Plants Recognize Rivals and Fight, Play Nice with Siblings
Posted on May 22, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 526 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Plants can't see or hear, but they can recognize their siblings, and now researchers have found out how: They use chemical signals secreted from their roots, according to a new study.
Back in 2007, Canadian researchers discovered that a common seashore plant, called a sea rocket, can recognize its siblings – plants grown from seeds from the same plant, or mother. They saw that when siblings are grown next to each other in the soil, they "
[Read More]Scientists Spot Ancient, Ultra-Fast Wind from the Early Universe
Posted on May 22, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 623 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Galaxies are a bit like pets: You've got to give them their food steadily, over a long time. Dumping a year's worth of kibble into a giant bowl for your puppy might help your pet pack on the pounds, but this wouldn't be good for the animal in the long term — especially once that food source ran out early.
Give a galaxy all its fuel in the first eons of its life, and something similar happens.
[Read More]Self-destructing dark matter may be flooding the sky with gamma-rays, study suggests
Posted on May 22, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 849 words
| Trudie Dory
Gamma-rays — the brightest, most powerful light in the universe — sail across the sky invisible to human eyes. These exceptionally energetic bursts of radiation flash out of supernova explosions, spark off of colliding neutron stars, and spew forth from the hungriest black holes.
When astronomers can catch them with gamma-ray telescopes, these invisible fireworks point toward some of the universe's most explosive structures. Now, an international team of researchers hopes that those all-powerful rays could also lead to something far stranger and more elusive — the invisible substance known as dark matter.
[Read More]Spooky Action Is Real: Bizarre Quantum Entanglement Confirmed in New Tests
Posted on May 22, 2023
| 8 minutes
| 1524 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Sorry to break it to you, Einstein, but it looks like the universe is one big dice game.
Two recent studies have confirmed that the "spooky action at a distance" that so upset Albert Einstein — the notion that two entangled particles separated by long distances can instantly affect each other — has been proven to work in a stunning array of different experimental setups.
One experiment closed two of the three loopholes in proofs of spooky action at a distance.
[Read More]The Healthy Geezer: Is Excessive Sweating Normal?
Posted on May 22, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 497 words
| Fernande Dalal
Question: I'm a healthy 71-year-old woman and I sweat a lot. I was wondering if it's something I should discuss with my doctor.
Answer: Heavy sweating, or perspiration, is normal if you are exercising, in a hot environment or you are nervous. It also happens during menopause.
Healthy people sweat, but the amount varies widely. Some people inherit heavy sweating, especially on their palms and the soles of their feet. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, excessive sweating affects about 8 million Americans.
[Read More]These Ghostly Blue Clouds Only Appear at Night — And They're Made of Meteors
Posted on May 22, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 386 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
It looks like a ring of blue fire in the sky. But, in fact, that swirl of sapphire over the North Pole and Greenland is actually ice — that, and a bit of pulverized meteor dust.
They're called "noctilucent clouds," because they only appear after sunset. Blue and wispy, these moonlighting cirrus strands form high in the atmosphere in spring and summer, when the upper atmosphere starts to cool as the lower atmosphere warms.
[Read More]'Sex Week' Lures College Students to Educate Themselves
Posted on May 21, 2023
| 2 minutes
| 394 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
At Brown University's Sex Week 2013, no topic is taboo.
Following an introductory seminar on "Fornication 101," which covered basic topics such as putting condoms on with your mouth and G-spot stimulation, and yesterday's (March 13) presentation on "Queering the Toybox," featuring eco-friendly gay sex toys and products that remember user preferences through integrated microchips, there's really nowhere left to go, right?
Wrong. Tonight's workshop will address "The Ultimate Guide to Prostate Pleasure,"
[Read More]'Star Trek' Logo Spotted on Mars
Posted on May 21, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 453 words
| Patria Henriques
It looks like Starfleet is literally embedded on the planet next door: A dune in the shape of the famous logo from "Star Trek" appears prominently in a new picture from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Even Captain Kirk himself (actor William Shatner) has weighed in.
Don't expect to find Spock, Jean-Luc Picard or Michael Burnham squatting nearby, however. Just like the famous "face on Mars," this Starfleet logo was produced by random chance, as wind, lava and other forces sculpted the Martian landscape.
[Read More]7 Common Exercise Errors And How to Fix Them
Posted on May 21, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 899 words
| Arica Deslauriers
IntroFlexing your arm to lift a weight seems like a simple maneuver, but you might be doing it wrong.
Whether you use a large and complicated system of pulleys and weights to work out, or stick to running and calisthenics, knowing the correct way to exercise is important. Incorrectly performed exercise can mean you're not getting the benefits you're looking for, and can even lead to injury.
"There's almost always a safer alternative to a risky exercise,"
[Read More]Exciting New Cancer Treatments Emerge Amid Persistent Myths
Posted on May 21, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 957 words
| Patria Henriques
The last couple of weeks have brought much needed good news about cancer. Of course, this is cold comfort for millions of people, including myself, who has lost an old friend, a friend's son and a family member to cancer within the span of just two months.
Nevertheless, as reported in the journal Science on Aug. 31, scientists at the National Cancer Institute used gene therapy for the first time to completely cure two patients with an advanced and deadly skin cancer called melanoma.
[Read More]