Share to facebook Share to twitter Share to linkedin In the United States, back pain is a widespread problem among older adults. A study published by the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association in April of 2009 suggested that lower back pain costs the country over $100 billion each year. With two-thirds of that coming
Month: September 2018
Selfless acts of generosity activate the brain’s reward regions, making the warm glow of kindness a very real thing, according to British researchers. By analysing the brain scans of over a thousand people making kind decisions, psychologists at the University of Sussex have confirmed that even when there’s nothing in it for you, being nice
NASA is targeting technosignatures in its renewed effort to detect alien civilizations. Congress asked NASA to re-boot its search for other civilizations a few months ago. Their first step towards that goal is the NASA Technosignatures Workshop, held in Houston from September 26th to 28th, 2018. If you’ve never stared out to space at night and
The human brain is a remarkable thing. It can do things our primate relatives are thousands – maybe even millions – of years of evolution away from, and our most complex machines are not even close to competing with our powers of higher consciousness and ingenuity. And yet, those 100 billion or so neurons are also incredibly fragile. If
The ancient Egyptians associated the ibis-headed god Thoth with writing, wisdom, and magic. The idea of evolution might have taken off sooner if it hadn’t been for the ibis mummies. Naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck was one of the early proponents of the idea that species change over generations, adapting to changes in their environments. Today, biology
Plastic pollution is not limited to the world’s oceans: it is present in freshwater ecosystems too, where it is far more pervasive than originally thought Half of all freshwater insect species living in rivers were found to have ingested microplastics, according to a new study of the rivers in South Waöes.(CC0 / Public domain.)public domain
Zebrafish embryo growing its sensory nervous system; credit E.Haynes & J.He This week, Nikon announced the winners of the 2018 Nikon Small World in Motion contest. First prize went to Elizabeth Haynes and Jiaye “Henry” He of the University of Wisconsin-Madison for their mesmerizing time-lapse video of a zebrafish embryo growing its sensory nervous system over the course of
A new study links rapid deoxygenation in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to two powerful currents: the Gulf Stream and the Labrador Current. The broad, biologically rich waterway in Eastern Canada which drains North America’s Great Lakes and is popular with fishing boats, whales, and tourists has lost oxygen faster than almost anywhere else in
Over the past few days, the mathematics world has been abuzz over the news that Sir Michael Atiyah, the famous Fields Medalist and Abel Prize winner, claims to have solved the Riemann hypothesis. If his proof turns out to be correct, this would be one of the most important mathematical achievements in many years. In
A magnitude 7.5 earthquake has struck off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, triggering a 1.8-metre (6-foot) tsunami. The wave tore through several of the island’s coastal cities and towns, including the capital Palu, on Friday. The devastating quake has been followed by multiple strong aftershocks, and comes shortly after a magnitude 6.1
A hacker gained access to nearly 50 million Facebook user accounts by exploiting a weakness in the social network’s systems, Facebook said on Friday. News of the cyber attack – which appears to be one of the most significant in Facebook’s history – sent shares of the company down roughly 3 percent in midday trading on Friday,
College is an investment of time and money, and thus choosing a major is a big decision. With the rising costs of higher education, many students and parents are looking for a return on their investment. This year, data from Bankrate.com as well US Census Bureau indicates that STEM majors are again at the top of
There’s been more scientific debate over the title of the world’s biggest bird than you might have realised, with many candidates coming and going down the years as new discoveries and new research has come to light. Now though, we may finally have a winner. Presenting Vorombe titan, a new species of flightless elephant bird
Reconstruction of a tomb in St. Paul’s Catacombs, Rabat, Malta.Kristina Killgrove Deep underground in the middle of the tiny island country of Malta lies a series of ancient catacombs, communal burial grounds that date back millennia. Malta has always been a way-station on journeys between Africa and southern Europe, with extraordinary diversity in its past
More than half of the world’s orcas are threatened by a group of toxic industrial chemicals that accumulate in their blubber and can be passed on from mother to calf. That’s according to a new study led by scientists in Denmark and published in the journal Science. Orca populations found in the most polluted seas
The Large Hadron Collider is at it again, showing us new wonders in the world of particle physics. Scientists working on the Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) collaboration have observed two new particles that have never been seen before – and seen evidence of a third. The two new particles, predicted by the standard quark
We know, we know, there’s so much internet to read, and so little time. That’s why we’ve been rounding up the week’s most interesting science news for a quick catch-up, with a bonus quiz challenge to keep it entertaining. Answers are at the bottom of the page. Have fun! 1. A Renowned Mathematician Announced He
You’d probably think that a city with a feral cat population and a feral rat population would end up with fewer rats due to the work of… the feral cats. But it turns out that, just like humans, cats may prefer the path of least resistance – and that includes opting for easier prey. On
In the autumn of 1929, Anne Morrow Lindbergh and her husband Charles flew across the Yucatán Peninsula. With Charles at the controls, Anne snapped photographs of the jungles just below. She wrote in her journal of Maya structures obscured by large humps of vegetation. A bright stone wall peeked through the leaves, “unspeakably alone and
Earlier this week, Japan’s space agency Jaxa made history by landing a pair of hopping rovers on an asteroid known as Ryugu, and sending back the first-ever images from the surface of a space rock. If that wasn’t awe-inspiring enough, Jaxa has just released not only more images, but even a small video from Ryugu’s
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