Divorce Not Always Bad for Kids

 Posted on July 10, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  524 words  |  Patria Henriques

In marriages with a lot of conflict, "staying together for the kids" might do more harm than good, a new study suggests. Children of parents who fight a lot yet stay married  experience more  conflict in their own adult relationships than children of parents who fight and do get a divorce. "The basic implication is, 'Don't stay together for the sake of the children if you're in a high conflict marriage,'" [Read More]

Does the Soul Exist?

 Posted on July 10, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  1016 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.  Many people today believe they possess a soul. While conceptions of the soul differ, many would describe it as an "invisible force that appears to animate us." It's often believed the soul can survive death and is intimately associated with a person’s memories, passions and values. Some argue the soul has no mass, takes no space and is localised nowhere. [Read More]

Enormous Roman Mosaic Found Under Farmer's Field

 Posted on July 10, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  427 words  |  Trudie Dory

A giant poolside mosaic featuring intricate geometric patterns has been unearthed in southern Turkey, revealing the far-reaching influence of the Roman Empire at its peak. The mosaic, which once decorated the floor of a bath complex, abuts a 25-foot (7-meter)-long pool, which would have been open to the air, said Michael Hoff, a University of Nebraska, Lincoln art historian and director of the mosaic excavation. The find likely dates to the third or fourth century, Hoff said. [Read More]

Fishing Expedition Finds Weird Deep-Sea Sharks

 Posted on July 10, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  407 words  |  Fernande Dalal

A two-month fishing expedition to the Indian Ocean has turned up hundreds of strange deep-sea sharks, and several are likely new to science. At least eight new species could be among the fishy haul, said Paul Clerkin, a shark ecology graduate student at California's Moss Landing Marine Laboratories. Clerkin joined the commercial fishing venture in March and April of this year, in hopes that the vessel's massive trawling nets might pluck sharks from the deep sea. [Read More]

Global Warming Evidence: 2007 Report Compared to 2013 (Infographic)

 Posted on July 10, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  345 words  |  Patria Henriques

Observed changes in climate and greenhouse gases could be accounted for by human activity, according to a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Observations of the climate system are based on direct measurements and remote sensing from satellites and other platforms. IPCC's 2007 report compared with 2013's: TEMPERATURE 2007: 1995-2006 rank among the 12 warmest years in the instrumental record of global surface temperature (since 1850). 2013: Each of the last three decades has been successively warmer at the Earth’s surface than any preceding decade since 1850. [Read More]

Google Predicts Stock-Market Crashes, Study Suggests

 Posted on July 10, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  771 words  |  Patria Henriques

On Tuesday (April 23), a tweet from a hacked Associated Press account claiming there had been explosions at the White House sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeting 145 points almost instantaneously. The incident was an example of how quickly the Internet can send shock waves through the financial world, given how many trades are completed by computers rather than humans. But new research finds the financial world doesn't just respond to the Internet; the Internet can also predict what the stock market will do. [Read More]

Google's New Tool Could Help Screen People for Depression

 Posted on July 10, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  588 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

People often turn to a Google search when they want to research their symptoms. But now, people who Google one particular condition — "clinical depression" — on their smartphone will be asked if they would like to check if they're clinically depressed. Tapping this text will take the person to a new page that introduces a screening questionnaire. The questionnaire, called PHQ-9, is a "clinically validated screening questionnaire which can help identify levels of depressive symptoms," [Read More]

Handstanding Skunks' DNA Shaped by Ancient Climate Change

 Posted on July 10, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  645 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Western spotted skunks — striped skunks' smaller cousins that stand on their "hands" to blast their smelly defensive spray — are helping scientists piece together a picture of how ancient climate change shaped animal populations millions of years ago, and could provide clues for how present climate change may affect animals alive today. These endearing and widely distributed skunks have been around for about 1 million years and live in a range of habitats across western North America. [Read More]

Images of Melt: Earth's Vanishing Ice

 Posted on July 10, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  219 words  |  Trudie Dory

Midnight IcebergThe midnight sun glows off an iceberg in Disko Bay, Greenland. Icebergs calving into the sea are a major source of Greenland's ice loss. Meltwater StreamA stream of meltwater flows across the ice surface in Greenland. Ice CanyonMeltwater creates a 60-foot deep (18.2 meter) canyon in the polar ice sheet. Meltwater ConduitThis canyon drained a large meltwater lake on the surface of the ice into a moulin, or under-ice channel that flows to the bottom of the ice sheet. [Read More]

Stephen Hawking Never Answered His 'Most Interesting' Scientific Question

 Posted on July 10, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  830 words  |  Patria Henriques

Stephen Hawking died today (March 14), leaving behind a massive legacy of work as an astrophysicist, science communicator, activist, and figure of pop culture admiration. And on the day of his death, a question he raised and worked on until the last years of his life remains unanswered: Can information really be lost to the universe? Hawking's most famous paper, "Black Hole Explosions?(opens in new tab)," published 44 years ago in 1974, took a hatchet to the whole notion of black holes as physicists had previous understood them. [Read More]