Lead Ammo Poisons Condors in Grand Canyon

 Posted on May 17, 2023  |  1 minutes  |  174 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Critically endangered condors that live near the Grand Canyon are being poisoned by lead used in ammunition, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group. So far this year, seven out of the 80 California condors that live in the area have died, and three of these deaths have been "definitively linked to lead poisoning from ingesting spent lead ammunition fragments in carrion, and lead poisoning is suspected in the other four deaths," [Read More]

Rumble Heard During East Coast Snowstorm Was Thundersnow

 Posted on May 17, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  379 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Thundersnow was heard rumbling in several places along the East Coast last night (Jan. 26), including Washington, Philadelphia and New York. Thundersnow is a rarity, a wintertime thunderstorm with snow instead of rain. These storms spawn long, low rumbles of thunder, sometimes with lightning flashes. The lightning can stretch out in long creepy-crawly branches moving over tens of miles, similar to the lightning in squall line storms during Midwestern summers. [Read More]

Solar Eclipse Traffic: What Are the Roads Like?

 Posted on May 17, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  611 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

The most anticipated celestial event of the year — the solar eclipse — is here, enchanting millions with midday darkness and leading to far fewer traffic jams in many areas of the United States than expected. As of 6:40 a.m. MDT, traffic in Wyoming was backed up between Cheyenne and Casper as drivers made their way to a region where they will be able to see the total solar eclipse, according to local newspaper the Casper Star Tribune. [Read More]

The world's largest iceberg may have just begun its death march

 Posted on May 17, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  574 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

New footage taken on Thursday (April 23) by the European Space Agency's Sentinel-1 satellite shows that the behemoth berg, named A-68, just shed an enormous chunk of ice measuring 67.5 square miles (175 square kilometers) while drifting into increasingly warm waters north of the Antarctic Peninsula. While this is the second major calving event A-68 has seen since it broke free of the Larsen C Ice Shelf in July 2017, the crack could represent the beginning of the end for the iceberg, glaciologist Adrian Luckman told BBC News. [Read More]

To Fight Hunger, Try Jumping Up and Down

 Posted on May 17, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  645 words  |  Trudie Dory

Exercise that involves vertical movements like jumping rope may fight feelings of hunger better than other forms of exercise, a new study from Japan suggests. Studies have shown that exercise suppresses appetite for a short period, and research has suggested that appetite-regulating hormones released by the gut are involved in this effect. The authors of the new study wondered if the "gut disturbance" that happens during exercise that moves the center of mass up and down would change levels of hormones like ghrelin, which is released when we're hungry, more than other types of exercise. [Read More]

Your Life, and Your Future, Predicted by Data

 Posted on May 17, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  792 words  |  Patria Henriques

Dan Hogan is founder, president and CEO of Nashville, Tennessee-based Medalogix, a health care technology company that provides analytics and workflows to home health providers. Hogan contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.  Just a decade ago, it would have been unthinkable to use data to make everyday decisions. Now, such "predictive analytics" are the norm: Simply type a query into Google and it magically suggests what you were searching for. [Read More]

'Mona Lisa' Is Smiling, Really

 Posted on May 16, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  521 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Despite the intangible sadness that imbues the face of "Mona Lisa," she is unquestionably smiling, a new small study suggests. Researchers showed 12 people the original portrait of "Mona Lisa," as well as eight additional versions that had digital tweaks showing her mouth either more upturned or downturned. The original and all of the "positive" Mona Lisa images were perceived as "happy" almost 100 percent of the time, the researchers found. [Read More]

1st intact evidence of Incas' underwater ritual offerings found in a lake in the Andes

 Posted on May 16, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  690 words  |  Fernande Dalal

For the first time, archaeologists have described an intact underwater offering made by the Inca(opens in new tab) people, deposited into Lake Titicaca in the Andes(opens in new tab) about 500 years ago.  The discovery hints that evidence of other important Incan rituals, such as human sacrifices, may also lurk underwater. The Spanish recorded the Incan practice of placing offerings in water in the 16th century, and this offering — a stone box — is the first such object to be discovered in one piece. [Read More]

200 Years After Tambora, Indonesia Most at Risk of Deadly Volcanic Blast

 Posted on May 16, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  696 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Two hundred years after the biggest volcanic blast in recorded history, scientists have ranked the countries most at risk of a deadly volcanic eruption. Today (April 10) marks the 200th anniversary of the 1815 Tambora eruption in Indonesia. The enormous explosion changed global climate, causing a "year without a summer" in the Northern Hemisphere. Sulfur dioxide from Mount Tambora lingered in the atmosphere for several years, cooling the planet and triggering crop failures, famine and human disease pandemics in North America, Europe and Asia. [Read More]

Bruce Jenner's Transition: How Many Americans Are Transgender?

 Posted on May 16, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  667 words  |  Fernande Dalal

By opening up on national television about identifying as transgender, Bruce Jenner has become one of a small percentage of people who identify with a gender that conflicts with the one they were assigned at birth. The most frequently cited estimate is that 700,000 people in the United States, or about 0.2 to 0.3 percent of the population, are transgender, though some experts say the true number is probably greater than that. [Read More]