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Scientists have identified a new strain of influenza in harbor seals that could potentially impact human and animal health. The H3N8 flu has been associated with the deaths of harbor seals in New England last year. Researchers say the virus may have evolved from a type that had been circulating in North American birds since…
Poisoned-tipped arrows and jewelry made of ostrich egg beads found in South Africa show modern culture may have emerged about 30,000 years earlier in the area than previously thought, according to two articles published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research shows that the 44,000-year-old artifacts are characteristic of the…
Landslides up to 50 miles long, spotted on Saturn’s moon, Iapetus, could help provide clues to similar movements of material on Earth. Scientists studying the icy satellite have determined that flash heating could cause falling ice to travel 10 to 15 times farther than previously expected on Iapetus. Extended landslides can be found on Mars…
A drought that gripped western North America from 2000 to 2004 was the worst since the Middle Ages, but such extreme conditions may become normal during the next 100 years, finds a new study. During the drought that started at the turn of the century, forests withered, river basins were depleted, crop productivity dropped and…
A typical American school day finds some six million high school students and two million college freshmen struggling with algebra. In both high school and college, all too many students are expected to fail. Why do we subject American students to this ordeal?
The verdict is in: Global warming is occurring and emissions of greenhouse gases caused by human activity are the main cause. This, according to Richard A. Muller, MacArthur Fellow and co-founder of the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project. Never mind that the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and hundreds of other climatologists around the world came…
The National Youth Science Camp aims to give high-achieving students a chance to experience science in a fun setting. Especially when it comes to sciences, or STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — education, learning over the summer matters, education experts say. Students need exposure to hands-on, experiential science beyond the textbook, or they…
Microbes that convert electricity into methane gas could become an important source of renewable energy, according to scientists from Stanford and Pennsylvania State universities. Researchers at both campuses are raising colonies of microorganisms, called methanogens, which have the remarkable ability to turn electrical energy into pure methane—the key ingredient in natural gas. The scientists’ goal…
Where do ultra high-energy cosmic rays come from? These charged particles zoom to Earth from outer space, but why is a mystery. Now a possible source – gamma-ray bursts, which seemed to have been ruled out – have received a new lease of life. Gamma-ray bursts are usually created by exploding stars, which produce neutrinos….
Studies of lucid dreamers show which centers of the brain become active when we become aware of ourselves in dreams. Which areas of the brain help us to perceive our world in a self-reflective manner is difficult to measure. During wakefulness, we are always conscious of ourselves. In sleep, however, we are not. But there…