Siblings' Dilemma? Solve Backseat Bickering with Game Theory (Op-Ed)

 Posted on May 21, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1278 words  |  Patria Henriques

Kevin Zollman, a game theorist and associate professor of philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. As a parent, it might be hard to believe that anything could help resolve the unending conflict with your kids, especially not the ruminations of ivory tower mathematicians. However, it turns out that at least one area of scholarship, called game theory, may help put an end to the fights, the punishments that misfire and the contentious family decisions. [Read More]

Spines and Genital Warfare: How Neil deGrasse Tyson Got Sex Wrong

 Posted on May 21, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  773 words  |  Fernande Dalal

On March 11, astrophysicist and "Cosmos" host Neil deGrasse Tyson tweeted what was perhaps meant as an amusing quip, but instead served up a dismaying animal biology fail. "If there were ever a species for whom sex hurt, it surely went extinct long ago," Tyson tweeted. See moreThe idea that sex must be pleasurable in order for a species to be successful is, quite simply, not how evolution works, as a number of science writers and biologists on Twitter were quick to point out. [Read More]

A Man's Testosterone Levels May Depend on Where He Spent His Childhood

 Posted on May 20, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  658 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Testosterone: It's the key hormone involved in muscle mass, male fertility and the onset of male puberty. And a new paper now suggests that your testosterone levels aren't determined by such factors as genetics or race, as some folk wisdom says, but instead by where you lived as a child. In the study, researchers at Durham University in England compared different groups of men to one another based on where they spent their childhood — either in Bangladesh or London — and whether they had Bangladeshi or European ancestors. [Read More]

Black Marble: Stunning New Images of Earth at Night

 Posted on May 20, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  291 words  |  Patria Henriques

You may have seen Earth's lights from space — but never quite like this. Today (Dec. 5), NASA and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a slew of images showing what the planet looks like when the sun goes down. The amazing images were announced in a news conference at the American Geophysical Union's annual meeting in San Francisco and were taken by an instrument aboard the Suomi NPP satellite in recent months. [Read More]

China Won't Share Its Samples of a Deadly Flu Virus. Here's Why That's a Problem.

 Posted on May 20, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  391 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

To protect people against the next flu pandemic, scientists need to know what flu strains are circulating and how they are changing. But such efforts can be stymied if countries don't share flu samples, and now, the Chinese government appears to be withholding samples of the dangerous bird flu virus H7N9 from the United States, according to news reports. For more than a year, China has not provided samples of H7N9 to the United States, despite persistent requests from officials and research institutions, according to The New York Times. [Read More]

Crazy Beautiful: Gallery of Treehopper Helmet Designs

 Posted on May 20, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  329 words  |  Trudie Dory

Scary Beautiful BugsWatch out, Lady Gaga, you've got some serious competition in the crazy headgear department. Treehoppers, which are found in the Membracidae family, grow fascinating "helmets" that can mimic the environment in which they live — or even look like completely different insects. Hey, Four-Eyes!There are more than 2,000 species of treehoppers (Heteroptera, Membracidae), with various fascinating "helmets." Recent findings suggest that the insects developed this headgear by reactivating and repurposing their wing-making machinery. [Read More]

Defense Department Password Is Cracked in 9 Seconds. So How Safe Are US Weapons?

 Posted on May 20, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  506 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

The weapons systems being developed by the U.S. Department of Defense are vulnerable to cyberattacks, meaning some evildoer with hacking skills could potentially take control of such weapons without being noticed, according to a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), released Oct. 9. And the DOD seemed oblivious to the threats: Even though tests conducted by the DOD itself have shown such vulnerabilities, department officials told the GAO that they " [Read More]

Even at 36,000 Feet Deep, Ocean Creatures Have Plastic in Their Guts

 Posted on May 20, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  680 words  |  Trudie Dory

No spot in the ocean has escaped the rain of plastic pollution. Not even the bottom of the Mariana Trench. A new study finds that crustaceans dwelling at the bottom of the 36,000-foot-deep (10,970 meters) trench have microplastics in their guts. In fact, across six deep-ocean trenches in the Pacific, not one was free of plastic contamination, the researchers reported today (Nov. 15). "Litter discarded into the oceans will ultimately end up washed back ashore or sinking to the deep-sea," [Read More]

Irma Heads North, Downgraded to a Tropical Storm

 Posted on May 20, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  398 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Irma, which recently weakened to a tropical storm, is still producing some wind gusts that are close to hurricane strength as it continues to move inland over northern Florida and toward Georgia. But Irma's maximum sustained winds have dropped to around 70 mph (110 km/h), and the storm is expected to weaken further and become a tropical depression — with maximum sustained winds of 38 mph (62 km/h) or less — by Tuesday afternoon (Sept. [Read More]

Massive Alaska Snowfall Cancels Dog Sledding's 'Toughest 300 Miles'

 Posted on May 20, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  298 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

The "toughest 300 miles in sled dog racing" was no match for Alaska's recent massive snowfall. The Copper Basin 300 (about 483 kilometers), with a purse of $18,000, was cancelled Sunday (Jan. 15) after heavy snow in Alaska "obliterated the middle section of the trail," said Greg Parvin, the race marshal. Temperatures around race time were minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 45.5 degrees Celsius). Alaska has been hit hard by snow this year. [Read More]