Scary Music Scarier with Eyes Closed
Posted on June 1, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 350 words
| Arica Deslauriers
You may not want to close your eyes during scary moments in horror movies.
New research suggests the brain regards creepy music as even more frightening when eyes are closed rather than open, scientists now reveal.
A lot of times people like to close their eyes while listening to music to feel more immersed in it, said researcher Talma Hendler, a neuroscientist and psychiatrist at Tel Aviv University in Israel.
[Read More]This Biologist Cracked a Problem That's Stumped Mathematicians for 68 Years
Posted on June 1, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 426 words
| Arica Deslauriers
An amateur mathematician just partially solved a problem that has vexed mathematicians since 1950.
Aubrey de Grey — a biologist better known for trying to radically extend human life and for predicting that the first person to live to be 1,000 years old has already been born — has published a paper on the preprint server arXiv that narrows down the answer to the 68-year-old Hadwiger-Nelson problem. Mathematicians had known for years that the answer to this question (which we'll get to in a second) was either 4, 5, 6 or 7.
[Read More]To Save the Planet From Climate Change, Students Take to the Streets
Posted on June 1, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 913 words
| Trudie Dory
Image 1 of 8Steven (left), a 16-year-old high school student, traveled from Queens to the Global Climate Strike in Manhattan on Sept. 20. He said: "If this keeps going, we won't be around for much longer. There needs to be a change, it needs to happen now." (Image credit: Live Science)Image 1 of 8Poisoned for profitA climate protester in New York holds a sign displaying a quote by Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg: "
[Read More]Tomb of murderous Chinese emperor finally identified
Posted on June 1, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 596 words
| Patria Henriques
While excavating a mausoleum in Luoyang, China, archaeologists discovered an artifact that may finally confirm that a mysterious tomb belongs to Emperor Liu Zhi (reign A.D. 146-168), also known as Emperor Huan.
Archaeologists have known about the mausoleum for many years and have long speculated that it may be that of Liu Zhi, but a seal discovered during the recent excavations may finally prove it. The seal contains the name of Emperor Liu Hong, Liu Zhi's successor.
[Read More]Walking Catfish, Demon Bat Among 126 New Mekong Species
Posted on June 1, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 469 words
| Fernande Dalal
Beelzebub's bat, a walking catfish and a frog that sounds like a bird are among 126 species introduced to science in just a year in the incredibly diverse Greater Mekong region of Southeast Asia, according to a report released this week by the conservation group World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
The walking catfish — one of the 10 discoveries from 2011 highlighted in the report — doesn't exactly walk. But the fish (Clarias gracilentus) can impressively wiggle across dry land like a snake while using its pectoral fins to push itself upright.
[Read More]Woman Had a Huge Tapeworm 'Egg' Encased in Her Brain. Why She's Super Happy About It.
Posted on June 1, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 452 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
When is it a huge relief to hear you have a parasite lurking in your brain?
When it's not a cancerous brain tumor.
That was the recent experience of a woman in New York, 42-year-old Rachel Palma, who had gone to the doctor's office for some odd symptoms. For example, she had trouble remembering words, and would suddenly drop items like her coffee mug, according to local news outlet WABC-TV.
[Read More]25 Years After Loma Prieta, Earthquake Science Is Transformed
Posted on May 31, 2023
| 8 minutes
| 1526 words
| Trudie Dory
The Oct. 17, 1989, Loma Prieta earthquake was America's first widely-shared natural disaster. The calamity was captured live on television, as Game 3 of the World Series was about to start. The TV crews at San Francisco's Candlestick Park soon turned their cameras on the ravaged city, and frightening images poured in of people trapped in crumpled freeways, burning buildings and toppled storefronts.
The magnitude-6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake, centered below the Santa Cruz Mountains, shook much of central California.
[Read More]Active Volcano Discovered Under Antarctic Ice Sheet
Posted on May 31, 2023
| 6 minutes
| 1097 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Earthquakes deep below West Antarctica reveal an active volcano hidden beneath the massive ice sheet, researchers said today (Nov. 17) in a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
The discovery finally confirms long-held suspicions of volcanic activity concealed by the vast West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Several volcanoes poke up along the Antarctic coast and its offshore islands, such as Mount Erebus, but this is the first time anyone has caught magma in action far from the coast.
[Read More]Bonanza of Bizarre Cambrian Fossils Reveals Some of the Earliest Animals on Earth
Posted on May 31, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 584 words
| Patria Henriques
A newfound fossil site in China is teeming with bizarre, primitive species that have never before been found any place on Earth. The bounty of creatures includes a spiny, segmented animal known as a mud dragon, and several jellyfish with preserved tentacles.
Paleontologists discovered this treasure trove of fossils, which are incredibly well-preserved, along the banks of the Danshui River in southern China. The dozens upon dozens of creatures date to the Cambrian Period (490 million to 530 million years ago), when Earth's animal diversity was booming at an unprecedented pace.
[Read More]Cruise ships still struggling to dock as coronavirus spreads
Posted on May 31, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 893 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Two cruise ships carrying coronavirus-exposed passengers that have been in limbo off the coast of Florida are being allowed to dock after a Coast Guard order yesterday warning ships' doctors to prepare to treat individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, at sea indefinitely.
The initial refusal to let the ships dock was "unprecedented," said Dr. Phil Brewer, the university medical director for Student Health Services at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut and a former cruise ship doctor.
[Read More]