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☆ Desert Monoliths Reveal World’s Oldest Architectural Plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Priyanka Runwal | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Massive prehistoric stone structures found in desert landscapes from Saudi Arabia to Kazakhstan have baffled archaeologists for decades. Each can stretch for up to a few miles, and resembles a kite with tail strings in overall shape. Recent studies have built a consensus that the so-called desert kites were used to trap and kill wild animal herds. Engraved between 7,000 and 9,000 years ago, these representations are by far the oldest known to-scale architectural plans recorded in human history, the team reported on Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE. They also highlight how carefully planned the desert kites may have been by the ancient peoples who relied on them.

☆ Foods and drinks packaged for kids are higher in sugar and lower in nutrition, study shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Madeline Holcombe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Products with marketing that appealed to children were higher in sugars and lower in all other nutrients, according to the study, published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One. The study looked at nearly 6,000 packaged foods to analyze their number of marketing strategies aimed at children and their nutritional information. “We are likely underestimating just how much marketing children are exposed to on food packages in real time — and packaging is just one of the ways that food companies target children with food marketing,” she said. And governments will need to step in to regulate companies’ ability to target children directly when marketing products that can harm their health, she added. Mulligan recommends talking to kids about how companies use marketing and how it might influence their choices.

☆ Exercise can help addiction treatment, study shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Madeline Holcombe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —One key to fighting addiction may be exercise, according to a new study. “It’s very beneficial to do physical activity in addition to the treatments.”There are limitations to the findings. Physical activity can also help boost self-esteem and lower anxiety and depression, experts said. What exercise doesMost people can benefit from engaging in physical activity, Kandola said. The current Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans does recommend that adults get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity and two days of muscle-strengthening activity.

☆ Carnivorous Plants Use a Smelly Trick to Catch Their Prey
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Veronique Greenwood | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Pitcher plants supplement their diets with this one strange trick: eating flesh. Usually found growing in relatively poor soil, the plants sprout pitcher-shaped cups with pretty, frilly tops that obscure their true purpose: trapping hapless insects. Look inside the pitchers and you’ll find the half-digested bodies of the plants’ victims. While studies suggest that the plants’ colors and its nectar may attract prey, some scientists think pitchers’ scent may play a role as well. Humans tend to describe a pitcher plants’ scent as floral or herbal, said Laurence Gaume, a scientist the French National Centre for Scientific Research and an author of the new paper.

☆ Carnivorous plants may lure their insect prey with specialized scents
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Kate Golembiewski | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Sarracenia pitcher plants, found in bogs throughout eastern North America, look like trumpet-shaped flowers, often in purplish or reddish hues. Different kinds of Sarracenia pitcher plants tend to eat different kinds of insects — some species trap more ants, while others feast on bees and moths. But recently opened pitcher plants that don’t stink of rotting bug carcasses provide an opportunity to identify the scents, she explained. The biggest challenge with the study, honestly, is that they did it in France,” rather than in the Sarracenia pitcher plants’ native North American bogs. It’s important to study pitcher plants due to the unique role they play in their increasingly fragile ecosystems, he added.

☆ Oldest-known bat skeletons shed light on evolution of flying mammals
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A few other fossil species from around this time still have that claw, but it's been lost in most living bats," Jones added. This species was closely related to two other bat species whose fossils were previously found at the same locale - Icaronycteris index and Onychonycteris finneyi. This indicates there was a greater diversity of species early in the history of bats than previously appreciated. The fossils represent the oldest-known bat skeletons - both very complete and well-preserved. The only older bat fossils are isolated teeth and jaw fragments from places including Portugal and China, dating to about 55 to 56 million years ago.

☆ A growing plastic smog is choking the world's oceans — and it shows no signs of slowing down
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

U.N. member states are scheduled to meet this spring with the aim of developing a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution. More than 170 trillion plastic particles weighing roughly 2 million metric tons are afloat in the world's oceans, according to new research, and that number could nearly triple by 2040 if no action is taken. The authors of the peer-reviewed research paper, published Wednesday in the PLOS ONE journal, warn that "cleanup is futile," if plastic continues to be produced at the current rate. They say this may reflect an exponential uptick in plastic production, fragmentation of existing plastic pollution or changes to terrestrial waste generation and management. The rate of plastic entering the world's oceans, without immediate action to reverse the current trend, was expected to increase roughly 2.6-fold from 2016 to 2040.

☆ An elite Bronze Age man who underwent brain surgery 3,500 years ago may have suffered from leprosy, archaeologists believe
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Isobel Van Hagen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Archaeologists discovered the remains of a man from the Bronze Age who had a rare brain surgery. The two brothers discovered were likely elite or even royal members of their society. "It's hard to overstate Megiddo's cultural and economic importance in the late Bronze Age," he said in a statement. Rachel Kalisher, a Ph.D. student, analyzed the bones of two upper-class brothers who were buried beneath the ancient city of Megiddo. Evidence of brain surgery — angular notched trephination — was discovered in the older brother.

☆ These 5 health conditions affect the Black community at higher rates—here are early signs to look out for and preventative measures
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Renée Onque | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Health conditions like colon cancer and cardiovascular diseases impact people within the Black community at much higher rates than most other racial backgrounds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And even after the onset of life-threatening conditions, systemic issues lead to health disparities that prevent many Black people from accessing the resources they need. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV): "In 2019, Blacks/African Americans represented 13% of the U.S. population, but 40% of people with HIV," says HIV.gov. Metabolic syndrome: Between 1988 and 2012, "Non-Hispanic black women were more likely than non-Hispanic white women to have metabolic syndrome," CDC data shows. Colon cancer: In 2016, Black men had the highest incidence and mortality rates of colorectal cancer, when compared to other racial groups, per CDC data.

☆ Fossilized eggs reveal new secrets about one of the world's largest dinosaurs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Kamakshi Gupta | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

More than 250 eggs of one of the largest dinosaurs ever to walk the Earth have been found in 92 hatcheries in central India, according to a team of paleontologists that made the discovery. Paleontologists have been able to identify six different types of eggs from the 256 they found during excavations between 2017 and 2020, the study said. The eggs were found in the Lameta formation, a sedimentary geological formation in central India known for fossil discoveries. “The presence of many nests in the same area suggests these dinosaurs exhibited colonial nesting behavior like many modern birds,” the study added. “But the close spacing of the nests left little room for adult dinosaurs, supporting the idea that adults left the hatchlings (newborns) to fend for themselves.”

☆ Photos show 10 mummified crocodiles found in an Egyptian tomb, likely after being sacrificed
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A ancient Egyptian tomb was uncovered containing ten mummified crocodiles. The tomb's contents was likely sacrificed for the crocodile-headed god Sobek. The leading theory is that the crocodiles were sacrificed as an offering to Sobek, the crocodile-headed god of the Nile and fertility. Sobek, the crocodile-headed god of fertilitySobek, the crocodile-headed god of fertility, is shown in hieroglyphs in Kom Ombo, southern Egypt. "In theory, it was an area where there was not much devotion to the crocodile god Sobek."

Here are 12 of the weirdest and most fascinating animal behaviors scientists spotted in 2022. Here are 12 bizarre and amazing things animals were spotted doing, some of which had never been seen before. It turned out that at least 12 species of primates had been reported doing so, a review published in the Journal of Zoology in October found. A dolphin swallowed 8 venomous sea snakesA sea snake (indicated with pink arrow), moments before it is captured and eaten by a Navy dolphin. Though animals have often been spotted using tools, these usually are used to give the animal a clear survival advantage.

☆ Nutrition content is huge on TikTok, but a new study shows trends like #WhatIEatInADay may influence disordered eating behaviors
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Renée Onque | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Researchers at the University of Vermont analyzed 1,000 TikTok videos under the most popular hashtags related to body image and eating by using search terms like food, nutrition, weight and body image. The study included 10 hashtags with at least one billion or more views. On the list were #WhatIEatInADay and #WeightLoss, which had 3.2 billion views and nearly 10 billion views respectively at the start of the study. Less than 3% of the nutrition-related TikTok videos analyzed by the study's researchers were weight-inclusive. Nearly 44% of the shared videos included content about weight loss; 20.4% portrayed someone's weight transformation.

☆ Conservative policies linked to higher mortality, except regarding marijuana
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Conservative state policies regarding the environment, gun safety, labor, taxes and tobacco have been associated with higher mortality rates among working-age people relative to liberal policies, new research found. Conservative policies did the opposite. The link between liberal marijuana policies — such as legalization and access to medical cannabis — and higher mortality was also unexpected, Montez said. By contrast, if all had adopted the most conservative policies, nearly 218,000 more working-age people might have died. Warraich's own research has shown that death rates in counties that voted for Democrats in presidential elections fell 22% between 2001 and 2019, while death rates in Republican-voting counties declined by just 11%.

☆ Endangered species protections kick in too late, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Evan Bush | Evan Bush Is A Science Reporter For Nbc News. He Can Be Reached At Evan.Bush Nbcuni.Com. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

The study suggests that the Endangered Species Act, a bedrock tool of conservation, has become bogged down by delays and inaction that are hampering its mission. Decisions on whether species should be listed are supposed to take two years, according to Noah Greenwald, the endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Species are slipping through the cracks.”The new study builds upon research that began decades ago in a study that analyzed species listed from 1985 through 1992. Although few species have fully recovered and been delisted, it’s important to remember that the Endangered Species Act has been instrumental in preventing extinction, Greenwald said. “99% of species protected under the Endangered Species Act still survive, which is highly significant,” he said.

☆ Scarred Dinosaur ‘Mummy’ Suggests Such Fossils Aren’t Quite So Rare
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Aylin Woodward | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

An illustration of a type of dinosaur known as an Edmontosaurus, above, and its mummified right hand, below. Most dinosaur specimens are just fossilized bones, but a handful also have fossilized soft tissues—and a new look at a duck-billed dinosaur specimen nicknamed Dakota suggests that these dinosaur “mummies” are more common than previously believed. Dakota’s fossilized skin bears unhealed wound and bite marks likely made by scavengers after the animal’s death, according to a study published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One. That suggests the Edmontosaurus—a multi-ton herbivore that died about 70 million years ago, before its fossilized remains were found in southwestern North Dakota in 1999—had been exposed to the air long enough to become desiccated before being buried by sediment and later fossilized.

☆ A new study confirms it: The pandemic turned us all into jerks
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Graceless under pressureTo see how the pandemic affected us, researchers looked at the so-called Big Five personality traits: agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness. But the new study found a surprising shift during the pandemic — roughly equivalent to what they'd expect from 10 years of life, not two. During the first months of the pandemic, Sutin's team found little personality change. "The only thing that went wrong," says Brent Roberts, a psychologist and expert in personality change at the University of Illinois, "is the goddamn pandemic kept going." For some Americans, the most stressful thing about the pandemic was experts telling them they should help people they don't like.

For their study, Wilson and her colleagues first set out to train a variety of 20 pet dogs to point with their noses at samples from a person who was stressed. The dogs' accuracy at detecting the stress samples — from 90 percent to 96.88 percent — was even better than the researchers anticipated. Scientists discovered how a dog's sense of smell and the sense of vision are closely linked in its brain. She compared it to dogs who can smell cancer by picking out breath samples in a line-up. It’s hard to tell whether the dogs equate what they smell with actual feelings of stress, Houpt said.

☆ Pandemic may have altered some personalities to be more neurotic, less agreeable
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Adults became less extroverted, open, agreeable and conscientious during the pandemic, a new study found. Past research has already demonstrated that personalities can change as we age or develop new habits like exercising. Past research has not found an association between exposure to natural disasters and personality changes. Damian's past research has also not found an overall change in personality traits among those affected by major storms like Hurricane Harvey. Sutin said one possible reason personalities didn't seem to change at the start of the pandemic is that there was a more hopeful attitude in 2020.

☆ A dolphin's GoPro video shows it eating 8 venomous sea snakes, and scientists aren't sure why
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-20 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A Navy-trained bottlenose dolphin devoured eight venomous sea snakes one day, GoPro videos show. Dolphins have never been documented eating sea snakes, only playing with them. The attacks puzzled scientists, since consuming venomous snakes can be dangerous. Prior to this study, which was published in the journal PLOS ONE in August 2022, there was no documentation of dolphins eating sea snakes — only playing with them and releasing them. They searched for other fish that might look like a sea snake on camera, but they found no other explanation.

☆ Ученые изучили тип людей, которые любят поправлять других
▼ + stars: | 2021-05-02 | by ( Mld Media Srl | ) noi.md time to read: +4 min

Они действительно не могут видеть ошибку в тексте так же, как опытный музыкант не может слышать фальшивую ноту? - В этом эксперименте мы изучили социальные характеристики людей, которые пишут и читают комментарии». В конце эксперимента участников также спросили, заметили ли они какие-либо грамматические ошибки или опечатки в электронных письмах, если да, то насколько это их беспокоило. Неожиданные результаты экспериментаВ целом все оценивали соискателей, написавших сообщения с опечатками и грамматическими ошибками, хуже, чем людей грамотных и внимательных. Но ученые уверены: выявленные закономерности нельзя объяснить возрастом или образованием участников, а только чертами личности.

Persons: подтвердилисьУченые, Джули Боланд, экспериментаИсследователи Organizations: PLOS, Университет Locations: Мичиган

☆ Studiu: O singură viespe poate provoca prăbușirea unui avion
▼ + stars: | 2020-12-01 | by ( Publika.Md - Aici Sunt Știrile | ) www.publika.md time to read: +3 min

Pentru viespi, tuburile pitot sunt cavitatea perfectă în care se poate construi rapid un cuib. Când tuburile pitot nu funcționează, avionul A330 trece automat în modul manual, forțând piloții să preia comenzile. Nu au existat incidente majore pe Aeroportul Brisbane din cauza viespilor, dar alte accidentele au fost legate de insectă. Tuburile pitot blocate ar putea provoca pierderea totală a indicatorilor de viteză și altitudine a aerului, care ar fi „periculoase”, potrivit avertizării. CASA a sfătuit companiile aeriene să acopere tuburile pitot în timp ce așteaptă pe Aeroportul Brisbane.

Persons: Alan House, Eco, Birgenair Organizations: Aeroportul, Aeroportul Brisbane, Qantas, Brisbane Airport Corporation, House, Siguranța Aviației Civile, Aeroportului Locations: Australiei, Aeroportul Brisbane, America Centrală, Sud, Caraibe, Singapore, Australia, Brisbane, Republicii Dominicane, Aeroportului Brisbane

☆ Studiu: Oboseala post-COVID este resimţită indiferent de gravitatea bolii
▼ + stars: | 2020-11-12 | by ( ) tvrmoldova.md time to read: +1 min

Pentru a descoperi acest lucru, cercetătorii au lansat un studiu asupra oboselii, a nivelului de gravitate al bolii COVID-19 şi a marcatorilor inflamatorii şi altor condiţii ale bolii asupra a 128 de voluntari infectaţi cu SARS-CoV-2. 55,5% dintre ei au fost internaţi la Hospital St. James din Dublin, în timp ce restul au fost trataţi ambulator. Pacienţii au fost evaluaţi 72 de zile după externare sau 14 zile după diagnostic în cazul pacienţilor trataţi ambulator. Studiul relevă, de asemenea, că nu există vreo legătură între gravitatea bolii COVID-19, necesitatea spitalizării sau markerii inflamaţiei şi probabilitatea de a resimţi o stare de oboseală după infectare. Prin urmare, oboseala post-COVID este resimţită indiferent de gravitatea bolii.

Persons: Participanţii, James Organizations: Trinity College Locations: Dublin, Agerpres

Среди его участников был генетик и антрополог, доктор биологии, старший научный сотрудник Института Фтизиопульмонологии имени Кирилла Драганюка и сотрудник Национального музея истории Молдовы Александр Варзарь. Письмо исследователя в нашу редакцию после публикации второй статьи стало поводом вновь обратится к этой, безусловно, интереснейшей теме – истории молдаван в свете анализа Y-хромосомы. — Цель проекта заключалась в реконструкции демографической истории Днестровско-Прутского междуречья в свете данных генетического разнообразия современных народов Молдовы – молдаван, гагаузов, украинцев. Однако стоит, наверное, объяснить, что нации и гаплогруппы Y-хромосомы, или, как принято говорить, клады гаплогрупп Y-хромосомы – это не одно и то же. Это говорит о ведущей роли фактора смешения в генетической истории молдаван, где миграционные волны из Юго-Восточной и Восточной Европы играли ведущую роль.

Persons: –, — –, —, J, R1b, Александр Варзарь, Александр, Пятра-Нямц, Бухуш, Виталий Арутюнов, Алексей Даничев Organizations: LMU, Sputnik Moldova, Plos One, Sputnik, Институт Фтизиопульмонологии имени Кирилла Драганюка, Национальный музей истории, Y-хромосомы, Sputnik Молдова, DAAD, Институт медицинской генетики, Мюнхенский университет, Y-хромосом, Национальный музей истории хранящиеся, Telegram, Video, Radio Sputnik Moldova Locations: LMU Munchen, Молдова, Днестровско-Прутский междуречья, Германия, Ульм, Мюнхен, Россия, Томск, Приднестровье, Румыния, Бухарест, Ясс, Людвига-Максимилиана, София, Дрокиевский район, Рашков, Каменский район, Карахасаны, Штефан-Водэ, Европа, Африка, Восточная Азия, Карахасан, Западная Молдова, Пятра-Нямц, Бухуш, Днестровско-Прутский регион, Украина, Балканский полуостров, Восточная Европа, Юго-Восточная, Карпато-Поднестровья золотоордынцев, Балканах, Италия, Западная Европа, Кукутень-Трипольской культура, Дания, Балкан

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