Many politically unstable areas of South Asia are “water-stressed,” meaning the areas are facing water scarcity due to poor infrastructure or simply lacking enough water to meet demand. The potential impacts of climate change on water scarcity could further inflame political tensions, finds a new report, “Himalayan Glaciers: Climate Change, Water Resources, and Water Security,”…
Mourning is not just a trait shared by humans, but scientists say it is also shared by the Western scrub jays. Researchers say the Western scrub jays summon others over to the body of a dead jay to screech over their dead brethren. University of California, Davis researchers said that the birds’ cacophonous “funerals” can…
Rocks are phenomenal time keepers. Their composition, shape, and age can make an otherwise barren environment reveal its secrets. On Mars, rocks are front and center in the ongoing quest to uncover the planet’s history and find evidence of past life. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to send men to Mars yet; men with their…
On November 8, 1800, fire ravaged the federal War Office, in Washington. The agency’s files went up in smoke, leaving a gaping hole in the nation’s historical record. “The most important window into the early republic had basically been boarded up,” says Christopher H. Hamner, a military historian at George Mason University. Not anymore. Through…
Almost 50 percent of global investors in a survey said government efforts to combat climate change will have little effect on corporate profits, while most say global warming is a danger to the planet. Actions to limit pollution will have “not much impact” on profitability, according to 49 percent of respondents in the Bloomberg Global…
To see a hopeful future for science education, look no further than the Raccoon Creek watershed in rural Ohio. There, Vinton County High School students are literally getting their feet wet, testing water and examining fish to investigate the impact of acid drainage from more than a century’s worth of coal mining in the Appalachians….
Archaeologists have uncovered two 9,500-year-old cultic figurines in excavations just outside of Jerusalem, the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) reported. Found at the Tel Moza archaeological site, one of the Neolithic figures is a limestone ram with precisely carved spiral horns. “The sculpting is extraordinary and precisely depicts details of the anima’s image,” the IAA excavators…
Reliance on supernatural explanations for major life events, such as death and illness, often increases rather than declines with age, according to a new psychology study from The University of Texas at Austin. The study, published in a recent issue of Child Development, offers new insight into developmental learning. “As children assimilate cultural concepts into…
In times of turmoil and strife, people seek the support and council of of fellow sufferers. The most recent example of this was on September 11th 2001, and the four years preceding, when the American people, regardless of their individual political and social agendas, banded together in a an impassioned and moving display of patriotism….
As family and friends of Neil Armstrong gathered in Ohio on Aug. 31 for a private memorial service, NASA paid tribute to the Apollo astronaut, calling him a great American and a space hero. “He never dwelled on his remarkable accomplishments or sought the limelight,” Kennedy Space Center director and former astronaut Robert Cabana said…