Scholars say they are closing in on how ecstasy, 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA), produces feelings of euphoria in users and in a new paper say that it might be useful in the treatment of anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.  A small study using MDMA as an adjunct to psychotherapy reported positive preliminary results.

The limitation of the new paper; these were brain images and done for a television show a year and a half before it was in a journal.

Tetraquarks are hypothetical particles made up by four quarks (two quarks and two antiquarks). Unlike mesons (quark-antiquark pairs) and baryons (three-quark or three-antiquark systems), the quarks in a tetraquark are quite loosely bound within their confinement volume by strong interactions, as can be calculated with the help of quantum chromodynamics. Their tendence to separate into two quark-antiquark systems should yield a very short lifetime, making their observation quite difficult. However, some tentative evidence for their existence exists.

Everyone's heard of microwave ovens by now. 

These mass-market kitchen devices were a by-product of a much more narrow application - radar. During World War II, the magnetron, a tube that produces microwaves, was invented to spot German bombers on their way to the British Isles. Later, Percy LeBaron Spencer of the Raytheon Company discovered that these radar waves melted a candy bar in his pocket and so the microwave oven - originally known as the Radar Range - was born.

Microwave ovens can do wonderful things but the quality of the cooking is not uniform. So you might be a little skeptical about milk.

Are you obsessed with checking email?

You could be damaging your mental health and that of their colleagues too, according to Kingston University occupational psychologist Dr. Emma Russell.

Russell says she has identified 7 deadly email sins that can lead to 'negative repercussions' if not handled correctly. Some of the worst habits include 'ping pong' messages back and forth and 'read receipts', which accompany every missive sent, the study, looking into which email practices stress employees out, found.

UV-B radiation in sunlight is the most important factor for the production of vitamin D, and that is why some people suffer from low levels of vitamin D during the winter months.

Many foods contain vitamin D, though not all have enough to make food an adequate supply. Some studies have indicated that low vitamin D levels are related to cardiovascular disease such as high blood pressure, along with other diseases such as diabetes mellitus, autoimmune diseases and even cancer.

Vitamin D deficiency leads to stiffening of the blood vessels

Male black widow spiders on the prowl to mate (and sometimes be victims of black widow cannibalism by females, thus the name Latrodectus mactans) shake their abdomens to produce carefully pitched vibrations and avoid potential attacks by females – who otherwise may misinterpret the advances as the vibrations of prey.

They want her to know they are a male and not a meal. If you read this and know who Miley Cyrus is, they basically twerk.

The team recorded the vibrations made by male black widow spiders (Latrodectus hesperus), hobo spiders (Tegenaria agrestis) and prey insects.

Scholars writing in the Danish Journal of Archaeology say that "grog" dates back a lot farther than previously believed; to perhaps 1500 B.C. and in an area stretching from northwest Denmark to the Swedish island of Gotland.

Like most things, somewhere along the way the British navy has tried to take credit for it, so you often see it called a rum drink. Instead of being rum-based, ancient grog was a hybrid beverage made from whatever local ingredients they could turn into alcohol, including honey, bog cranberry, lingonberry, bog myrtle, yarrow, juniper, birch tree resin, wheat, barley rye — and sometimes even from grape wine imported from southern or central Europe.

Archaeologists working at  Abydos in southern Egypt have discovered the tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh named Woseribre Senebkay — and found the first material proof of a forgotten Abydos Dynasty from around 1650-1600 B.C. 

The tomb of the previously unknown pharaoh Senebkay was discovered close to a larger royal tomb, recently identified as belonging to a king Sobekhotep, probably Sobekhotep I, circa. 1780 B.C. of the 13th Dynasty.

While it's going to make government accountants cringe, 2,000,000 people in England could be eligible for weight loss surgery, according to a paper in JRSM Open.

That figure far exceeds previous estimates of eligibility in England for bariatric surgery. People fulfilling the national criteria were more likely to be women, retired, have lower educational qualifications and have lower socioeconomic status. But in fuzzy estimates, proponents say spending the money on bariatric surgery – a set of surgical procedures performed on obese people to decrease their stomach size – now can greatly reduce the likelihood of obesity-related diseases including type 2 diabetes, stroke and coronary heart disease and eventual death due to those.

A wildfire started by three vagrants with drugs in their possession spread quickly in the foothills northeast of Los Angeles on January 16th, 2014. The plume of ash and smoke blanketed much of the metropolitan area and prompted air quality warnings, along with concerns about long-term effects to the climate.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites captured these images of the Colby fire just before (top) and just after noon on January 16. The morning image is clearer because the scene was centered under the satellite, while the afternoon image is fuzzy because the satellite was observing from an angle.