Despite decades of environmental change and population recovery, eastern Australian humpback whales appear to have maintained their historical adult size. Eastern Australian humpback whales grow at an extraordinary pace, reaching approximately 10.9 meters (35.8 feet) in length by age five. By six or seven years old, they have already attained about 90 percent of their […]
Physicists Use Light To Unlock a Crystal’s Hidden Electrical Powers
A crystal’s laser-induced electrical order lasts just a trillionth of a second, giving researchers a way to explore ultrafast approaches to processing and storing information. Inside a crystal, tiny electrical regions can point in different directions or line up in an organized pattern. Cooling helps bring them into alignment, but physicists at Auburn University have […]
Archaeologists May Have Just Discovered the World’s Oldest Shipwreck
Jars from what may be the world’s oldest shipwreck still hold visible residues, offering a chance to identify what Mediterranean traders carried around 4,500 years ago. A shipwreck off the coast of Turkey is the oldest shipwreck in the world, our team of archaeologists believes. There’s little left of the ship itself but based on […]
Dementia Will Cost America a Staggering $818 Billion This Year
Lost quality of life accounts for the largest share of dementia’s estimated $818 billion U.S. toll, offering a broader measure of what better care could preserve. Family members and friends caring for Americans with dementia provide billions of hours of unpaid help, often during their prime working years. Their time, lost earnings, and the physical […]
Popular Sleep Supplement Could Come With an Unexpected Catch, Scientists Warn
A cannabis compound sold to help people sleep caused withdrawal symptoms in mice after just three days of repeated use. Researchers at the University of Connecticut found that repeated doses of cannabinol, or CBN, produced tolerance and withdrawal symptoms in mice. The study, published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence, raises questions about a substance whose […]
Researchers Find That Arthritis May Leave a Hidden Memory in Your Joints
Arthritis may leave a memory in the joints, and mouse experiments suggest stress can reawaken it with help from the body’s heat-producing fat. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can flare in previously affected joints even after the disease has gone into remission. Psychological stress has long been associated with worsening symptoms, but how it might help inflammation […]
Scientists Find That Cats and Their Owners Share a Surprising Biological Connection
The comfort you find in a cat’s company may have less to do with years together than with everyday closeness, a small observational study suggests. Cat owners often credit their pets with making life better, but research has produced mixed evidence about whether owning a cat benefits human health and well-being. Some studies have found […]
New Research Reveals Cows Have a Little-Known Ability To Recognize Humans
A stranger’s face can hold a cow’s attention longer than a familiar handler’s, video tests suggest, offering clues to how cattle recognize the people around them. When cows watched videos of people, they looked longer when the face on screen matched the voice they heard. The finding suggests that these highly social animals, which live […]
These Giant-Headed Ants Are Breaking a Fundamental Rule of Biology
Bigger animals generally have bigger body parts, but new research reveals that certain ants defy this biological rule. In the insect world, bigger bodies usually come with bigger body parts. But some ants break this rule in an unexpected way. A massive soldier ant, equipped with an oversized head and powerful jaws, can have smaller […]
Your Saliva Could Hold the Key to Detecting a Deadly Cancer
Scientists have discovered distinct bacterial patterns in the saliva of patients with a deadly form of esophageal cancer. Bacteria living in the mouth may hold clues to a deadly form of esophageal cancer that often goes undetected until treatment options are limited. Researchers in South Africa have identified distinctive bacterial patterns in patients’ saliva, raising […]