New study turns our understanding of ice upside down
Posted on September 4, 2022
| 5 minutes
| 889 words
| Patria Henriques
As water freezes into ice, free-wheeling water molecules suddenly stop moving and begin forming ice crystals with their neighbors — but ironically, they need a bit of heat to do so, scientists recently discovered.
Yes, you read that right: You actually need some extra heat to freeze water into ice. That's according to a new study, published Tuesday (May 25) in the journal Nature Communications, which zoomed in on the movement of individual water molecules deposited on a frigid graphene surface.
[Read More]Russia's Popigai Meteor Crash Linked to Mass Extinction
Posted on September 4, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 573 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — New evidence implicates one of Earth's biggest impact craters in a mass extinction that occurred 33.7 million years ago, according to research presented here Wednesday (June 11) at the annual Goldschmidt geochemistry conference.
Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles precisely dated rocks from beneath the Popigai impact crater in remote Siberia to the Eocene epoch mass extinction that occurred 33.7 million years ago. Popigai crater is one of the 10 biggest impact craters on Earth, and in 2012, Russian scientists claimed the crater harbors a gigantic industrial diamond deposit.
[Read More]Simple Trick May Improve an Infant's Attention Span
Posted on September 4, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 647 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Parents can help improve their child's attention span in a very simple way: by paying attention to the toy their child is playing with, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that when parents looked at a toy and showed interest in their 1-year-olds as they played with it, the infants paid attention to the toy for a longer time, even after the parents shifted their attention elsewhere, according to the findings, which were published today (April 28) in the journal Current Biology.
[Read More]Study: Obesity is Socially Contagious
Posted on September 4, 2022
| 5 minutes
| 1009 words
| Arica Deslauriers
People who notice a friend packing on pounds might want to steer clear if they value a sleek physique.
A new study finds that when the scale reads "obese" for one individual, the odds that their friends will become obese increase by more than 50 percent.
The study, published in the July 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, suggests that obesity is "socially contagious," as it can spread among individuals in close social circles.
[Read More]US Marriage Rate Drops to New Low
Posted on September 4, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 467 words
| Fernande Dalal
The marriage rate in the United States is continuing its decades-long downward slide, with fewer American women than ever getting married and others waiting longer to wed, according to a new report.
The marriage rate has fluctuated in the past, with dips in the 1930s and 1960s, but it has been in steady decline since the 1970s.
Now, researchers report that the marriage rate has dropped to a new low of 31.
[Read More]Watch sheep flow like water in mesmerizing time-lapse drone footage
Posted on September 4, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 701 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Have you ever counted sheep to fall asleep? If so, you'll probably find it very relaxing to watch a recent viral video showing a mesmerizing aerial time-lapse of more than 1,000 sheep grazing in grassy meadows.
In the footage, recorded by a drone hovering high overhead, the sheep's tiny bodies swirl, ebb and flow as the flock moves through gates and over fields and pastures. Drone photographer Lior Patel captured the footage in Peace Valley near Yokne'am, a town in northern Israel, and the sped-up time-lapse video quickly went viral after he shared it on Facebook on June 26.
[Read More]A Rare White Whale Has Been Filmed Off the Coast of Mexico
Posted on September 3, 2022
| 2 minutes
| 242 words
| Patria Henriques
A whale-watching guide struck white gold last month when he encountered a rare, albino gray whale breaching off the west coast of Baja California, Mexico.
Footage of the whale, which tour guide and scuba instructor Manuel Gonzalez posted to Facebook in March, has drawn comparisons to Moby Dick, the white whale of literary legend described by Herman Melville in 1851. Unlike Moby, who was a gargantuan sperm whale with an appetite for New England mariner limbs, the gray whale recorded here was probably just chilling in the area for its annual mating season.
[Read More]Ancient Sloths: 5-Ton Creatures Grew Monstrously Fast
Posted on September 3, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 483 words
| Trudie Dory
An ancient sloth weighing some 5 tons and sporting claws that extended a foot (0.3 meters) is helping to reveal how the slow, furry creatures ballooned in size long ago at a startlingly fast rate, a new study finds.
The massive beast, Eremotherium eomigrans, along with all of the sloth's giant predecessors, went extinct by about 11,000 years ago.
The new study found that some sloth lineages grew more than 220 pounds (100 kilograms) every million years — one of the fastest body growth rates known in the evolution of mammals.
[Read More]Butter, Gravy and Sweet Tea? Southern Foods Tied to Heart Risks
Posted on September 3, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 694 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Adults who chow down on traditional Southern foods — such as fried chicken, gravy-smothered liver, buttered rolls and sweet tea — may be at an increased risk of acute heart disease, a new study finds.
Researchers examined the diets of more than 17,400 white and black adults living in the United States, and asked how frequently they ate foods typically considered Southern, including fried foods; fatty foods; processed meats such as bacon and ham; organ meats such as liver; eggs; and sugary drinks.
[Read More]Frogs 'Talk' Using Complex Signals
Posted on September 3, 2022
| 5 minutes
| 906 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Frogs are known for producing a wide range of sounds, and they certainly aren't shy about piping up to win mates or warn intruders off their territory. But some types of frogs have a broader "vocabulary" than others, combining different vocalizations with gestures to say, "Come hither!" or "Keep your distance!"
A recent study of a Brazilian torrent frog, Hylodes japi, shows that this species employs a more nuanced communication system than any other known frog species.
[Read More]