Sperm quality can be reduced by several lifestyle factors, like obesity and related diseases such as type 2 diabetes, but a new examination of epigenetic phenomena - gene expression changing even if the DNA sequence is not changed -  finds that even diet can impact sperm quality, and in just two weeks.

The concern is that such epigenetic changes might be able to lead to properties being transferred from a parent to offspring via the sperm or the egg. 

Any time is a good time to start exercising but a great time to start exercising is today. Share this article on Facebook first, though. 

Don't be intimidated by those people who hiss about Crossfit or their Peloton, a new study shows you have the same ability to build muscle mass as highly trained master athletes of a similar age.

New survey results in the Journal of Media Psychology find that how much you enjoy or hate the new "Star Wars" movie will depend a lot on your expectations. Nothing shocking in that, but there is a twist.

And the twist is not that the new movie will make a fortune this week no matter what reviewers or the more rabid fringe of the fan base say. That is entirely predictable.

Navan Fort, the legendary capital of Ulster. has long been considered a site of ritual gatherings.  Excavations have uncovered a huge 40-yard diameter building and a barbary ape cranium, likely from at least as far as Iberiam along with remnants of pigs, cattle and sheepfrom across Ireland, perhaps being reared as far afield as Galway, Donegal, Down, Tyrone and Antrim. 

That means Iron Age communities were very mobile at holiday time, their own version of driving for Christmas. 

The anti-vaccine movement tries to portray itself as scrappy grassroots outsiders standing up to Big Pharma and Big Government, but it's nothing of the kind, finds a recent Washington Post exposé.

The National Vaccine Information Center, which claims to be the largest "awareness" non-profit opposing vaccines, actually gets almost half of its funding from corporations. And their largest corporate benefactor is the osteopath Joe Mercola, head of a $100 million empire that sells alternatives to medicine for nearly everything.  And who funds lots of groups opposed to science, from medicine to food.

December 25, as we all know, is Jesus Christ’s birthday, a Christian celebration in which the myth of three kings who travelled far and wide to give gifts to the “new born king” inspires the modern Christian tradition of gift giving. Early gifts used to be fruits or nuts, but as this act took on more importance, gifts became larger and less modest, and were placed under a tree.

Light propagation usually goes both ways; it is reciprocal in that the trajectory of light traveling one direction is identical in the opposite direction.

Isolators and circulators, which make light propagate only in one direction, are vital building blocks in many modern laser and communication systems, but are almost exclusively based on the magneto-optic effect, making devices bulky and difficult for integration. A magnetic-free route would be a great breakthrough for many optical applications. 

The idea of hanging up decorations in the middle of winter is older than Christmas itself. Decorations are mentioned in ancient descriptions of the Roman feast of Saturnalia, which is thought to have originated in the 5th century BC.

Some 900 years later, a Christian bishop in Turkey wrote disapprovingly about members of his congregation who were drinking, feasting, dancing and “crowning their doors” with decorations in a pagan fashion at this time of year.

The CDC has updated its fatality and illness list due to illicit marijuana vaping. Now there have been 54 deaths and 2,506 hospitalizations. The culprit is Vitamin E acetate, needed to make marijuana tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)products into a vapor because, unlike nicotine, it does not dilute readily.

You may be aware that film runs at 25 frames per second because humans will then not see it as individual images. These 'blinks per second' are measured in Hertz and some humans can see up to 60 Hz.

You may not sleep well if you have a light blinking all night. And a new study shows that in bird care, light control is even more important than realized.

A new study has found that birds of prey have much greater visual acuity but a peregrine falcon is over twice as adept as humans - 129 Hz, which would be like being able to see the details of a race car driver's face as they zoom by you at 200 miles per hour.