Chemists Grapple with the Mysteries of Strawberry and Other Flavors
Posted on September 4, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 758 words
| Fernande Dalal
DAVIS, Calif.— Artificial strawberry flavor doesn't quite measure up to the real thing. It's not about taste; both are sweet. It's the distinctive strawberry aroma that's the problem.
The term "flavor" encompasses multiple things: taste, physical sensation in the mouth and smell. Appearance and sound, as in crunchiness, can also contribute. The options for taste — there are five of them accepted by science — and mouth feel are limited, but aromas are not, and they typically dominate our perception of flavor.
[Read More]Ever Seen a Shark Walk? Tiny Animals Amaze on PBS
Posted on September 4, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 482 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Great Whites may get all the headlines, but it's a miniature species of shark that can do what no other shark can: walk.
The epaulette shark (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) grows to less than 3.3 feet (1 meter) in length and lives in shallow coral reefs off Australia, Indonesia and New Guinea. With its small body and brown-spotted skin, the shark doesn't seem very flashy. But the species is well-adapted to its shallow marine environment.
[Read More]Father's use of diabetes drug could raise his kids' risk of birth defects
Posted on September 4, 2022
| 5 minutes
| 982 words
| Fernande Dalal
If men take metformin, a common type 2 diabetes drug, during a critical period of sperm development, their offspring may be more likely to develop birth defects, a large study suggests.
In particular, the study found that male babies born to fathers who took metformin during this critical period had a higher risk of genital birth defects than babies whose fathers took metformin outside of that key time window or had never taken the drug.
[Read More]How Alcohol Ads Target Kids
Posted on September 4, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 438 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Parents might do their best to shield their kids from advertising related to alcohol, but alcohol marketers are doing their best to reach them anyway. That's the finding of new research that discovered that the content of alcohol ads placed in magazines is more likely to violate industry guidelines if the ad appears in a magazine with sizable youth readership.
The research, which was done by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, found that ads in magazines with a substantial youth readership (15 percent or more) frequently showed alcohol being consumed in an irresponsible manner.
[Read More]How does ketamine work as an antidepressant? It’s complicated.
Posted on September 4, 2022
| 7 minutes
| 1336 words
| Trudie Dory
The anesthetic ketamine shows promise as a rapid treatment for difficult-to-treat depression, but scientists don't know exactly how it works.
Now, a small study hints that, among other effects, ketamine may activate a specific receptor in the brain that interacts with serotonin, a brain chemical implicated in many mood disorders. One caveat: The study included just 30 individuals.
Experts told Live Science that the study would have to include more than 100 people, if not several hundred people, to draw firm conclusions about where serotonin fits in the complex chain reaction triggered by ketamine in the brain.
[Read More]How Tiny Crustaceans Survive the Crushing Pressures of the Mariana Trench
Posted on September 4, 2022
| 2 minutes
| 405 words
| Trudie Dory
As if preparing for battle, some shrimplike creatures suit up in aluminum armor to survive the ravages of the deepest part of the oceans, a new study finds.
Amphipods are little crustaceans found in most waters on Earth. One species, Hirondellea gigas, dwells at the bottom of the sea — the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, some 35,797 feet (10,911 meters) down.
In the extreme pressures of the deep sea, the calcium carbonate that makes up the shells of amphipods and many other marine animals reacts more readily with carbon dioxide to dissolve more easily in water — essentially leaving their soft bodies naked and vulnerable.
[Read More]In Photos: Earthly Mounds Shaped Like Animals
Posted on September 4, 2022
| 2 minutes
| 381 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Animal Shapes
Researchers have identified numerous earthen animals rising above the coastal plains of Peru, a region renowned for the Nazca lines, the ruined city of Chan Chan, and other cultural treasures. Few animal effigy mounds had been found in South America until now. Shown here, University of Missouri anthropologist Robert Benfer stands near some of the smaller mounds. The mound in the distance is a small birdlike figure.
[Read More]In Photos: Giant Amphibian Ruled Ancient Rivers
Posted on September 4, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 571 words
| Patria Henriques
Researchers have discovered a mass graveyard filled with the bones of a giant amphibian that lived between 220 million and 230 million years ago in what is today southern Portugal. Here's a look at the dig site, bones and what the creature would have looked like so long ago. Images are courtesy of Steve Brusatte/Richard Butler/Octavio Mateus/Seb Steyer. [Read the full story on the super salamander]
Digging for treasure
[Read More]Nazca Lines of Kazakhstan: More Than 50 Geoglyphs Discovered
Posted on September 4, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 441 words
| Fernande Dalal
More than 50 geoglyphs with various shapes and sizes, including a massive swastika, have been discovered across northern Kazakhstan in Central Asia, say archaeologists.
These sprawling structures, mostly earthen mounds, create the type of landscape art most famously seen in the Nazca region of Peru.
Discovered using Google Earth, the geoglyphs are designed in a variety of geometric shapes, including squares, rings, crosses and swastikas (the swastika is a design that was used in ancient times).
[Read More]Netflix Film 'Chasing Coral' Warns of Grim Future for Imperiled Reefs
Posted on September 4, 2022
| 5 minutes
| 899 words
| Patria Henriques
A healthy coral reef is a magical place, teeming with diverse communities of colorful marine life. The enormous, stony structures of well-known reefs such as Australia's Great Barrier Reef can extend for thousands of miles, and appear almost indestructible. But reefs today face a deadly threat from an invisible foe — excess carbon dioxide produced by human activity, which is warming Earth's oceans at an alarming and unprecedented rate, leading to widespread coral bleaching and death.
[Read More]