For a few days in late February, the world stopped to argue over a photograph. Everyone had a strong opinion about the true colour of a dress, and the debate quickly became tribal. Social media were swamped by arguments between those who perceived the dress as blue and black, and those who perceived it as white and gold. But what does a phenomenon such as #TheDress tell us about how information spreads and what makes it go viral?...
Psychologist Robert Sternberg never forgot the low IQ score he earned as a child. Now his theory of “successful intelligence,” which he says is a better index of brain power, will be put to a real-life test. This fall undergraduate applicants to Tufts University, where Sternberg is the college dean, will be given a chance to write an optional essay and attend an in-person session where they will respond to videos and pictures, leading to an index for each volunteer....
It’s a bright summer day at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Outside, in the sprawling front plaza rimmed by palm and willow trees, young couples cuddle by the steps, vendors sell wrestling masks and tacos, and five men dressed in traditional Totonac garb slowly spin upside down in the death defying “Dance of the Flyers” for the tourists. Inside the museum is a wonder of culture and history....
For the past 40 years, as far back as the satellite record extends, the number of tropical cyclones that form around the world has held relatively steady, at about 90 per year. As climate change feeds heat energy into the atmosphere and oceans, these storms have become fiercer, but not more frequent. That could change in coming decades, according to a new model developed by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology meteorologist....
By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - The United States performs poorly in U.N. rankings on progress towards global health goals due to its high levels of violence, alcohol abuse and childhood obesity, a study has found. The research, published in The Lancet medical journal on Wednesday, offers the first assessment of 188 countries’ rankings against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim to boost health by improving the environment, food and water and by easing poverty....
When permafrost thaws, microbes convert ancient organic matter in the frozen soil into climate-warming gases, like carbon dioxide and methane, potentially triggering a positive feedback loop that further melts the Arctic. But the once-barren soil also spouts new—and larger—shrubs that can act as a carbon sink, and scientists have wondered what the net effect of permafrost thawing would be on atmospheric carbon balance. A new study published this week in Nature suggests that changing landscape can counterbalance the release of permafrost carbon—but only for a little while....
It’s been so cold in the upper Midwest this week that even a few minutes outside invites frostbite. But there is least one upside to the polar vortex deep freeze: The extreme cold is likely wiping out millions of invasive tree-killing insects across a broad swath of territory from South Dakota to Minnesota, offering hope for at least a temporary reprieve from their incessant spread into a steadily warming north. A swelling army of invasive insects—including the gypsy moth, introduced to the U....
During the most recent outbreak of salmonella poisoning, which was connected to peanut butter and other peanut products, the food-borne bacteria has sickened nearly 700 people and may have contributed to the death of nine, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reports. That came on the heels of an outbreak last summer, finally traced back to jalapeño peppers imported from Mexico, that was responsible for more than 1,400 infections, the U....
Take a few seconds to answer these questions: How good are you at connecting your friends with each other? How good are you at connecting your acquaintances with each other? How good are you at setting up your friends on dates? If your first reaction to these questions was something like, “Amazingly good – I’m a master matchmaker,” you’re in luck (if a bit full of yourself). Our new research shows that you’re very likely to be a happy person....
Some people wake up at the drop of a pin; others snooze through their alarms every morning. Whether you can sleep through noise has a lot to do with the brain waves you produce while you sleep, according to a new study published in Current Biology. And good news for insomniacs: it might one day be possible to manipulate these waves to ensure a good night’s rest. Previous research has shown that when people sleep, the thalamus—a brain structure that connects the high-level thought areas with the sights and sounds of the outside world—produces brief, high-frequency brain waves called spindles....
In the next few months, surgeons in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou will carefully drill through the skulls of people with Parkinson’s disease and inject 4 million immature neurons derived from human embryonic stem cells into their brains. Then they will patch the patients up, send them home and wait. This will mark the start of the first clinical trial in China using human embryonic stem (ES) cells, and the first one worldwide aimed at treating Parkinson’s disease using ES cells from fertilized embryos....
Dear EarthTalk: What are “eco-villages?” I’ve heard of one in New York near Ithaca and another one called Arcosanti being built in Arizona. – Jim Killian, Brookline, MA Eco-villages are essentially designed communities intending to be socially, economically and ecologically sustainable. Environmentalist Joan Bokaer developed the vision for the first eco-village, which would eventually be built on the outskirts of Ithaca, New York, while on a continent-wide walk for sustainability across the United States in 1990....
Since 26 September, mysterious leaks have appeared in the underwater Nord Stream gas pipelines—which run from Russia to Germany—close to the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. Given the tense energy situation between Russia and the West following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a real-life geopolitical whodunit has ensued, with NATO now among those attributing the leaks to sabotage. Seismologists picked up data that might help to pinpoint the cause of the leaks, and other researchers are trying to work out how much methane—a potent greenhouse gas—will be released as a result....
It’s the altruism paradox: If everyone in a group helps fellow members, everyone is better off yet as more work selflessly for the common good, cheating becomes tempting, because individuals can enjoy more personal gain if they do not chip in. But as freeloaders exploit the do-gooders, everybody’s payoff from altruism shrinks. All kinds of social creatures, from humans down to insects and germs, must cope with this problem; if they do not, cheaters take over and leech the group to death....
The United States still owes the world details about how it plans to meet President Biden’s pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by the end of this decade. The White House promised last year that those would come in the form of a comprehensive “U.S. National Climate Strategy.” That term was used more than 20 times by the American government in a report submitted to the U.N. climate body last year on how the United States would zero out emissions by 2050....
THE DAY COULD SOON come when autonomous robots roam the planet in search of raw biomass to consume for power. Such is the vision of the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot system, although you can call it EATR. “Imagine the robot in the movie WALL-E—but instead of just compacting trash, it’s combusting trash for electrical energy,” says Robert Finkelstein, director of the Intelligent Systems Laboratory in the Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland and president of Robotic Technology, the company developing EATR....
John has a few snorts of cocaine, finds he can take it or leave it, and never bothers to take another hit. Jim has a few snorts of cocaine and before he knows it, his whole life revolves around getting more of the white powder, until his job, his marriage, his health are gone. Why? The answer may lie in one of the most exciting neuroscience discoveries of the last fifty years: the finding that new neurons are born in the adult brain....
Dear EarthTalk: I know of solar power systems that people can put on their roofs to generate electricity or heat water. Are there systems that serve whole neighborhoods? – Lee Helscel, via email Collective bargaining is a good strategy when looking to get the best price on a given product or service. Solar power is no exception, and dozens of neighborhood-wide installations in the U.S. and Canada have created a new model whereby going solar can actually start to pencil out for individual homeowners....
Crude oil contains hundreds of different hydrocarbons. Yet U.S. refineries convert half of all crude into gasoline–a blend of fuel stocks, particularly 2,2,4-trimethylpentane (eight carbon atoms chained together) and heptane (seven carbon atoms). The more complex the chain, the more the molecule can be compressed before it ignites spontaneously, allowing an engine to operate at a higher compression ratio–greater power output. The test mixture by which a gasoline’s octane rating is judged combines 2,2,4-trimethylpentane and heptane (87 to 13 percent for “87 octane”)....
By Peter Jones KINSHASA (Reuters) - Two employees of WWF have received death threats in Democratic Republic of Congo because of the conservation group’s opposition to plans by British company Soco International to search for oil in a national park, WWF said. Soco’s plans have drawn criticism from the British government and from environmentalists who fear they could damage Virunga National Park, the oldest and most bio-diverse in Africa. Emmanuel De Merode, the park’s Belgian director who was also publicly critical of Soco’s plans, was shot and seriously wounded last month by unknown gunmen....
