Lab mice that ‘touch grass’ have less anxiety – highlighting a big problem in rodent research
Online advice to “touch grass” to calm your emotional state may be backed up by science, at least in lab mice. A recent study found that mice that live outdoors are less anxious than mice that spend their days in secure shoebox-sized cages. And that could ultimately highlight fundamental flaws in laboratory research, including research […]
2,400-year-old temple of Hercules and elite tombs discovered outside ancient Roman walls
Two elite tombs from the Roman Republic, dating back more than 2,400 years, have been unearthed near Via Pietralata in the northeast of modern-day Rome. The tombs in the burial chamber were together inside a funerary complex and near what may have been a temple to the Greek demigod Hercules, who was a popular symbol […]
Coyote makes emergency landing on Alcatraz Island after unprecedentedly dangerous swim
Alcatraz prisoners once risked the treacherous waters of San Francisco Bay to escape from the island’s maximum security prison. Now, for the first time, a clever coyote has been photographed swimming the other way, all the way to Alcatraz Island. Video posted on social media shows a coyote (Canis latrans) paddling to the southern tip […]
Stunning time-lapse video shot using ‘artificial solar eclipses’ shows three massive eruptions of the sun
The European Space Agency (ESA) has released stunning time-lapse footage of three solar explosions exploding from the sun into space during an “artificial solar eclipse.” Unique footage captured by the newly operational Proba 3 mission could help scientists solve one of the biggest mysteries surrounding our home planet, researchers say. The Proba-3 mission consists of […]
A giant freshwater reservoir discovered off the East Coast is 20,000 years old and could be large enough to supply New York City for 800 years.
A huge reservoir of “secret” freshwater off the East Coast could supply a city the size of New York City for 800 years and may have formed during the last Ice Age, when the region was covered in glaciers, researchers say. Preliminary analysis suggests that the reservoir, which lies beneath the ocean floor and appears […]
The 2.6 million-year-old jaw of the extinct ‘Nutcracker Man’ is discovered in an unexpected location
Fragments of a 2.6-million-year-old jaw fossil found in northeastern Ethiopia are changing the picture of early human evolution in Africa. The jaws of bipedal hominid relatives of extinct humans indicate that the species traveled far north into areas where other hominids were already present. This ancient jaw belongs to the genus Paranthropus and was discovered […]
The world’s oldest known rock art, dating from before modern humans invaded Europe, was discovered in a cave in Indonesia.
Scientists have identified the world’s oldest known rock art. This is a hand-painted stencil created in Indonesia that is at least 67,800 years old. The work, located in a cave on the southeastern island of Sulawesi, is also the earliest archaeological evidence of modern humans (Homo sapiens) living on the islands between the Asian and […]
Diagnostic Dilemma: A woman experienced delusions of communicating with her dead brother after a late-night chatbot session.
Patient: 26-year-old female living in California Symptoms: The woman was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in an agitated and confused state. She speaks quickly, jumps from one idea to another, and said she believes she can communicate with her brother through an AI chatbot. But her brother had died three years earlier. What happened next: […]
Why bowel pain may be more severe in women than in men, according to preclinical research
Differences in how intestinal cells respond to hormones may help explain why women experience more frequent and severe intestinal pain than men, a study in mice suggests. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) affects approximately 10% to 15% of people worldwide, and women are diagnosed with IBS up to twice as often as men. IBS symptoms such […]
Monster black hole “resurrected” after 100 million years of silence “It’s like watching a cosmic volcano erupt”
Scientists have observed a supermassive black hole wake up from a nap of about 100 million years. A black hole is located at the center of a huge galaxy and emits extremely strong radio waves. New analysis of these radio emissions reveals that black holes once spewed giant jets of plasma hundreds of thousands of […]