Newsdesk Archive
Colonies of bacteria balance growth against risk, just like financial investors, ecologists have found.Using lab-based synthetic biology, experiments in bacterial evolution, and mathematical modelling the study finds links between organisms and markets.Bacterial investment crashes and boom-bust cycles are described in a paper in the journal Ecology Letters.
The untold story of how ancient Australians once walked a vast submerged sand plain dissected by rivers and rugged outcrops awaits discovery off WA's north-west coast, according to a leading expert from The University of Western Australia.Dr Ingrid Ward has spent the last eight years in the UK, where the creation of three-dimensional reconstructions of the submerged landscape of Europe's North Sea has helped bring to life a wealth of existing and new archaeological finds and fossils.
A sun-watching spacecraft spotted our closest star opening its arms to the cosmos. Two strands of plasma from an eruption in the sun's atmosphere were captured in observations with NASA's STEREO A satellite.The plasma arms broke out from a sunspot in a 12-hour-long event that occurred from July 21 and 22, according to NASA. The solar phenomenon was observed in a wavelength of extreme UV light and condensed into a time-lapse video of the sun storm.
A tsunami that struck the UK in 2011 was caused by a storm roiling the ocean hundreds of miles away, a new study confirms.The "meteotsunami" (or weather-induced tsunami) of June 27, 2011, caused swells on a normally calm estuary on a sunny day, left some people knee-deep in water and made other people's hair stand on end in southwest England. Scientists suspected that a storm was to blame for the bizarre waves, but the new study, published in the June issue of the journal Weather, confirms it.
In 1906, a giant San Andreas Fault earthquake carved a trench through Portola Valley, now a small California village of million-dollar homes tucked in the hills above Stanford University.More than a century later, geologists believe they've proved the San Andreas Fault plowed alongside the valley's western ridges, ending decades of debate caused by a poorly reproduced historic map.
A new study published in the journal Science finds that climate change is strongly linked to human violence around the world. Based on more data than ever studied before - and looking at all major regions of the world from the United States to Somalia - the study unearthed a pattern of conflict linked to even minor climatic changes, including increased droughts or higher than average temperatures.Related: A Controversial Claim: Climate Change = War & Violence.
So, it's official. According to a global survey led by the authors of The Athena Doctrine, most adults agree that the world would be a better place if men thought more like women. These findings reflect the recent emergence of a new generation of leaders who combine strength and focus with intuition, collaboration and empathy. In particular, it is those born around 1982 -- the Millennials -- who are inspiring change in post-economic boom societies, asking questions such as: "If money cannot be relied upon the bring happiness, where else should we look?" Consequently, Millennials are far less focused on money and status and more interested in human connection and community.
This excerpt from the book What Makes a Hero? explains that, though generosity may often be self-interested, true selflessness and compassion can also be taught.It was a sunny summer day in 2010 just outside Houston, and 54-year-old Shirley Dygert was getting ready to skydive for the first time. Though nervous, she felt at ease after meeting her instructor, Dave Hartsock
Highly radioactive water from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is pouring out at a rate of 300 tons a day, officials said on Wednesday, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordered the government to step in and help in the clean-up.The revelation amounted to an acknowledgement that plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) has yet to come to grips with the scale of the catastrophe, 2 1/2 years after the plant was hit by a huge earthquake and tsunami. Tepco only recently admitted water had leaked at all.
Worried about the NSA snooping on your email? Maybe you need to start creating your own personal internetTHE internet is neither neutral nor private, in case you were in any doubt. The US National Security Agency can reportedly collect nearly everything a user does on the net, while internet service providers (ISPs) move traffic according to business agreements, rather than what is best for its customers. So some people have decided to take matters into their own hands, and are building their own net from scratch.
As the world's population balloons to 9 billion by 2050, based on current agricultural practices, the global food system may not be able to meet the demands of an increasingly affluent and urban population.Yet shifting crops away from animal feed and biofuels to growing food exclusively for human consumption could increase global calorie availability by as much as 70 percent, according to a study from researchers at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul.
Global food prices dropped in July for the third month running, the United Nations said Thursday, driven largely by a fall in the value of cereals that are set to reach record production levels this year.The food price index of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
Drinking two cups of hot chocolate a day may help older people keep their brains healthy and their thinking skills sharp, according to a study published in the August 7, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.The study involved 60 people with an average age of 73 who did not have dementia. The participants drank two cups of hot cocoa per day for 30 days and did not consume any other chocolate during the study. They were given tests of memory and thinking skills. They also had ultrasounds tests to measure the amount of blood flow to the brain during the tests.
Animals: they
Bottlenose dolphins are washing up dead in unusually high numbers along the U.S. East Coast this summer
Scientists have long tried to figure out what causes the ebb and flow of ice ages. New data suggests a novel explanation for why the mile-thick blankets of ice retreat so quickly: They become too heavy.For the last 900,000 years, mile-thick ice sheets have waxed and waned in the Northern Hemisphere with remarkable regularity
A Greenland landscape carved when humans first conquered fire has been protected from erosion ever since by "ghost glaciers," a new study finds.In central northwestern Greenland, near Baffin Bay, the island's ice sheet advanced and retreated many times in the past 800,000 years. But the local highlands were never scoured by ice as other areas were.
Sandstorms can sweep up millions of tons of soil and send dust whirling away for thousands of miles. Although these storms seem enormously powerful, some of their strength actually derives from the tiniest of sources: the midair collisions between individual grains of sand or dust.
Researchers at JILA have for the first time used an atomic clock as a quantum simulator, mimicking the behavior of a different, more complex quantum system.Atomic clocks now join a growing list of physical systems that can be used for modeling and perhaps eventually explaining the quantum mechanical behavior of exotic materials such as high-temperature superconductors, which conduct electricity without resistance.
New reconstructions of ancient proteins have provided clues to the habitat and origins of life on Earth.The resurrected protein is thought to have existed almost four billion years ago in single-celled organisms linked to the earliest ancestor of all life.The protein survives in the extreme environments of high acidity and temperature expected on early Earth and, intriguingly, also Mars.Spanish and US scientists reported their study in the journal Structure.
A sun-watching spacecraft spotted our closest star opening its arms to the cosmos. Two strands of plasma from an eruption in the sun's atmosphere were captured in observations with NASA's STEREO A satellite.The plasma arms broke out from a sunspot in a 12-hour-long event that occurred from July 21 and 22, according to NASA. The solar phenomenon was observed in a wavelength of extreme UV light and condensed into a time-lapse video of the sun storm.
A tsunami that struck the UK in 2011 was caused by a storm roiling the ocean hundreds of miles away, a new study confirms.The "meteotsunami" (or weather-induced tsunami) of June 27, 2011, caused swells on a normally calm estuary on a sunny day, left some people knee-deep in water and made other people's hair stand on end in southwest England. Scientists suspected that a storm was to blame for the bizarre waves, but the new study, published in the June issue of the journal Weather, confirms it.
In 1906, a giant San Andreas Fault earthquake carved a trench through Portola Valley, now a small California village of million-dollar homes tucked in the hills above Stanford University.More than a century later, geologists believe they've proved the San Andreas Fault plowed alongside the valley's western ridges, ending decades of debate caused by a poorly reproduced historic map.
A new study published in the journal Science finds that climate change is strongly linked to human violence around the world. Based on more data than ever studied before - and looking at all major regions of the world from the United States to Somalia - the study unearthed a pattern of conflict linked to even minor climatic changes, including increased droughts or higher than average temperatures.Related: A Controversial Claim: Climate Change = War & Violence.
So, it's official. According to a global survey led by the authors of The Athena Doctrine, most adults agree that the world would be a better place if men thought more like women. These findings reflect the recent emergence of a new generation of leaders who combine strength and focus with intuition, collaboration and empathy. In particular, it is those born around 1982 -- the Millennials -- who are inspiring change in post-economic boom societies, asking questions such as: "If money cannot be relied upon the bring happiness, where else should we look?" Consequently, Millennials are far less focused on money and status and more interested in human connection and community.
This excerpt from the book What Makes a Hero? explains that, though generosity may often be self-interested, true selflessness and compassion can also be taught.It was a sunny summer day in 2010 just outside Houston, and 54-year-old Shirley Dygert was getting ready to skydive for the first time. Though nervous, she felt at ease after meeting her instructor, Dave Hartsock
Highly radioactive water from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is pouring out at a rate of 300 tons a day, officials said on Wednesday, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordered the government to step in and help in the clean-up.The revelation amounted to an acknowledgement that plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) has yet to come to grips with the scale of the catastrophe, 2 1/2 years after the plant was hit by a huge earthquake and tsunami. Tepco only recently admitted water had leaked at all.
Worried about the NSA snooping on your email? Maybe you need to start creating your own personal internetTHE internet is neither neutral nor private, in case you were in any doubt. The US National Security Agency can reportedly collect nearly everything a user does on the net, while internet service providers (ISPs) move traffic according to business agreements, rather than what is best for its customers. So some people have decided to take matters into their own hands, and are building their own net from scratch.
As the world's population balloons to 9 billion by 2050, based on current agricultural practices, the global food system may not be able to meet the demands of an increasingly affluent and urban population.Yet shifting crops away from animal feed and biofuels to growing food exclusively for human consumption could increase global calorie availability by as much as 70 percent, according to a study from researchers at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul.
Global food prices dropped in July for the third month running, the United Nations said Thursday, driven largely by a fall in the value of cereals that are set to reach record production levels this year.The food price index of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
Drinking two cups of hot chocolate a day may help older people keep their brains healthy and their thinking skills sharp, according to a study published in the August 7, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.The study involved 60 people with an average age of 73 who did not have dementia. The participants drank two cups of hot cocoa per day for 30 days and did not consume any other chocolate during the study. They were given tests of memory and thinking skills. They also had ultrasounds tests to measure the amount of blood flow to the brain during the tests.
Animals: they
Bottlenose dolphins are washing up dead in unusually high numbers along the U.S. East Coast this summer
Scientists have long tried to figure out what causes the ebb and flow of ice ages. New data suggests a novel explanation for why the mile-thick blankets of ice retreat so quickly: They become too heavy.For the last 900,000 years, mile-thick ice sheets have waxed and waned in the Northern Hemisphere with remarkable regularity
A Greenland landscape carved when humans first conquered fire has been protected from erosion ever since by "ghost glaciers," a new study finds.In central northwestern Greenland, near Baffin Bay, the island's ice sheet advanced and retreated many times in the past 800,000 years. But the local highlands were never scoured by ice as other areas were.
Sandstorms can sweep up millions of tons of soil and send dust whirling away for thousands of miles. Although these storms seem enormously powerful, some of their strength actually derives from the tiniest of sources: the midair collisions between individual grains of sand or dust.
Researchers at JILA have for the first time used an atomic clock as a quantum simulator, mimicking the behavior of a different, more complex quantum system.Atomic clocks now join a growing list of physical systems that can be used for modeling and perhaps eventually explaining the quantum mechanical behavior of exotic materials such as high-temperature superconductors, which conduct electricity without resistance.
New reconstructions of ancient proteins have provided clues to the habitat and origins of life on Earth.The resurrected protein is thought to have existed almost four billion years ago in single-celled organisms linked to the earliest ancestor of all life.The protein survives in the extreme environments of high acidity and temperature expected on early Earth and, intriguingly, also Mars.Spanish and US scientists reported their study in the journal Structure.
A sun-watching spacecraft spotted our closest star opening its arms to the cosmos. Two strands of plasma from an eruption in the sun's atmosphere were captured in observations with NASA's STEREO A satellite.The plasma arms broke out from a sunspot in a 12-hour-long event that occurred from July 21 and 22, according to NASA. The solar phenomenon was observed in a wavelength of extreme UV light and condensed into a time-lapse video of the sun storm.
A tsunami that struck the UK in 2011 was caused by a storm roiling the ocean hundreds of miles away, a new study confirms.The "meteotsunami" (or weather-induced tsunami) of June 27, 2011, caused swells on a normally calm estuary on a sunny day, left some people knee-deep in water and made other people's hair stand on end in southwest England. Scientists suspected that a storm was to blame for the bizarre waves, but the new study, published in the June issue of the journal Weather, confirms it.
In 1906, a giant San Andreas Fault earthquake carved a trench through Portola Valley, now a small California village of million-dollar homes tucked in the hills above Stanford University.More than a century later, geologists believe they've proved the San Andreas Fault plowed alongside the valley's western ridges, ending decades of debate caused by a poorly reproduced historic map.
A new study published in the journal Science finds that climate change is strongly linked to human violence around the world. Based on more data than ever studied before - and looking at all major regions of the world from the United States to Somalia - the study unearthed a pattern of conflict linked to even minor climatic changes, including increased droughts or higher than average temperatures.Related: A Controversial Claim: Climate Change = War & Violence.
So, it's official. According to a global survey led by the authors of The Athena Doctrine, most adults agree that the world would be a better place if men thought more like women. These findings reflect the recent emergence of a new generation of leaders who combine strength and focus with intuition, collaboration and empathy. In particular, it is those born around 1982 -- the Millennials -- who are inspiring change in post-economic boom societies, asking questions such as: "If money cannot be relied upon the bring happiness, where else should we look?" Consequently, Millennials are far less focused on money and status and more interested in human connection and community.
This excerpt from the book What Makes a Hero? explains that, though generosity may often be self-interested, true selflessness and compassion can also be taught.It was a sunny summer day in 2010 just outside Houston, and 54-year-old Shirley Dygert was getting ready to skydive for the first time. Though nervous, she felt at ease after meeting her instructor, Dave Hartsock
Highly radioactive water from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is pouring out at a rate of 300 tons a day, officials said on Wednesday, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordered the government to step in and help in the clean-up.The revelation amounted to an acknowledgement that plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) has yet to come to grips with the scale of the catastrophe, 2 1/2 years after the plant was hit by a huge earthquake and tsunami. Tepco only recently admitted water had leaked at all.
Worried about the NSA snooping on your email? Maybe you need to start creating your own personal internetTHE internet is neither neutral nor private, in case you were in any doubt. The US National Security Agency can reportedly collect nearly everything a user does on the net, while internet service providers (ISPs) move traffic according to business agreements, rather than what is best for its customers. So some people have decided to take matters into their own hands, and are building their own net from scratch.
As the world's population balloons to 9 billion by 2050, based on current agricultural practices, the global food system may not be able to meet the demands of an increasingly affluent and urban population.Yet shifting crops away from animal feed and biofuels to growing food exclusively for human consumption could increase global calorie availability by as much as 70 percent, according to a study from researchers at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul.
Global food prices dropped in July for the third month running, the United Nations said Thursday, driven largely by a fall in the value of cereals that are set to reach record production levels this year.The food price index of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
Drinking two cups of hot chocolate a day may help older people keep their brains healthy and their thinking skills sharp, according to a study published in the August 7, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.The study involved 60 people with an average age of 73 who did not have dementia. The participants drank two cups of hot cocoa per day for 30 days and did not consume any other chocolate during the study. They were given tests of memory and thinking skills. They also had ultrasounds tests to measure the amount of blood flow to the brain during the tests.
Animals: they
Bottlenose dolphins are washing up dead in unusually high numbers along the U.S. East Coast this summer
Scientists have long tried to figure out what causes the ebb and flow of ice ages. New data suggests a novel explanation for why the mile-thick blankets of ice retreat so quickly: They become too heavy.For the last 900,000 years, mile-thick ice sheets have waxed and waned in the Northern Hemisphere with remarkable regularity
A Greenland landscape carved when humans first conquered fire has been protected from erosion ever since by "ghost glaciers," a new study finds.In central northwestern Greenland, near Baffin Bay, the island's ice sheet advanced and retreated many times in the past 800,000 years. But the local highlands were never scoured by ice as other areas were.
Sandstorms can sweep up millions of tons of soil and send dust whirling away for thousands of miles. Although these storms seem enormously powerful, some of their strength actually derives from the tiniest of sources: the midair collisions between individual grains of sand or dust.
Researchers at JILA have for the first time used an atomic clock as a quantum simulator, mimicking the behavior of a different, more complex quantum system.Atomic clocks now join a growing list of physical systems that can be used for modeling and perhaps eventually explaining the quantum mechanical behavior of exotic materials such as high-temperature superconductors, which conduct electricity without resistance.
New reconstructions of ancient proteins have provided clues to the habitat and origins of life on Earth.The resurrected protein is thought to have existed almost four billion years ago in single-celled organisms linked to the earliest ancestor of all life.The protein survives in the extreme environments of high acidity and temperature expected on early Earth and, intriguingly, also Mars.Spanish and US scientists reported their study in the journal Structure.
A sun-watching spacecraft spotted our closest star opening its arms to the cosmos. Two strands of plasma from an eruption in the sun's atmosphere were captured in observations with NASA's STEREO A satellite.The plasma arms broke out from a sunspot in a 12-hour-long event that occurred from July 21 and 22, according to NASA. The solar phenomenon was observed in a wavelength of extreme UV light and condensed into a time-lapse video of the sun storm.
A tsunami that struck the UK in 2011 was caused by a storm roiling the ocean hundreds of miles away, a new study confirms.The "meteotsunami" (or weather-induced tsunami) of June 27, 2011, caused swells on a normally calm estuary on a sunny day, left some people knee-deep in water and made other people's hair stand on end in southwest England. Scientists suspected that a storm was to blame for the bizarre waves, but the new study, published in the June issue of the journal Weather, confirms it.
In 1906, a giant San Andreas Fault earthquake carved a trench through Portola Valley, now a small California village of million-dollar homes tucked in the hills above Stanford University.More than a century later, geologists believe they've proved the San Andreas Fault plowed alongside the valley's western ridges, ending decades of debate caused by a poorly reproduced historic map.
A new study published in the journal Science finds that climate change is strongly linked to human violence around the world. Based on more data than ever studied before - and looking at all major regions of the world from the United States to Somalia - the study unearthed a pattern of conflict linked to even minor climatic changes, including increased droughts or higher than average temperatures.Related: A Controversial Claim: Climate Change = War & Violence.
So, it's official. According to a global survey led by the authors of The Athena Doctrine, most adults agree that the world would be a better place if men thought more like women. These findings reflect the recent emergence of a new generation of leaders who combine strength and focus with intuition, collaboration and empathy. In particular, it is those born around 1982 -- the Millennials -- who are inspiring change in post-economic boom societies, asking questions such as: "If money cannot be relied upon the bring happiness, where else should we look?" Consequently, Millennials are far less focused on money and status and more interested in human connection and community.
Highly radioactive water from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is pouring out at a rate of 300 tons a day, officials said on Wednesday, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordered the government to step in and help in the clean-up.The revelation amounted to an acknowledgement that plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) has yet to come to grips with the scale of the catastrophe, 2 1/2 years after the plant was hit by a huge earthquake and tsunami. Tepco only recently admitted water had leaked at all.
Worried about the NSA snooping on your email? Maybe you need to start creating your own personal internetTHE internet is neither neutral nor private, in case you were in any doubt. The US National Security Agency can reportedly collect nearly everything a user does on the net, while internet service providers (ISPs) move traffic according to business agreements, rather than what is best for its customers. So some people have decided to take matters into their own hands, and are building their own net from scratch.
As the world's population balloons to 9 billion by 2050, based on current agricultural practices, the global food system may not be able to meet the demands of an increasingly affluent and urban population.Yet shifting crops away from animal feed and biofuels to growing food exclusively for human consumption could increase global calorie availability by as much as 70 percent, according to a study from researchers at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul.
Drinking two cups of hot chocolate a day may help older people keep their brains healthy and their thinking skills sharp, according to a study published in the August 7, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.The study involved 60 people with an average age of 73 who did not have dementia. The participants drank two cups of hot cocoa per day for 30 days and did not consume any other chocolate during the study. They were given tests of memory and thinking skills. They also had ultrasounds tests to measure the amount of blood flow to the brain during the tests.
A Greenland landscape carved when humans first conquered fire has been protected from erosion ever since by "ghost glaciers," a new study finds.In central northwestern Greenland, near Baffin Bay, the island's ice sheet advanced and retreated many times in the past 800,000 years. But the local highlands were never scoured by ice as other areas were.
Sandstorms can sweep up millions of tons of soil and send dust whirling away for thousands of miles. Although these storms seem enormously powerful, some of their strength actually derives from the tiniest of sources: the midair collisions between individual grains of sand or dust.
Researchers at JILA have for the first time used an atomic clock as a quantum simulator, mimicking the behavior of a different, more complex quantum system.Atomic clocks now join a growing list of physical systems that can be used for modeling and perhaps eventually explaining the quantum mechanical behavior of exotic materials such as high-temperature superconductors, which conduct electricity without resistance.
New reconstructions of ancient proteins have provided clues to the habitat and origins of life on Earth.The resurrected protein is thought to have existed almost four billion years ago in single-celled organisms linked to the earliest ancestor of all life.The protein survives in the extreme environments of high acidity and temperature expected on early Earth and, intriguingly, also Mars.Spanish and US scientists reported their study in the journal Structure.
Archaeologist Anya Shetler cleans an inscription below an ancient stucco frieze recently unearthed in the buried Maya city of Holmul in the Peten region of Guatemala. Sunlight from a tunnel entrance highlights the carved legs of a ruler sitting atop the head of a Maya mountain spirit.
NEW YORK (AP)
ROME -- In a bid to protect its ancient glories from modern perils, Rome is banning cars and motor scooters from the boulevard that slices through the city's ancient forums toward the Colosseum.Traffic police started enforcing the new restrictions at dawn Saturday, diverting private cars and motor scooters to side streets, so they will no longer clog the Via dei Fori Imperiali.
Scientists at Georgia Tech have created a Mona Lisa reproduction about 30 microns wide, or about one-third the width of a human hair.The team also created a few microscopic Ansel Adams landscape reproductions as well, but copyright issues prevented the scientists from sharing those with the rest of us. Although you can find one of them -- a reproduction of a 1932 picture of a rose with driftwood -- in a study about the process that created these images in the journal Langmuir.
When it comes to our sense of smell, we are all experiencing the world in very different ways.Scientists already know that humans' sensitivity to smelly molecules varies considerably from person to person (see: 'Soapy taste of coriander linked to genetic variants'). But evidence that genetic variations
In a first for scientists, a foal of the world's last true wild horse has been born by way of artificial insemination.The birth of a female Przewalski's horse (pronounced "cha-VAL-skee") on July 27 at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Virginia was celebrated as a major achievement for the survival of the endangered species, once thought to have been extinct in the wild.
Hey Brits, keep an eye out for this little critter
High-speed cameras have revealed how jumping spiders use a dragline of silk to stabilise themselves mid-air and control their landings.Slow-motion footage revealed the spiders used their silk draglines to stabilise their bodies and to brake, enabling them to land poised and ready to pounce on prey.The discovery, the scientists say, could inspire new robot design.
Every year thousands of them are boiled or torn apart while they are still alive, and now there is strong evidence to suggest that crustaceans experience pain.That was the stark message delivered by Robert Elwood, an animal behaviour researcher at Queen
Our addiction to sugar is linked to obesity, cancer and heart disease
Two young children in Pennsylvania were banned from talking about fracking for the rest of their lives under a gag order imposed under a settlement reached by their parents with a leading oil and gas company.The sweeping gag order was imposed under a $750,000 settlement between the Hallowich family and Range Resources Corp, a leading oil and gas driller. It provoked outrage on Monday among environmental campaigners and free speech advocates.
Sharing a secret can forge a relationship and solidify a bond with a friend. Keeping a secret, however, can eat away at our health and happiness. As it turns out, hiding a painful truth also changes the way we communicate with others.By analyzing big data sets such as email logs and Twitter feeds, psychologists are unveiling the subtle, subconscious ways our language reflects our inner thoughts. These shifts in speech can also crop up in the way political leaders communicate with the public. They may even indicate when one of the Boston marathon bombers first decided to carry out his act of violence.
People who are happy but have little-to-no sense of meaning in their lives have the same gene expression patterns as people who are enduring chronic adversity.For at least the last decade, the happiness craze has been building. In the last three months alone, over 1,000 books on happiness were released on Amazon, including Happy Money, Happy-People-Pills For All, and, for those just starting out, Happiness for Beginners.One of the consistent claims of books like these is that happiness is associated with all sorts of good life outcomes, including
The Eiffel Tower has a new rival, five centuries old.For the first time since it was built in the early 1500s, the Tour Saint Jacques, a mysterious stand-alone Gothic tower in the geometric centre of Paris, is opening to the public this summer.The 170ft-high tower, long surrounded by myths and legends, has literary connections ranging from Alexandre Dumas to Marcel Proust. It was used by the writer and scientist Blaise Pascal to experiment with atmospheric pressure and weights a century before Isaac Newton developed his theory of gravity.
The question of why humans invented music
I was 41 and in constant pain. In 2012 I decided to travel to the Amazon to drink Ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic brew used by shamans for hundreds of years. I had read about it, researched it and decided I had to do it. People drank it for physical and emotional well being.
By most standards Matt and Paige Figi were living the American dream. They met at Colorado State University, where they shared a love of the outdoors. After getting married, the couple bought a house and planned to travel the world.They did travel, but their plans changed when their first child was born in 2004.Related:Why I changed my mind on weed, By Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent
We have nothing to fear from the big change that is about to occur on the sun, researchers stress.The sun's magnetic field is set to reverse its polarity in the next few months. But the shift won't spark an increase in powerful solar storms or other events that could have a damaging effect on Earth and its inhabitants, researchers say.
Europa has only been seen from afar, but its aura of intrigue has inspired scientists to study ideas as to how to explore the icy Jovian moon.In a new study published today (Aug. 7), a NASA-appointed science definition team lays out the rich tapestry of discovery facing any mission to study Europa, but what questions do we need answering?.
Archaeologist Anya Shetler cleans an inscription below an ancient stucco frieze recently unearthed in the buried Maya city of Holmul in the Peten region of Guatemala. Sunlight from a tunnel entrance highlights the carved legs of a ruler sitting atop the head of a Maya mountain spirit.
NEW YORK (AP)
ROME -- In a bid to protect its ancient glories from modern perils, Rome is banning cars and motor scooters from the boulevard that slices through the city's ancient forums toward the Colosseum.Traffic police started enforcing the new restrictions at dawn Saturday, diverting private cars and motor scooters to side streets, so they will no longer clog the Via dei Fori Imperiali.
Scientists at Georgia Tech have created a Mona Lisa reproduction about 30 microns wide, or about one-third the width of a human hair.The team also created a few microscopic Ansel Adams landscape reproductions as well, but copyright issues prevented the scientists from sharing those with the rest of us. Although you can find one of them -- a reproduction of a 1932 picture of a rose with driftwood -- in a study about the process that created these images in the journal Langmuir.
When it comes to our sense of smell, we are all experiencing the world in very different ways.Scientists already know that humans' sensitivity to smelly molecules varies considerably from person to person (see: 'Soapy taste of coriander linked to genetic variants'). But evidence that genetic variations
In a first for scientists, a foal of the world's last true wild horse has been born by way of artificial insemination.The birth of a female Przewalski's horse (pronounced "cha-VAL-skee") on July 27 at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Virginia was celebrated as a major achievement for the survival of the endangered species, once thought to have been extinct in the wild.
Hey Brits, keep an eye out for this little critter
High-speed cameras have revealed how jumping spiders use a dragline of silk to stabilise themselves mid-air and control their landings.Slow-motion footage revealed the spiders used their silk draglines to stabilise their bodies and to brake, enabling them to land poised and ready to pounce on prey.The discovery, the scientists say, could inspire new robot design.
Every year thousands of them are boiled or torn apart while they are still alive, and now there is strong evidence to suggest that crustaceans experience pain.That was the stark message delivered by Robert Elwood, an animal behaviour researcher at Queen