1,500-Year-Old Antarctic Moss Brought Back to Life

 Posted on June 10, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  679 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Moss frozen on an Antarctic island for more than 1,500 years was brought back to life in a British laboratory, researchers report. The verdant growth marks the first time a plant has been resurrected after such a long freeze, the researchers said. "This is the very first instance we have of any plant or animal surviving [being frozen] for more than a couple of decades," said study co-author Peter Convey, an ecologist with the British Antarctic Survey. [Read More]