ScienceDesk

ScienceDesk, 15 days ago to science

If you’re looking for something other than binge-watching to keep you up into the wee hours of the morning, check your weather forecast. If it’s clear, you could be in for a treat: The Eta Aquariid meteor shower is expected to be one of the best shows in recent years. Read more at CNN: https://flip.it/dnbgYT
#Science #Space #Meteors #MeteorShower

ScienceDesk, 15 days ago to science

Brain implant technology is rapidly advancing and can help people find their voice or beat neurological disorders. But what happens when the implant is no longer supported by its producer? Science Alert has more on the technology’s huge potential and its downsides: https://flip.it/yDq3i5
#Science Health #Brain #Technology

ScienceDesk, 16 days ago to science

Were those "alien farts" that the James Webb Space Telescope detected in an Earth-like planet's atmosphere last year, or were they just clouds of methane? A new study makes the case for the latter, potentially dampening hopes that life has already been discovered beyond our solar system. Live Science has more: https://flip.it/yo.FL2
#Science #Space #Aliens

ScienceDesk, 17 days ago to space

The Eta Aquarid meteor shower, debris of Halley’s comet, peaks this weekend. Here’s how to see it.

From AP: "The Southern Hemisphere will have the best view of Eta Aquarids, but a waning moon just 14% full will allow for clear viewing in both hemispheres, according to the American Meteor Society."

https://flip.it/5VR34R

For similar content, follow @news

#Space #Astronomy #Meteor

ScienceDesk, 17 days ago to animals

Did you know that "in as many as one in five amphibian species, one or both parents stick around to care for their offspring, using a staggering variety of strategies?"

@KnowableMag reports on the tender art of tadpole parenting: https://flip.it/yRr2OV

#Amphibians #Animals #Frogs #Science

ScienceDesk, 17 days ago to science

A bill in Florida would repeal a 16-year-old law that lists climate change as a priority when making energy policy decisions. Here’s more from the Associated Press, including what the state’s proposed shift in policy involves and how critics are responding. https://flip.it/57eJHv
#Science #ClimateChange #Climate #GlobalWarming #Florida

ScienceDesk, 18 days ago to science

NASA’s Curiosity has recently discovered that Mars may have been habitable billions of years ago. The rover found rocks in Mars' Gale Crater that contain a surprising amount of manganese oxide — a mineral commonly found in lakes on Earth. Science Alert has more: https://flip.it/7pv1_R
#Science #Mars #NASA #Curiosity

ScienceDesk, 18 days ago to science

When Rakus, an orangutan at the Suaq Project in Medan, Indonesia, had a nasty wound below his right eye, the animal knew exactly what to do. Scientists observed Rakus pluck and chew up leaves of a medicinal plant, then use his fingers to apply it to the injured area. Within a month, the wound had closed. The Associated Press has more on the orangutan with an apparent sense for natural remedies. https://flip.it/rDVICV
#Science #Animals #Medicine #Naturopathy

ScienceDesk, 18 days ago to science

New research has revealed huge “tiger stripe” fault lines on Saturn’s moon, Enceladus. How did they get there, and is there life lurking beneath the moon’s icy shell? Live Science has more: https://flip.it/.4uXWY
#Science #Space #Saturn #Astronomy

ScienceDesk, 18 days ago to animals

This Texas veterinarian helped crack the mystery of bird flu in cows.

AP reports: "The first calls that Dr. Barb Petersen received in early March were from dairy owners worried about crows, pigeons and other birds dying on their Texas farms. Then came word that barn cats — half of them on one farm — had died suddenly."

https://flip.it/cfSV4Y

#BirdFlu #Cows #Disease #Veterinarian #Animals #Science

ScienceDesk, 18 days ago to Anthropology

Scientists reveal the face of a Neanderthal who lived 75,000 years ago for a new documentary on Netflix.

CNN reports on the research about a 40-something woman found in a cave in Iraqi Kurdistan.

https://flip.it/fwuJGc

#Neanderthal #Anthropology #Evolution #Science #Documentary

ScienceDesk, 19 days ago to Amazon

Cassava: The perilous past and promising future of a toxic but nourishing crop. An anthropology professor shares what he's learned from "studying cassava gardens on the Amazon River and its myriad tributaries in Peru."

@TheConversationUS reports: "Cassava’s many assets would seem to make it the ideal crop. But there’s a problem: Cassava is highly poisonous."

https://flip.it/CCQXbW

#Cassava #Agriculture #Amazon #Peru #Anthropology #Indigenous

ScienceDesk, 19 days ago to Health

Does anger take a toll on the heart?

@NBC reports on a new study showing "that anger may indeed affect the heart because of how it impairs blood vessel function."

https://flip.it/I.u-_h

#Heart #Health #Research #Science

ScienceDesk, 19 days ago to animals

U.S. House votes to remove wolves from endangered list in 48 states.

AP reports: "The Republican-authored bill comes amid national debate on the wolves’ future. Hunters and farmers across the country maintain the species is stable and have been complaining for years about wolf attacks on game species and livestock. They want to be allowed to legally kill the animals."

https://flip.it/Hu3Ww2

#Wolf #Animals #Endangered #Farming #USPolitics

ScienceDesk, 19 days ago to Archaeology

Lasers reveal prehistoric Irish monuments that may have been "pathways for the dead."

Live Science says archaeologists used lidar (light detection and ranging) to detect a cluster of rare Neolithic structures hidden in farmland.

https://flip.it/lhXmjV

And here's the original report from Antiquity Journal: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/exploring-the-baltinglass-cursus-complex-routes-for-the-dead/81B05D3592918A99143EAE71B083B436

#Archaeology #Ireland #Anthropology #Prehistoric #Science

ScienceDesk, 20 days ago to space

China compiled the most detailed moon atlas ever mapped.

@popsci reports: "The Geologic Atlas of the Lunar Globe includes 12,341 craters, 81 basins, and 17 different rock types."

https://flip.it/L6jzpc

#Moon #Space #China #Cartography #Science

ScienceDesk, 20 days ago to climate

Many companies are pushing employees to return to the office. But what's the environmental impact?

@grist explores the question: "Recent data suggest that remote work could speed along companies’ plans to zero out their carbon emissions, but businesses don’t seem to be considering climate change in their decisions about the future of office work."

https://flip.it/cx8Smn

#ClimateChange #Environment #Work #Climate #RemoteWork #Business

ScienceDesk, 20 days ago to space

A horse-shaped nebula gets its close-up in new photos by NASA’s Webb telescope.

AP has the story: https://flip.it/ch4lyk

#Space #NASA #Webb #Science

ScienceDesk, 20 days ago to science

The western United States is known for occasional massive snow events that can dump several feet of snow in a short amount of time, much like what happened in California’s epic 2023 winter. However, these storms are on the decline, thanks to climate change. Read more at The Hill: https://flip.it/goxGpx
#Science #ClimateChange #GlobalWarming #Weather #Snow

ScienceDesk, 20 days ago to science

Should you freeze your bread? Science Alert looks into the many TikTok claims that doing so makes it healthier. Among the findings, there’s a difference between homemade and store-bought bread. https://flip.it/.t_lQM
#Science #Bread #Chemistry #Foodstodon #Food

ScienceDesk, 20 days ago to science

If you’ve ever been out in the woods and sworn you’ve heard someone call your name, you might not be going crazy — just experiencing a condition called “auditory pareidolia.” Live Science explains more about this phenomenon of hearing intelligible voices or sounds in meaningless background noise. https://flip.it/KbQ8o-
#Science #Hearing #Health #Mind #NeuroScience

ScienceDesk, 21 days ago to science

How smart was the T. rex? A 2023 study proposed that dinosaurs like it had over 3 billion neurons, more than a baboon, suggesting the T. rex was more intelligent than presumed. But new research found that it was probably more like a crocodile. Popular Science elaborates on the continued paleontological debate. https://flip.it/MdRZHW
#Science #Dinosaurs #Animals #Trex

ScienceDesk, 21 days ago to environment

Why Antarctic wildlife is being "sunburnt."

BBC reports: "A hole in the ozone layer — the protective barrier of gas in the upper atmosphere — now lingers over the frozen continent for more of the year."

https://flip.it/f7tPZU

#Antartica #Ozone #Environment #ClimateChange

ScienceDesk, 21 days ago to science

The so-called “great instability” event that sent gas giants careening through space until they settled into orbits occurred between 60 and 100 million years after the birth of the solar system. Migrating planets primarily Jupiter, it turns out, may have led to the formation of Earth’s moon. Live Science explains: https://flip.it/wWBTEy
#Science #Space #Jupiter #Earth #Moon #SolarSystem

ScienceDesk, 22 days ago to science

A forest in Utah made of a single tree known as Pando has 47,000 stems and has amassed 6,000 metric tons of life in its thousands of years on Earth. It’s the largest living organism on the planet in terms of mass. Naturally, something that large and old has something to say, and recordings released this year let us “hear” it like never before. More from Science Alert: https://flip.it/PSwxIA
#Science #Biology #Trees #Horticulture #Utah #Forest