Scienceblog

The wearing of dark-colored, long-sleeved shirts in the midst of North Carolina's sweltering summers was strongly encouraged by my great-grandmother. She always responded the same way whenever I questioned her about why she was wearing that gardening attire on a 95-degree day: "What keeps out the cold will keep out the sun." Her ancestors' knowledge was accurate. People's skin issues, such as wrinkles, sunburns, irritated skin, and some types of cancer, are thought to be largely attributed to ultraviolet radiation, whose main source is the sun. In the past, people discovered techniques to shield themselves from the sun. Native Alaskans made snow goggles out of wood or bone to shield their eyes from UV rays that were reflected off the snow. Thanaka, a paste made from crushed tree bark, is still utilized in Myanmar. Today, sunscreens and UPF materials are the two main types of sun protection available to consumers. According to Travis W. Blalock, an associate profes...

New understandings of brain activity during sleep might aid in the development of aids for people with neurologic disease or impairment. What makes people sleep? Scientists have debated this topic for hundreds of years, but a recent study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers, conducted in collaboration with specialists from Brown University, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and several other institutions, adds new information that could help solve this mystery. Their study, which was just published in the Journal of Neuroscience, may aid in the explanation of how people recall information and learn new abilities. It could also aid in the development of aids for those with neurological disorders or accidents. Lead author of the study and neurologist Daniel Rubin, MD, Ph.D., of the MGH Center for Neurotechnology and Neurorecovery, claims that the "replay" phenomena that occurs when we sleep has long been known to science. The brain is supposed to employ repl...

The diamond is most certainly going to surpass all other gemstone sales records in price. A enormous pink diamond that may be the largest of its kind discovered in the last 300 years has been unearthed by miners in Angola. The Daria-i-Noor diamond, the biggest pink diamond in the world and currently a part of the Iranian National Jewels, is estimated to weigh 182 carats. The pink diamond is reported to weigh 170 carats, making it somewhat smaller than this stone. According to a statement from the Lucapa Diamond Company, which owns Lulo and one other diamond mine in Angola, the new diamond has been given the name "Lulo Rose" after the Lulo mine in northern Angola where it was discovered. 27 diamonds weighing more than 100 carats have been discovered by the Lulo mining operation since 2015, including the biggest diamond ever discovered in Angola, the 404-carat "4th February Stone," which sold for $16 million in 2016. The fifth-largest diamond discovered in Lulo, The L...

You'll notice that you don't have a tail, unlike the majority of primates, if you quickly glance over your shoulder. It's also quite beneficial. We truly should be appreciative of the shift. What if everything turned out completely differently? Here's how the world may have seemed if our forefathers had retained their tails, minus the requirement for a hole in the back of your pants. But some individuals do have tails, right? Technically, we all had one long before we were born, although briefly. Human development includes short tails, which begin to appear about the sixth week of pregnancy. Even yet, this little addition to the spinal column has up to a dozen vertebrae. Half of them resorb within a week, while the other half fuse into the coccyx, also known as the tailbone. Whatever people, primarily males for some reason, are born with the tip of this embryonic "tail" remaining in place because nature enjoys a little diversity. The appendage is fully equippe...

Both objects will go far outside the lunar orbit. This weekend, two asteroids the size of skyscrapers are speeding toward Earth. One will make its closest approach on Friday, July 29, while the other will pass by on Saturday (July 30). NASA estimates that the first asteroid, 2016 CZ31, will come by at a speed of 34,560 mph (55,618 km/h) on Friday about 7 p.m. ET (23:00 GMT). The asteroid, which is roughly as wide as a 40-story skyscraper is tall, is thought to be 400 feet (122 meters) across at its widest point. The asteroid will pass around 1,740,000 miles (2,800,000 kilometers) from Earth, or more than seven times the typical distance between Earth and the moon, safely avoiding our planet. The next near encounter of this space rock with Earth is expected for January 2028, according to NASA. A second, bigger asteroid will pass by Earth on Saturday, albeit it will be further away. At its widest visible point, that asteroid, 2013 CU83, is roughly 600 feet (183 meters) across. It will pa...

Currently, oxygen makes up around 21% of Earth's atmosphere. But it took a while for the atmosphere on our planet to reach the point where it is now breathable. Methane, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide, among other gases, were among the initial mixtures to accumulate as a thick layer surrounding our cooling planet 4.6 billion years ago. These were turbulent times; in addition to the volatile ingredients swirling within the Earth, a regular barrage of frigid rocks from the inner Solar System kept the supply of new material flowing. Larger impacts periodically heated the surface, boiling any moisture that had accumulated and maintaining the hot mucky environment. But there was also enough of nitrogen in the form of ammonia in that constant stream of minerals falling from the sky. When did oxygen first enter the atmosphere of Earth? We still don't know a lot of the specifics. We are unsure of the exact amount of nitrogen that the early mineral rain delivered to our planet, fo...

According to calculations done by a climate scientist at Tohoku University in Japan, the current mass extinction event is not expected to be as devastating as the previous five. Certainly not for several more centuries. Earth has lost the majority of its species on several occasions during the past 540 million years in a very small geologic time period. These are referred to as major extinction events, and they frequently occur just after a climatic shift occurs, whether it results from extremely high or extremely low temperatures brought on by asteroids or volcanic activity, respectively. When Kunio Kaiho attempted to quantify the relationship between the stability of Earth's average surface temperature and its biodiversity, he discovered a mostly linear relationship. The amount of extinction increases with temperature change. The largest mass extinctions during global cooling episodes happened when temperatures dropped by around 7°C. However, Kaiho discovered that throughout time...

On NASA's brand-new Space Launch System megarocket, Commander Moonikin Campos will go to the moon aboard Orion. The Orion spacecraft, which will go to the moon atop a brand-new megarocket, has now been equipped with the data-gathering mannequin Commander Moonikin Campos by NASA. Campos has been successfully fitted into the Orion Capsule, which is atop the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for the Artemis 1 trip around the moon, according to a tweet from NASA's Exploration Ground Systems team on July 27. The date of liftoff is presently set for August 29. Moonkin Campos is a human-sized test dummy that is now fastened onto the commander's chair at the front of the capsule. It is named after Arturo Campus, an electrical engineer who was crucial in bringing the Apollo 13 mission safely back to Earth. Moonkin will give NASA scientists important information on what potential human crew members may go through during flight during the voyage. NASA's Artemis program's unmann...

The evolutionary predilection of humans is towards sweetness. Our ancestors used sweet foods like fruit and honey as a major source of energy. But in the current world, sweetened foods are widely accessible, incredibly affordable, and heavily promoted. We are currently consuming too much sugar in our meals and beverages, especially added sugar as opposed to naturally occurring sugar. The health effects of consuming too much added sugar are negative. It has been connected to dental decay, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Manufacturers began sweetening food with non-nutritive sweeteners as a result of these health worries. These sweeteners include both artificial sweeteners like aspartame and those derived from natural sources like stevia, and they all have a kilojoule content of zero to very little. According to our study, which was just published, packaged foods and beverages now include far more added sugars and non-nutritive sweeteners than they did ten years ago. This is particularly t...

The Spanish aquaculture business Nueva Pescanova has been prompted by escalating demand in the world cephalopod market to move ahead with its ambitions to launch the first octopus farm sometime in 2019. The project's supporters assert that the breeding initiatives would provide local jobs while reducing the strain on overburdened fisheries. Environmentalists, zoologists, and ethicists aren't persuaded and warn that there are many good reasons not to cultivate octopuses. In theory, octopus farms make sense since many species that are often consumed can reproduce a lot, gain weight fast, and reach maturity in a year or two. However, the notion of octopus aquaculture comes with a long list of expenses and issues. They prefer to consume live prey since they are finicky eaters, especially when young. Octopuses don't perform well in captivity either since they can become hostile to the point of self-mutilation when confined with one another. In addition, octopuses are known escap...