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Stegosaurus Males And Females May Have Had Different Plates

Stegosaurus Males And Females May Have Had Different Plates

Apr 22 2015 | comment(s)

Stegosaurus, a large, herbivorous dinosaur with two staggered rows of bony plates along its back and two pairs of spikes at the end of its tail, lived roughly 150 million years ago during the Late Jurassic in the western United States. Some individuals had wide plates, some had tall ones, with the wide plates being up to 45 percent larger overall than the tall plates.

According to a new study, the tall-plated Stegosaurus and the wide-plate Stegosaurus were not two distinct species, nor were they individuals of different age - they were actually males and females.

Our Human Ancestors Had Tentacles

Our Human Ancestors Had Tentacles

Apr 22 2015 | comment(s)

The famous Vitruvian Man, drawn by Leonardo da Vinci, pictures the canon of human's proportions - though we did not become bilaterally symmetric all at once.

There are two main points of view on the last common bilaterian ancestor, its appearance and the course of evolution. It is likely that the ancestor of Bilateria appeared at the end of the Vendian period which is the last geological period of the Neoproterozoic Era preceding the Cambrian Period. It lasted from approximately 635 to 541±1 million years ago. The organisms, which lived in the Vendian sea, were mostly radially symmetrical creatures. Some of them were floating in the water, while others were crawling along the bottom or leading sessile benthic life.
Environmental Justice: Failed Promises, Little Action

Environmental Justice: Failed Promises, Little Action

Apr 22 2015 | comment(s)

As we celebrate Earth Day this week, it is an opportune time to recognize that not all Americans have equally enjoyed the dividends of our nation’s environmental protections.

Decades of research clearly demonstrate that poor and minority communities often experience more environmental burdens and enjoy fewer environmental amenities. These communities tend to host a disproportionate number of landfills, incinerators and other polluting facilities. These are not only unpleasant to live by but also can pose significant health risks.

Feel The Game - Hands Omni Tactile Glove Brings Touch To Virtual Environments

Feel The Game - Hands Omni Tactile Glove Brings Touch To Virtual Environments

Apr 22 2015 | comment(s)

Forget vibrating joysticks on your Xbox, Rice University engineers have invented a glove that allows a user to feel what they're touching while gaming.

The Hands Omni provides a way for gamers and others to feel the environments they inhabit through the likes of three-dimensional heads-ups displays. The prototype glove, developed with Houston sponsor Virtuix and introduced at the George R. Brown School of Engineering Design Showcase, is intended to provide next-generation force feedback to the fingertips as players touch, press or grip objects in the virtual world. The project won the "People's Choice" award at Rice's recent Engineering Design Showcase. 
Why Invading Species Spread Fast - Evolution

Why Invading Species Spread Fast - Evolution

Apr 22 2015 | comment(s)

Invasive plants animals and plants spreading is not new but predicting the dynamics of these invasions is difficult - and of great ecological and socioeconomical interest. Scientists at Eawag and University of Zurich are now using computer simulations and small artificial laboratory worlds, to study how rapid evolution makes invaders spread even faster. 

Newt Gingrich, The NIH And Antibiotics

Newt Gingrich, The NIH And Antibiotics

Apr 22 2015 | comment(s)

Today the New York Times published an op-ed by Newt Gingrich where he calls for doubling the budget for the National Institutes of Health here in the US. 

Who can argue with that?
Why Are More Boys Born At The End Of Wars?

Why Are More Boys Born At The End Of Wars?

Apr 22 2015 | comment(s)

More boys are born than girls: this is a fact. In the western world the ‘sex ratio’ is around 105 boys for every 100 girls, but this changes through history.  And rather remarkably, it peaks at the end of wars: another fact.

So why are more boys born at the end of wars? Now we have to leave the comfort of facts, and are left with contested opinions.

Reliable official statistics on births in England and Wales have been available since the late 1830s, and the graph below shows the sex ratio from then until 2012. There are clear spikes at the end of the two World Wars, but also around 1973, while there is also a steady dip towards the end of the nineteenth century – we’ll come to that later.
The Cost Of Pure Water

The Cost Of Pure Water

Apr 22 2015 | comment(s)

Ghana has plenty of water. So why do its people buy plastic pouches from street vendors? Shaun Raviv investigates.

Testosterone And The Bird Bang Theory

Testosterone And The Bird Bang Theory

Apr 22 2015 | comment(s)

A new study of animal behavior suggests that evolution is hard at work when it comes to the acrobatic courtship dances of  male golden-collared manakins, a tropical bird species.

There are about 60 different species of manakins, most of which perform, to some degree, a physically complex display behavior to both court females and to compete with other males. The new study says the ability to detect testosterone in the body regulates the acrobatic courtship and competitive behavior - bird brawn.  
Dispersants Sprayed After BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill May Be More Toxic Than The Oil

Dispersants Sprayed After BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill May Be More Toxic Than The Oil

Apr 22 2015 | comment(s)

We are still trying to fully understand the extent of the damage caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill five years ago, one of the worst environmental disasters in US history.

Project 8 And The Ghost In The Particle Machine

Project 8 And The Ghost In The Particle Machine

Apr 22 2015 | comment(s)

Neutrinos are among the more mysterious elementary particles in the universe: Billions of them pass through every cell of our bodies every second, yet these ghostly particles are incredibly difficult to detect, because they don’t appear to interact with ordinary matter.

Scientists have set theoretical limits on neutrino mass, but researchers have yet to precisely detect it.
51 Pegasi B Is First Exoplanet Detected In The Visible Light Spectrum

51 Pegasi B Is First Exoplanet Detected In The Visible Light Spectrum

Apr 22 2015 | comment(s)

51 Pegasi b, about 50 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Pegasus, was discovered in 1995 and was the the first confirmed exoplanet to be found orbiting an ordinary star like our Sun. It is the archetypal Hot Jupiter -- a class of planets similar in size and mass to Jupiter but orbiting much closer to their parent stars.

Since that landmark discovery, more than 1,900 exoplanets in 1,200 planetary systems have been confirmed, but 51 Pegasi b now has another "first" - it has been directly detected in visible light.

Perfusion System Could Revolutionize The Organ Donation Time Window

Perfusion System Could Revolutionize The Organ Donation Time Window

Apr 22 2015 | comment(s)

While growing new organs from a patient's own stem cells is the future much of science is working toward, there are people who need replacements right now. Lots of people are signed up for organ donations in the case of death but willing donors is not the biggest obstacle.

It's time.

 Typically, donor organs have to kept in preservation solution at a static temperature of 4 °C and the clock begins ticking immediately. They have short preservation times; about 6 hours for hearts and lungs, 12 hours for livers, and 20 hours for kidneys.
Ecomodernist Manifesto - Environmentalism For The 21st Century

Ecomodernist Manifesto - Environmentalism For The 21st Century

Apr 22 2015 | comment(s)

When a sustainability advocate leaves the intellectual playground of academia and starts trying to really get things done related to climate and energy, it is easy to become disillusioned. Not because of corporations, they actually did what was expected and got sustainable because it was 'good business', as they were supposed to do. Instead, it is easy to become jaded by environmentalists.
Tomorrowland XCHALLENGE For Kids Now Open For Nominations

Tomorrowland XCHALLENGE For Kids Now Open For Nominations

Apr 22 2015 | comment(s)

If you have a bold vision for future technology, Disney and XPRIZE have created a nationwide XCHALLENGE to show what you know. 

Disney’s Create Tomorrowland – XPRIZE Challenge invites kids to imagine themselves in the future using video, pictures or stories about one new and amazing invention or innovation they encounter. In June, six winners will get a mentorship experience with a leader in their area of interest, along with a $3,000 check, a 3D Printer from 3D Systems, and registration for FIRST® LEGO® League for the competition season 2015-2016 in the U.S. 


The Depression Serotonin Link Is A Myth

The Depression Serotonin Link Is A Myth

Apr 21 2015 | comment(s)

The widely held belief that depression is due to low levels of serotonin in the brain and that raising those levels is an effective treatment is invalid, according to David Healy, Professor of Psychiatry at the Hergest psychiatric unit in North Wales. Instead it is "the marketing of a myth."

The serotonin reuptake inhibiting (SSRI) group of drugs came on stream in the late 1980s, nearly two decades after first being mooted, writes Healy.  The delay centered on finding an indication. 
Perceptions Of Environmental Damage Lessen Over Time, Even When Things Stay The Same

Perceptions Of Environmental Damage Lessen Over Time, Even When Things Stay The Same

Apr 21 2015 | comment(s)

Invasive pests known as spruce bark beetles have been attacking Alaskan forests for decades, killing more than 1 million acres of forest on the Kenai Peninsula in southern Alaska for more than 25 years.

Beyond environmental concerns regarding the millions of "beetle kill" dead trees, inhabitants of the peninsula and surrounding areas are faced with problems including dangerous falling trees, high wildfire risks, loss of scenic views and increased soil erosion. Intriguingly, a sociologist from the University of Missouri says that human perception of the beetle kill problem in the Kenai Peninsula has improved over time, despite little improvement in the environmental conditions.

95,000 Person Study Shows MMR Vaccine Does Not Lead To Higher Autism Risk

95,000 Person Study Shows MMR Vaccine Does Not Lead To Higher Autism Risk

Apr 21 2015 | comment(s)

A study of approximately 95,000 children with older siblings found that the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is not associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorders regardless of whether older siblings had been diagnosed on the autism spectrum - and epidemiological papers say those children should be at higher risk for an autism diagnosis.

During the last 15 years, no valid study has found a link between the MMR vaccine and ASD but some parents and people selling alternative medicines continue to associate the vaccine with ASD. Surveys of parents who have children with ASD suggest that many believe the MMR vaccine was a contributing cause.
Heavy Snoring And Sleep Apnea Signal Earlier Memory Decline

Heavy Snoring And Sleep Apnea Signal Earlier Memory Decline

Apr 21 2015 | comment(s)

Heavy snoring and sleep apnea may be linked to memory and thinking decline at an earlier age, according to a new study - but treating the disorders with a breathing machine may delay the decline. 

For the study, the medical histories for 2,470 people ages 55 to 90 were reviewed. Participants were categorized as either free of memory and thinking problems, in early stages of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or with Alzheimer's disease. The researchers also looked at people with untreated sleep breathing problems versus those without the sleep breathing problems and also untreated versus treated people with sleep breathing problems.

That Enormous Hole In The Universe Might Not Be Alone

That Enormous Hole In The Universe Might Not Be Alone

Apr 21 2015 | comment(s)

Astronomers have found evidence of a giant void that could be the largest known structure in the universe. The “supervoid” solves a controversial cosmic puzzle: it explains the origin of a large and anomalously cold region of the sky. However, future observations are needed to confirm the discovery and determine whether the void is unique.