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☆ NASA runs a tiny, isolated cabin that simulates a year of life on Mars, and for some reason, they put a book about the psychological horrors of cave exploration in it
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

What book would you pack if you were isolated in a Mars habitat with three other people for 378 days? The book includes descriptions of "psychological horrors produced by weeks in absolute darkness." Photographed in the Mars Dune Alpha's capsule library was a book titled "Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Cave on Earth," a novel by James Tabor. The living room/dining area inside of CHAPEA's Mars Dune Alpha at the Johnson Space center in Houston, Texas. "Ultimately, this information will help NASA make informed decisions to design and plan for a successful human mission to Mars," Douglas added.

Persons: —, it's, Kelly Haston, Nathan Jones, Ross Brockwell —, James Tabor ., Tabor, Bill Stone, Alexander Klimchouk, who've, Jay C, Patrick Lencioni, MARK FELIX, Grace Douglas, Douglas Organizations: NASA, Service, Johnson Space Center, Crew Health, Publishers, Getty Locations: Houston , Texas, Mars, AFP

☆ How to repel mosquitoes, according to science
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( Kate Golembiewski | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Here’s the lowdown on how mosquitoes hunt us, what attracts them, and what scientists recommend for keeping them at bay. The science of mosquito bitesMost of the time, mosquitoes drink plant nectars and juices, and even help pollinate flowers. “How attractive you think you are to mosquitoes might not necessarily correlate with how attractive you actually are to the mosquitoes,” McMeniman said. The itchiness and discomfort from mosquito bites come later when the perpetrator is no longer at risk of getting swatted. No silver bullet exists to protect yourself from mosquito bites, but get a good bug spray and reapply it as needed.

Persons: “ We’re, ”, Conor McMeniman, ” McMeniman, Olivier Morin, “, We’re, there’s, Rick Bowmer, Kristen Healy, Healy, ” Healy, they’ve, McMeniman, tantalizing, Kate Golembiewski Organizations: CNN, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Getty, Louisiana State University, American Mosquito Control Association, Environmental Protection Agency Locations: Baltimore, It’s, AFP, coexisting, Chicago

☆ Muscle memory: How does it work?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Melanie Radzicki Mcmanus | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

But while muscle memory is real, that’s not what is actually going on in your body. Understanding how both kinds of muscle memory work can help you get off to a strong start if you’re establishing a new fitness routine or rebooting one after a break. Physiological muscle memoryThe physiological side of muscle memory has to do with the ability to quickly regain lost muscle. This form of muscle memory occurs because when you first build muscle, your body adds new cells to those muscles. Science says another type of muscle memory is related to the regrowth of actual muscle tissue.

Persons: Brett Johnson, you’re, Johnson, ” Johnson, there’s, Christopher Malcolm, ”, Nick Mitchell, ” Mitchell, Jagdish Khubchandani, Khubchandani, “ Don’t, ” Khubchandani, Melanie Radzicki McManus Organizations: CNN, Inc, Science, CNN’s, New Mexico State University Locations: Chicago, Manchester, United Kingdom, Las Cruces

☆ How to Exercise When It’s Humid
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( Danielle Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Anyone who has gone for a jog on a hot, muggy day knows how miserable it can be — not only because your shirt is glued to your back, experts say, but also because humidity makes exercise much more challenging. This is because the sweat on your skin doesn’t easily evaporate, said JohnEric Smith, an associate professor of exercise physiology at Mississippi State University. Sweat itself doesn’t cool you, he said, but rather the evaporation of sweat. When the air is already thick with water vapor, however, “there’s nowhere for the moisture on our skin to go,” he said. As a result, humid air makes it harder for your body to cool down.

Persons: JohnEric Smith, “, ” Organizations: Mississippi State University

☆ What is eclampsia, the condition that may have killed Olympian Tori Bowie?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Sandee Lamotte | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

But it can develop in anyone, including someone who’s thin and super healthy,” said Dr. Nicole Calloway Rankins, a maternal health advocate and obstetrician-gynecologist in Richmond, Virginia. However, high blood pressure, often called the “silent killer,” does not always show signs, so the best prevention is regular checkups and blood pressure readings throughout pregnancy, experts say. That’s literally a hypertensive crisis.”For people worried about heart disease, blood pressure at those levels would be concerning, but not a crisis. What is it about pregnancy that makes high blood pressure so dangerous? “We really have to be vigilant and understand that blood pressure in pregnancy is different than outside of pregnancy.

Persons: Tori Bowie, Bowie, ”, Nicole Calloway Rankins, “, Antonia Oladipo, Eclampsia, Eleni Tsigas, Alastair Grant, Rankins, Tori, ” Tsigas, “ We’ve, Tsigas, it’s, don’t, ” Rankins, something’s, Joe Biden, Iffath Abbasi Hoskins, Gynecologists, ” Hoskins, ” CNN’s Jacqueline Howard Organizations: CNN, US Centers for Disease Control, CDC, Cleveland Clinic, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, Preeclampsia Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Commonwealth Fund, Dimes, Century Foundation, Data, National Center for Health Statistics, American College of Obstetricians Locations: preeclampsia, Richmond , Virginia, New Jersey, Melbourne , Florida, Florida, London, Orlando , Florida, United States

☆ The most effective and cheap ways to cool your body during a heat wave, according to scientists
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Insider asked two scientists for simple, effective, and cheap ways to cool down. Put your hands or feet in cold waterIn extreme heat, the body opens up the blood vessels that are close to the skin. Blood carries heat from inside the body to the surface, where it can benefit from the cooling effect of sweat evaporating. Use an electric fan, but be careful in very hot weatherA fan helps cool you down by helping sweat evaporate faster. In dry heat, sweat is already evaporating at maximum efficiency.

Persons: George Havenith, Serge Haouzi, Owen Jeffries, Jeffries, Havenith, Coke, Ricardo Rubio, you've Organizations: Service, Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, Environmental, Loughborough University, Getty, Newcastle University, World Health Organization, China News Service, Europa Press Locations: Pacific, Asia, Nice, France, Xinhua, Chongqing, China, Madrid, Spain

☆ Billion-year-old rocks reveal traces of ancient life
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Kate Golembiewski | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

V. Diekamp/MARUM/University of BremenThe evidence of these ancient eukaryotes took the form of biological molecules that they produced. Advances in biochemical analyses have allowed scientists to identify ancient molecules preserved in the fossil record, particularly in old rocks that have been relatively undisturbed by geological processes. In the new Nature study, Nettersheim and his colleagues, including Brocks, a professor of geobiology at the Australian National University, examined rocks from Australia’s Barney Creek Formation. Previous studies established that the Barney Creek rocks, which are more than 1 billion years old, contain traces of ancient biomolecules. But “people never looked, really, for these primordial types of steroids in those kinds of rocks,” Nettersheim said.

Persons: Benjamin Nettersheim, ”, Nettersheim, “, Dr, ” Nettersheim, Jochen Brocks, Konrad Bloch, Bloch, Barney, Susannah Porter, Porter, Roger, ” “ Konrad Bloch, Brocks Organizations: CNN, MARUM Center, Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Australian National University, University of California, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Locations: Australia, Nature, geobiology, Germany, MARUM, Santa Barbara

☆ Astronauts’ brains take a hit during long spaceflights
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Spaceflights lasting six months or longer take a toll on the brains of astronauts, and crew members may need to wait at least three years before returning to space, according to new research. Scientists compared the brain scans of 30 astronauts taken before spaceflights lasting two weeks, six months or a year with scans taken after they returned to Earth. During the analysis, the researchers determined that the degree to which the ventricles enlarged varied depending on how long the astronauts were in space. Seven of the astronauts with a shorter period of recovery between missions showed little ventricular enlargement after their most recent flight. However, astronauts have very specialized skill sets and training and there may be rationale to include them on additional missions before this time.”

Persons: CNN —, Artemis, ”, Rachael Seidler, Seidler, ” Seidler Organizations: CNN, International, Station, NASA, University of Florida, UF, Norman Fixel Institute, Neurological Diseases, “ Locations: ”

☆ Scientists document how space travel messes with the human brain
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] The International Space Station (ISS) photographed by Expedition 56 crew members from a Soyuz spacecraft after undocking, October 4, 2018. Age-related ventricular enlargement - caused not by microgravity but by brain atrophy - can be associated with cognitive decline. This headward fluid shift likely results in ventricular expansion, and the brain sits higher within the skull." The study involved 23 male and seven female astronauts - average age around 47 - from the U.S., Canadian and European space agencies. Microgravity conditions also cause other physiological effects due to the reduced physical load on the human body.

Persons: Heather McGregor, Rachael Seidler, Seidler, McGregor, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Space, Expedition, Soyuz, NASA, REUTERS, WASHINGTON, of Florida, University of, Thomson Locations: Handout, University of Florida, U.S

Novo's inability to keep up with a burst in U.S. demand for Wegovy has effectively delayed the launch in Britain and elsewhere in Europe. A company spokesperson would not comment on any commitment to supply its drug for the British pilot. The British government said that only 35,000 people would have access to Wegovy under the specialist hospital services, but tens of thousands more could be eligible. Duane Mellor, a dietitian and senior lecturer at Aston University's medical school, told Reuters drugs like Wegovy were a tool, not the solution. Wegovy works by mimicking a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) that triggers the feeling of fullness in the body after eating.

Persons: Jim Vondruska, Sunak, Eli Lilly's, Eli Lilly, Phil McEwan, Novo, Keen, Wegovy, Duane Mellor, Simon Cork, Ludwig Burger, Maggie Fick, Anusha, Helen Reid, Lincoln, Mark Potter Organizations: REUTERS, National Health, Novo, British, NHS, NICE, National Institute for Health, Care, Wegovy, Nordisk, ., Heor Ltd, Reuters, Aston, Anglia Ruskin University, Thomson Locations: Chicago , Illinois, U.S, Britain, England, Europe, United States, British, Cardiff, Denmark, Norway, Frankfurt, London, Bengaluru

☆ Zapping a rodent's brain can put it into suspended animation. Scientists want to one day use the same technique for humans traveling to Mars.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The rats' body temperatures also dropped, though to a lesser level, up to 3.57 F (2 C). If they were able to crack the science of suspended animation, it could make space travel safer and cheaper, especially for long-haul flights like the 16-month-long round trip to Mars. A single astronaut eats about 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of food and water a week, but their consumption could drop by 75% in suspended animation, per the BBC. One avenue to induce suspended animation is to cool the body down dramatically. Nevertheless, most of the research into long-ranging suspended animation is still only being done on animals, and we're likely still a long way away from testing it on humans.

Persons: —, Hong Chen, Chen, Yang, Yuan, Nat Metab, John Bradford, Spaceworks, Kaisa, Vyazovskiy Organizations: Service, Privacy, NASA, European Space Agency, ESA, Washington University, BBC, Astronauts, SpaceWorks Enterprises, CNET, University of Oxford Locations: et, Mars, torpor

☆ Opinion | If You’re Reading This, You’re Probably ‘WEIRD’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( The Ezra Klein Show | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +83 min

You’re probably very weird, and not just for all the obvious reasons you’re thinking of. Because, obviously, there’s going to be some overlap in the curve here. How you’re going to behave with your professor is quite different than how you’re going to behave with your friends. But it’s really kind of faceless, and you’re not really helping anybody you know. I think things are dynamic, and directions are changing, and that sort of thing.

☆ Deep in the Amazon, scientists race to find unknown bat viruses
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Some scientific studies have found that deforestation causes stress in bats, and stressed bats carry more viruses and shed more germs in their saliva, urine and feces. It spiked following the highway’s construction, making the Amazon in the early 1980s a rallying cry for the global environmental movement. When examining spillover risk, scientists use the number of bat species in a given area as a key variable. When humans encroach on their habitat, and bat species commingle, the viral cocktail intensifies. “Odds of it being documented are very slim,” said Caio Graco Zeppelini, an ecologist and bat researcher at the Federal University of Bahia.

☆ NASA researchers will spend a year living in a simulated Mars habitat
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Thomas Page | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Bill Stafford/NASAAiming for fidelity has resulted in a habitat that could feasibly built on Mars, Smith adds. MARK FELIX/AFP/AFP /AFP via Getty ImagesNASA is attempting to fill in what it calls “Strategic Knowledge Gaps,” that currently make a manned Mars mission too risky. A manned Mars mission will ship food to the planet in advance of humans, which means it will need a long shelf-life. Intended as a location for the emirate to develop technology for an eventual Mars mission, it was also designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, with 3D-printed buildings. Thankfully the crew entering CHAPEA in June will not have to concern themselves with that potentially deadly element of a Mars mission.

☆ Fact Check- Image does not show ‘last Neanderthal giant’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A fabricated image of a giant man towering above a crowd of people is being shared alongside false claims that it shows the “last Neanderthal giant”, but the image was likely generated using artificial intelligence, experts said. A Facebook post sharing the image states: “This is the last know human Giant Neanderthal!” and adds that Neanderthals “died out” thousands of years ago, so “no Neanderthal's DNA is found in modern times” (here). Contrary to the online claims, Neanderthal DNA has been extracted from these skeletal remains and analysed extensively. The earliest version of the image of a purported “Neanderthal giant” that Reuters could find appears on the official subreddit for Midjourney, an AI-based system that generates images based on text prompts entered by users (bit.ly/423OozQ). The image does not show the last Neanderthal giant, it is likely AI-generated.

☆ Testosterone surges preserved in 33,000-year-old mammoth tusk
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

In addition to cortisol, the mammoth tusk revealed annually recurring testosterone surges up to 10 times higher than baseline, according to the study. An African bull elephant tusk was used in the study to compare with mammoth tusks. Then we saw the same patterns in the mammoth — wow!”Both the elephant and male mammoth tusks contained evidence of musth-related testosterone surges. Meanwhile, the female mammoth tusk showed little variation and very low testosterone, as expected. Gleaning this type of information from mammoth tusks can reveal more insights into the lifetimes of the extinct creatures.

☆ I'm a full-time male stripper who makes up to $4,000 a week performing around Australia. Fans have asked me some wild things, but this really is my passion.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Perri Ormont Blumberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Jaxon Human is a full-time male stripper who works for Magic Men Australia. I'm a male entertainer with Magic Men Australia. In 2012, I started my journey as a male stripper with Magic Men Australia, and I'm now a full-time stripper. I applied for Magic Men Australia when I was 18Human performing. My shifts at Magic Men Australia varyThe typical length of a shift varies because of many factors.

☆ Rachel Weisz and the Glorious Horrors of Pregnancy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Alexandra Kleeman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

“Why are you wearing my vagina like it’s a [expletive] glove?” shouts one patient at the doctors working busily out of view. In the television world, babies are a convenient way to reinvigorate stale interpersonal dynamics, or a point of narrative pressure that forces characters to make dramatic choices. We’re used to a certain sleight of hand, carefully placed cuts and scenes where fresh-looking mothers in hospital gowns hold clean, swaddled infants in their arms. Real birthing is something more radical: Pregnancy involves a terraforming of the body that might appear terrifying if you were to see it at time-lapse speed. Thinking about all this puts birth in a different generic register depending on how it is framed and depicted.

☆ Scientists identify mind-body nexus in human brain
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The researchers called this system the somato-cognitive action network, or SCAN, and documented its connections to brain regions known to help set goals and plan actions. "Basically, we now have shown that the human motor system is not unitary. A second system, the SCAN, is more important for integrated, whole body movements, and is more connected to high-level planning regions of your brain," Gordon said. I'm not a philosopher, but one succinct statement I like is saying, 'The mind is what the brain does.' "Some neuroscientists think of the brain as an organ intended primarily to perceive and interpret the world around us.

☆ For toothed whales, sound production is all in the nose
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Researchers on Thursday offered a comprehensive explanation for sound production by toothed whales - loud clicks for echolocation, and softer burst pulses and whistles for communication. The researchers used sound-recording tags on sperm whales, false killer whales and bottlenosed dolphins to study sound production in the wild. The sounds made by toothed whales differ from the haunting "singing" by filter-feeding baleen whales. "Toothed whales don't sing like baleen whales," Madsen said. During the course of evolution, toothed whales have lost their vocal folds, but evolved an entirely new set of sound sources in the nose."

☆ Whales use a sound similar to Kim Kardashian's 'vocal fry' to hunt deep sea prey, say scientists
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Toothed whales can use vocal registers like humans to communicate and hunt. Like Kim Kardashian, whales have a "vocal fry" which can be used to find prey in deep sea. This gives them access to falsetto, which allows them to make their high-pitched whistles, and the chesty, vocal fry range, which is how they make echolocation. Christian B. Christensen, Aarhus UniversityAn affectation that shaped toothed whales' evolutionTeglberg and Elemans say this has very much influenced the way dolphins, orcas, and other toothed whales evolved a "Mona Lisa" fixed smile on their face. "While vocal fry may be controversial in humans and may be perceived as everything from annoying toauthoritative, it doubtlessly made toothed whales an evolutionary success story", Elemans adds.

☆ 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.”

Several Latinos whose lives and work left a profound imprint on American institutions — from arts and entertainment to legal and civil rights — passed away in 2022. Cavazos began his education in a two-room schoolhouse on the King Ranch in Texas, where his father was a foreman. President Reagan named Cavazos Secretary of Education in 1988, making him the first Hispanic ever to serve in the U.S. Together, “Luis” and Maria” showed young audiences that Latinos were people who worked, fell in love and were part of their community. Her goals were to give Latinos a presence in the dance world, and to instill pride in Hispanic culture.

“And the pulse oximeter is used from any age to geriatrics,” he said. The US Food and Drug Administration is mulling over next steps for the regulation of pulse oximeter devices, which may give less accurate readings for people of color. A panel of its Medical Devices Advisory Committee met in November to review clinical data on the issue. “I think of the pulse oximeter reading in the same way. Of course this can be dangerous.”Ultimately, the pulse oximeter can estimate the amount of oxygen a person has in their blood without the need for a blood sample.

☆ Artificial light while asleep linked to higher diabetes risk
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Sandee Lamotte | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Sleeping in a room exposed to outdoor artificial light at night may increase the risk of developing diabetes, according to a study of nearly 100,000 Chinese adults. Urban light pollution is so widespread that it can affect suburbs and forest parks that may be tens, even hundreds, of miles from the light source, the authors said. “Studies have suggested that inconsistent sleep patterns have been linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes,” he said in a statement. Blood samples were collected and compared with satellite imagery of light levels in the area of China in which each person lived. The analysis found chronic exposure to light pollution at night raised blood glucose levels and led to a higher risk of insulin resistance and diabetes.

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