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☆ Why grandmother killer whales go through menopause
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The head of a killer whale pod shares her knowledge of the best hunting spots and more than half the fish she catches with her family members. Female orcas help their sons navigate the complexities of orca social life and protect them from fights with other killer whales. The center has been studying this critically endangered group of killer whales, which now number around 75, since 1976. “Males have the opportunity to mate with multiple females, and they do this outside of their own social group. Only humans and five species of toothed whales are known to experience menopause, the new study noted.

Persons: —, ”, Charli Grimes, David Ellifrit, Grimes, “, ” Grimes, Katie Jones, doesn’t, … Organizations: CNN, Southern Resident, Center for Whale Research, Centre for Research, UK’s University of Exeter, UK's University of Exeter, for, for Whale Research Locations: Pacific Northwest, North America, Harbor , Washington

☆ Australia ushers in a new era of psychedelic medicine
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Australia may be the first country to regulate the therapeutic use of MDMA and psilocybin, but it isn’t alone in ushering in a new era of psychedelic medicine. In October 2022, Alberta became the first jurisdiction in Canada to regulate the use of psychedelic drugs. Combining psychotherapy with psychedelic drugs is thought to be necessary for a beneficial outcome. He said that psychedelic drugs resulted in “powerful altered states of consciousness that can be intensely therapeutic, but also intensely destabilizing. “If you have a regulated, insured, safe context, and a good psychotherapeutic relationship, and yes, there’s the potential for great benefit there.”However, Rucker stressed that psychedelic drugs were not “a chemical switch to make everything seem fine.

Persons: ”, haven’t, Colleen Loo, Loo, “, Cole Burston, Celia Morgan, Morgan, James Rucker, “ You’re, ” Morgan, ” Rucker, prescriber, Rucker Organizations: CNN, Goods Administration, US Food and Drug Administration, University of New, Black Dog Institute, The Royal, New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, Oregon Health Authority, Getty, University of Exeter, The New England, of Medicine, of Psychiatry, Neuroscience, King’s College London, Therapeutic Goods Locations: Australia, University of New South Wales, Sydney, RANZCP, Alberta, Canada, AFP, United Kingdom, The, psychopharmacology

CNN —The collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine is one of the biggest industrial and ecological disasters in Europe for decades. Satellite images of the Nova Kakhovka dam before its collapse (left, on June 5) and after the disaster (right, on June 7). The Ukrainians point out that the facility has been under Russian control for the past year, making it easy for Russian forces to plant explosives. But much of the east bank of the river south of the Nova Kakhovka dam remains under Russian control. Maxar Technologies/APThere are also suggestions that the dam collapse took at least some Russian forces by surprise.

Persons: António Guterres, it’s, Volodymyr Zelensky, ” Mykhailo Podolyak, Zelensky, ”, Dmitry Peskov, “, Andrei Pidlisnyi, Chris Binnie, Craig Goff, ” Goff, They’ve, ” Binnie, Goff Organizations: CNN, United Nations, UN, NATO, Maxar Technologies, Ukrainian Armed Forces, Ukrainian Agricultural Ministry, Maxar, University of Exeter, Engineering, Environmental Services, UK Science Media, HR, Royal Air Force, “ Locations: Nova, Ukraine, Europe, Russia, Moscow, Russian, Kyiv, Dnipro, Kherson, Ukrainian, Zaporizhzhia, “, Crimea, Korsunka

☆ Life in ocean's 'twilight zone' threatened by climate change
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The ocean’s mesopelagic zone, also called the “twilight zone,” is located between 656 feet and 3,280 feet (200 meters to 1,000 meters) below the surface. The twilight zone also a crucial habitat for marine life that dives in search of prey, like sharks, or lanternfish that hide in the twilight zone during the day and swim to the surface waters to feed at night. Small crustaceans known as Megacalanus princeps live in the ocean's twilight zone at a depth of 1,000 meters in the Northeast Atlantic. Natural Visions/Alamy Stock PhotoNew research warns that the climate crisis could reduce life in the twilight zone between 20% and 40% by the end of the century. “What we really need to protect the (twilight zone) is to stop, or at least slow down, the high rate of change that we are subjecting our planet’s climate to.”

☆ NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is so powerful it discovered sand storms on a planet 235 trillion miles away
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope found sand storms on a planet hundreds of trillions of miles away. From its vantage point in space, Webb can peer at a distant world and analyze the entire infrared spectrum of starlight passing through the planet's atmosphere. The James Webb Space Telescope fully deploys its primary mirror during development at Northrop Grumman Space Systems in Redondo Beach, California. The spectrum Webb found on the planet VHS 1256 b, showing signatures of silicate clouds, water, methane, and carbon monoxide. That means the stars' light doesn't drown out the light of the planet, making it an ideal target for the Webb telescope.

☆ Scientists studied flamingo personalities and discovered the pink birds form cliques like high schoolers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Adam Barnes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

More submissive birds hung out with each other whereas louder, outgoing birds had their own groups. Understanding flamingo social structure could help zoo keepers when moving birds between zoos. Why flamingos form cliquesFlamingos form long-lasting friendships that can last for years. How understanding Flamingos' social behavior could help zoosThe new research could help inform zoo keepers and keep flamingos happier. Zookeepers could help flamingos' social lives by keeping friends together.

☆ 3% of people can't create a mental picture in their heads—this test will tell you if you're one of them
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Renée Onque | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

People who experience aphantasia account for 3% to 4% of the world's population, and Zeman has met and spoken to over 10,000 of them. And people with aphantasia usually aren't able to picture how characters look, or visualize the settings they're in, while reading books, Zeman tells CNBC Make It. Rate the visualizations above using the questionnaire's scale:No image at all Dim and vague/flat Moderately clear and lively Clear and lively Perfectly clear and lively, almost as real as seeing itHow do people get aphantasia? If you weren't able to see any of the images in your mind, then you likely have aphantasia. There are also incredible novelists who experience aphantasia as well, says Zeman.

☆ How to speed up the transition to green energy, according to leaders at Davos
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Freya Graham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Leaders at Davos say government policy to incentivize the transition can push things forward. There's no 'silver bullet' solutionThe energy transition involves a huge variety of solutions coming together — renewable energy, electric vehicles, hydrogen technology, and nuclear power, to name a few, will all play a role. Andrés Gluski, CEO of energy company AES, said there isn't "one silver bullet" for the energy transition. Daniels said that while the US is using incentives to drive the energy transition, the EU is using rules and regulations. Ciorra also called China a champion of the electric transition, because "they are making this as a business."

☆ Worried about a gap in your resume? This small tweak could result in more job callbacks
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Jennifer Liu | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Worried about a career gap in your resume? Turns out, there's a pretty easy workaround that's been scientifically proven to lead to more job callbacks. Previous research has shown that hiring managers discriminate against candidates who have a break in their resume. Researchers were focused on seeing the impact for working mothers and tested resumes with no career break, resumes with an unexplained career break, and resumes with a break and brief explanation that they left the labor force to care for children. The new tenure format "draws attention to the applicants' job experience while also obfuscating employment gaps by omission."

☆ Lasers revealed 5 ancient civilizations that were hiding in plain sight
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Archeologists beam lasers from the sky to unearth ancient settlements hiding in plain sight. State-of-the-art laser technology is transforming archaeology by creating 3D renderings of ruins. A hidden 2,000-year-old Mayan civilization in northern GuatemalaResearchers found a 2,000-year-old Mayan civilization in northern Guatemala using LiDAR. 61,000 previously unknown structures hidden under the dense Guatemalan jungleLiDAR laser technology found ancient cities with more than 60,000 structures in Guatemala. An overgrown ancient civilization buried in the Bolivian AmazonA LiDAR image of an ancient Amazonian urban network in what is now Bolivia.

☆ Covid, flu and RSV: What science shows about being contagious
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Benjamin Ryan | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

People know when they have Covid symptoms, but do minor sniffles at the end of a coronavirus infection, for example, mean they’re still contagious? It’s a good time to brush up on what scientists know, and still don’t know, about how long people remain infectious with viral diseases — Covid, influenza, RSV — that are spreading across the U.S.How long am I contagious with Covid? If you’ve been exposed to someone who has tested positive for Covid, symptoms from any of the omicron subvariants generally appear two to four days later. How contagious you are is connected to how much of the virus, known as the viral load, is in your body. As far as relying on Covid tests to determine whether someone is still contagious, PCR tests are good at diagnosing Covid.

☆ World’s heaviest flying bird uses plants to self-medicate, scientists say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Hafsa Khalil | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution scientific journal on Wednesday, the study reveals that the great bustards ate an abundance of corn poppies (Papaver rhoeas) and purple viper’s bugloss (Echium plantagineum). In humans, corn poppies have been used for their medicinal properties as a sedative and pain relief while purple viper’s bugloss can be toxic if consumed. Both plants were highly effective in killing or inhibiting the effects of the protozoa and nematodes, according to the study. The purple viper’s bugloss showed moderate defensive action against the fungi. “We normally associate self-medication in species like primates, so to see researchers studying endangered birds is brilliant,” Rose told CNN.

Global emissions of carbon dioxide stayed at record high levels in 2022, giving the planet less than a decade to meet the goals of the landmark Paris Agreement, according to a report released Thursday. The Global Carbon Project, made up of scientists who track and quantify greenhouse gas emissions, found no signs of the cuts in emissions needed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times. Carbon dioxide emissions in 2020 fell by a record 1.9 billion tons as a result of strict Covid lockdowns that halted most air travel and disrupted daily lives. So-called carbon sinks, or natural lands and oceans that absorb and store carbon, continue to take up roughly half of the planet's carbon dioxide emissions. “If governments respond by turbo charging clean energy investments and planting, not cutting, trees, global emissions could rapidly start to fall,” she said in a statement.

☆ COP27 Global CO2 emissions to rise again, climate goals at risk, scientists say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Kate Abnett | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Countries are expected to emit a total 41 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2022, said the report by more than 100 scientists, with 37 billion tonnes from burning fossil fuels and 4 billion tonnes from uses of land like deforestation. Emissions from burning coal increased, as countries have turned to the most-polluting fossil fuel after Russia restricted natural gas supplies to Europe after its Feburary invasion of Ukrane, which sent global gas prices soaring. Emissions rose by 1.5% in the United States and jumped by 6% in India, the world's second and fourth-biggest emitters, respectively. The U.N. climate science panel has said global greenhouse gases must decrease 43% by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5C and avoid its most severe impacts. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a record drop in global CO2 emissions in 2020, but emissions are now back up to slightly above pre-COVID-19 levels.

☆ A couple ditched the corporate life to drive around the world. Here's how they're paying for it
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Natalie Tham | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Source: Bradley Williams, Cazzy MagennisBut their money quickly ran out, Williams said. Source: Bradley Williams, Cazzy MagennisThe van, which they named Helen, has many of the utilities of a regular home. Source: Bradley Williams, Cazzy Magennis"Most nights we cook in the van," Magennis said. Source: Bradley Williams, Cazzy MagennisThe couple wanted to travel through Russia but the war thwarted their plans, Magennis said. Source: Bradley Williams, Cazzy Magennis

☆ Russia's former president said nuclear threats are not a bluff, and that NATO won't step in if Russia nukes Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A top Russian official repeated Russia's nuclear threats, saying it "isn't a bluff." Dmitry Medvedev said NATO countries wouldn't step in if Russia fired a nuke on Ukraine. Russia will also "do anything" to prevent the nuclear weapons emerging in the country's "hostile neighbors" such as Ukraine, Medvedev said. Reminding the world about Russia's nuclear arsenal is nothing new among Putin and his allies. After Putin's latest statement, the White House warned Russia would face "catastrophic consequences" if it used tactical nuclear weapons.

The Hong Kong billionaire is offering $240 million to buy out minority shareholders in Caymans-registered Lifestyle International (1212.HK), his department store chain. Several Hong Kong tycoons have fallen foul of the notorious tests, which the Cayman Islands will scrap at the end of this month. Hong Kong dropped the rule in 2014, but is home to just 8% of the city’s listed companies. Lifestyle is domiciled in the Cayman Islands, which at the end of August will drop a requirement for the so-called headcount test. Almost 60% of primary-listed Hong Kong companies are domiciled in the Caribbean tax haven.

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