Negative News Stories Affect Women's Stress Levels but Not Men's
Bad news articles in the media increase women's sensitivity to stressful situations, but do not have a similar effect on men, according to a study undertaken by University of Montreal researchers at the Centre for Studies on Human Stress of Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital. The findings were published October 10 in PLOS One. The women who participated in the study also had a clearer recollection of the information they had learned. "It's difficult to avoid the news, considering the multitude of news sources out there, said lead author Marie-France Marin. "And what if all that news was bad for us? It certainly looks like that could be the case".
Glaciers Cracking in the Presence of Carbon Dioxide
The well-documented presence of excessive levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in our atmosphere is causing global temperatures to rise and glaciers and ice caps to melt.
New research, published October 11, in IOP Publishing's Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, has shown that CO2 molecules may be having a more direct impact on the ice that covers our planet. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute for Technology have shown that the material strength and fracture toughness of ice are decreased significantly under increasing concentrations of CO2 molecules, making ice caps and glaciers more vulnerable to cracking and splitting into pieces, as was seen recently when a huge crack in the Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica spawned a glacier the size of Berlin. |  |
Why Sea Levels Fell, Only to Rise Again
From the beginning of 2010 until mid-2011, the average level of the world's oceans dropped by 0.2 inches (5 millimeters). But how could this happen when average sea levels have been rising for decades?
A study published Oct. 4 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters found that the decline was due to an enormous increase in the amount of rainfall in Australia, northern South America and Southeast Asia, which transferred a significant amount of water from the oceans to the land. |  |
Australia's Largest Solar Farm Opens Amid Renewable Target Debate
WALKAWAY, Australia (Reuters) - Australia switched on its first utility-scale solar farm on Wednesday, bringing the country a small step closer to achieving ambitious renewable energy use targets that traditional coal and gas power producers are now fighting to soften.
The Greenough River Solar project, just outside the small town of Walkaway in Western Australia state, is a joint-venture between Western Australian state-owned Verve Energy and U.S. conglomerate General Electric. It is expected to generate 10 megawatts, enough to power 3,000 homes.
The Greenough River Solar project, just outside the small town of Walkaway in Western Australia state, is a joint-venture between Western Australian state-owned Verve Energy and U.S. conglomerate General Electric. It is expected to generate 10 megawatts, enough to power 3,000 homes.
Israel air traffic 'briefly halted over unidentified object'
Israel's civilian air traffic was halted for several minutes on Wednesday morning after an unidentified flying object was spotted inside Israeli air space, Israel's army radio said.
Air force jets were briefly scrambled and Israeli air space was closed, it said, without saying what caused the scare. The closure was lifted several minutes later.
Closing Israeli air space was an "exceptional" measure which demonstrated the level of tension in Israel after the air force shot down an unidentified and unarmed drone which had entered the country's airspace on Saturday from the Mediterranean.
Air force jets were briefly scrambled and Israeli air space was closed, it said, without saying what caused the scare. The closure was lifted several minutes later.
Closing Israeli air space was an "exceptional" measure which demonstrated the level of tension in Israel after the air force shot down an unidentified and unarmed drone which had entered the country's airspace on Saturday from the Mediterranean.
Did NASA's Voyager 1 Spacecraft Just Exit the Solar System?
It will be another giant leap for mankind when NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft becomes the first manmade object to venture past the solar system's edge and into the uncharted territory of interstellar space. But did this giant leap already occur?
New data from the spacecraft indicate that the historic moment of its exit from the solar system might have come and gone two months ago. Scientists are crunching one more set of numbers to find out for sure. Voyager 1, which left Earth on Sept. 5, 1977, has since sped to a distance of 11.3 billion miles (18.2 billion kilometers) from the sun, making it the farthest afield of any manmade object. (It has 2 billion miles on its twin, Voyager 2, which took a longer route through the solar system.) Still phoning home (via radio transmissions) after 35 years, the Voyagers are the longest operating spacecraft in history. |  |
Fact Check: What a 9,000-Year-Old Earth Really Looked Like
U.S. House Rep. Paul Broun, a Georgia Republican, doesn't believe in evolution, the Big Bang theory, or the teachings of embryology. In fact, in a Sept. 27 talk at Liberty Baptist Church in Hartwell, Ga., the member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, who is also a medical doctor, called those areas of science "lies straight from the pit of hell."
But Broun also advanced his own theory of life on Earth. "You see, there are a lot of scientific data that I've found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young Earth," he said. "I don't believe that the Earth's but about 9,000 years old. I believe it was created in six days as we know them. That's what the Bible says." |  |
'At 5% Neanderthal, You Are An Outlier'
That is the kind of mail I am now receiving from scientists, after the revelation two days ago that I have an unusually large share of Neanderthal DNA (5%) in my genetic makeup. Plus, the accompanying revelation that my mitochondrial DNA, showing the lineage on my mother's side, resembled no other samples yet collected in a large-scale study.
Some people might find this upsetting. Not me. I am going with it. |  |
The Top Ten Human Evolution Discoveries from Ethiopia
Ethiopia may well deserve the title Cradle of Humankind. Some of the most famous, most iconic hominid fossils have been discovered within the country’s borders. Ethiopia can claim many “firsts” in the hominid record book, including first stone tools and the first Homo sapiens. Here’s a look at the country’s most important hominid finds.
Omo I and II (1967-1974): While excavating the Kibish Formation near the Omo River, Richard Leakey and his colleagues uncovered a partial skull and skeleton (Omo I) and a partial skull (Omo II) that are still thought to be the oldest examples of Homo sapiens. Dating to 195,000 years ago, Omo I has several features that clearly place it within our species, including a flat face, high forehead and prominent chin. Omo II, on the other hand, looks more primitive. While some researchers suggest its thicker skull and sloped forehead preclude it from being a true modern human, others say those features were probably within the range of variation for early H. sapiens. |  |
New fossils suggest ancient origins of modern-day deep-sea animals
A collection of fossil animals discovered off the coast of Florida suggests that present day deep-sea fauna like sea urchins, starfish and sea cucumbers may have evolved earlier than previously believed and survived periods of mass extinctions similar to those that wiped out the dinosaurs. The full results are published Oct. 10 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Ben Thuy and colleagues from the University of Göttingen, Germany.
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Doing the T. rex Stretch
Few things in paleontology generate as much speculation, and ridicule, as the arms of Tyrannosaurus rex. In a culture where “bigger” is confused with “better,” we can’t seem to get our heads around why such a large predator would have such small forelimbs. Most puzzling of all is that the dinosaur’s arms were not vestigial–they were muscular appendages that must have had some function. But what?
How Did Dinosaurs Sleep?
Bone by bone and study by study, paleontologists are learning more than ever before about dinosaurs. But there are still many aspects about prehistoric biology that we know little about. In fact, some of the simplest facets of dinosaur lives remain elusive.
For one thing, we don’t know much at all about how dinosaurs slept. Did Apatosaurus doze standing up or kneel down to rest? Did tyrannosaurs use their tiny, muscular arms to push themselves off the ground after a nap? And, given the discovery of so many enfluffled dinosaurs, did fuzzy dinosaurs ever cuddle up together to stay warm on chilly Mesozoic nights?.
For one thing, we don’t know much at all about how dinosaurs slept. Did Apatosaurus doze standing up or kneel down to rest? Did tyrannosaurs use their tiny, muscular arms to push themselves off the ground after a nap? And, given the discovery of so many enfluffled dinosaurs, did fuzzy dinosaurs ever cuddle up together to stay warm on chilly Mesozoic nights?.
Jurassic Park Impossible Because of Stupid Laws of Physics
The lesson of the Jurassic Park tragedy was clear — man and dinosaur were not meant to coexist. It’s lucky then that dinosaur fossils are far too old to contain any genetic material that could be used for cloning. DNA breaks down over time, even when kept in ideal conditions, and a study of extinct moa bones has revealed an estimate of the half-life for our genes.
It might be odd to think of DNA having a half-life, as it’s usually associated with radioactive material — but as it measures the time taken for half of something to decay, it makes sense to talk about old samples of DNA in the same way. For example, uranium-235, the fissile material that can be used in nuclear power plants (and nuclear weapons), has a half-life of 703.8 million years. DNA, by comparison, doesn’t fare so well — according to a study of 158 samples of moa bones between 500 and 6,000 years old, DNA appears to have a half-life of around 521 years. |  |
Complex Brains Existed 520 Million Years Ago in Cockroach Relative
Your everyday cockroach might not seem terribly intelligent. But new fossil evidence from 520 million years ago suggests that this insidious insect might have had some surprisingly smart early ancestors.
Cockroaches and other insects belong to a group called the arthropods, which arose some 540 million years ago. A new Chinese fossil is yielding new insights into how the arthropod brain evolved and shows that within the first 20 million years of the group’s emergence, the arthropod brain had already become surprisingly advanced. The new findings are based on a three-inch-long fossil arthropod known as Fuxianhuia protensa, found in what is now China’s Yunnan Province and were described online October 10 in Nature (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group). |  |
Researchers have found exact spot where Julius Caesar was stabbed
Several ancient Roman texts describe the murder of Julius Caesar in 44 BC as the result of a plot by a group of senators to kill the general. Now, 2,056 years later, a team from the National Research Council (CSIC) of Spain have located the exact spot where Caesar was stabbed to death.
This assassination led to the formation of the Second Triumvirate and had repercussions that would result in civil wars and spell the end of the Roman Republic.
This assassination led to the formation of the Second Triumvirate and had repercussions that would result in civil wars and spell the end of the Roman Republic.
Why Are Lightning Deaths Declining?
An 11-year-old Florida boy died on Sunday after being struck by a bolt of lightning on his way to football practice last week. His manner of death is perhaps all the more tragic for how unusual it's becoming in America.
Jesse Watlington, of Fort Myers, is the fifth person to die from a lightning strike in Florida this year, and he was hit only two days after another Floridian, Falk Weltzien, 39, of St. Augustine, was knocked unconscious by a bolt while kiteboarding with his son. Weltzien survived the ordeal with no major injuries, according to ABC News. |  |
Study Suggests Legal Assisted Suicide Doesn’t Increase Death Wish
A team of psychology and ethics researchers has published a study suggesting that liberal legal attitudes to assisted suicide do not increase the desire for death in patients with incurable diseases. The study, carried out in Switzerland, does however show that patients can imagine asking their doctor to administer a lethal drug — something Swiss law forbids.
The study, published in Frontiers in Psychology for Clinical Settings, was carried out on a small test group of just 33 patients suffering from the motor neurone disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). It’s significant, however, because the neurodegenerative disease is one of the most common and, according to a study carried out by the University of Zurich in 2004, on average 24 percent of those who died in Swiss assisted suicide centres suffered from related diseases, with ALS specifically cited (the only diagnosis that led to assisted suicide more frequently was cancer). Also, patients’ and caregivers’ feelings towards assisted suicide have never before been studied. |  |
Philip Hensher: Why handwriting matters
About six months ago, I realised that I had no idea what the handwriting of a good friend of mine looked like. I had known him for over a decade, but somehow we had never communicated using handwritten notes. He had left voice messages for me, emailed me, sent text messages galore. But I don't think I had ever had a letter from him written by hand, a postcard from his holidays, a reminder of something pushed through my letter box. I had no idea whether his handwriting was bold or crabbed, sloping or upright, italic or rounded, elegant or slapdash.
It hit me that we are at a moment when handwriting seems to be about to vanish from our lives altogether. At some point in recent years, it has stopped being a necessary and inevitable intermediary between people – a means by which individuals communicate with each other, putting a little bit of their personality into the form of their message as they press the ink-bearing point on to the paper. It has started to become just one of many options, and often an unattractive, elaborate one. |  |
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