Blindsnakes are one of the few groups of organisms that inhabited Madagascar when it broke from India about 100 million years ago, and continental drift had a profound impact on how the animals evolved, says a new study published in Biology Letters.
Called scolecophidians, the creatures comprise about 260 different species and form the largest group of the world's worm-like snakes. These burrowing animals typically are found in southern continents and tropical islands, but occur on all continents except Antarctica. They have reduced vision -- which is why they are called "blind" -- and they feed on social insects including termites and ants.
Despite understanding the long term benefits of eating healthy and exercising, people often forgo these potential gains for the immediate satisfaction of a big mac and a night of cable TV.
What makes people go for the quick reward even though they know they'll be worse off for doing so?
According to a new study in Judgment and Decision Making, it's because people have to repeatedly feel the benefits of long term decisions, like eating healthy and exercising, to fully appreciate them. Simply having complete information about their choices isn't enough.
Adults with a history of cocaine use face an increased risk of HIV as a result of engaging in unprotected sex. And a new study in Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse suggests that the link may hold true for adolescents as well.
Researchers found that teens in psychiatric care who used crack and/or cocaine at least once were six times more likely to use condoms inconsistently, which was defined as "sometimes," "never" or "rarely."
The findings suggest that crack cocaine appears to have more of an influence on risky teen behaviors than other factors, like alcohol and marijuana use, which are more routinely incorporated into adolescent HIV prevention interventions.
Our telescopes show the Milky Way galaxy only as it appears from one vantage point: our solar system. B using a simple but powerful technique, astronomers have seen an exploding star or supernova from new several angles.
The supernova left behind the gaseous remnant Cassiopeia A. The supernova's light washed over the Earth about 330 years ago. But light that took a longer path, reflecting off clouds of interstellar dust, is just now reaching us. This faint, reflected light is what the astronomers have detected.
Scientists have fine-tuned computer models that can indicate when forest "carbon sinks" actually become net carbon generators instead.
The effort, detailed in Global Change Biology, will help pinpoint the effectiveness of trees in offsetting carbon releases that contribute to higher atmospheric temperatures and global climate change.
Since U.S. forests absorb and store about 750 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year, managing forest resources to optimize carbon sequestration is essential to mitigating the effects of climate change, the authors say.
Scientists have developed a non-viral, synthetic nanoparticle carrier to improve and save the sight of mice with retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited disease characterized by progressive vision loss and eventual blindness, for which there is no cure.
The researchers say the findings are based on "a clinically relevant treatment paradigm" and may one day lead to a gene replacement therapy for human retinal degeneration.
The research is detailed in The FASEB Journal.
Mice with with the retinal degeneration slow (Rds) gene, which causes retinitis pigmentosa, received one of three types of "treatments:" nanoparticles containing the normal copy of the Rds gene, the normal gene alone, or saline solution.
A new high resolution temperature map and images of Saturn's moon Mimas have revealed surprising patterns on the surface of the small moon, including unexpected hot regions that resemble "Pac-Man" eating a dot, and striking bands of light and dark in crater walls.
The new images were collected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Feb. 13, during its closest flyby of the moon, which is marked by an enormous scar called Herschel Crater and resembles the Death Star from "Star Wars."
What does it mean to be human? In the six million years or so since our ancestors first stood upright, we still don't have the perfect answer. In an effort to help the public appreciate our own unique development as human beings and explore the question for themselves, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History opened the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins.
The exhibit hall "offers visitors an immersive, interactive journey through 6 million years of scientific evidence for human origins and the stories of survival and extinction in our family tree during times of dramatic climate instability," the Smithsonian says. I had the fortune to visit the exhibit this weekend; if you're in D.C.1 in the future, I strongly recommend you check it out.
