Young people who are randomly stopped for questioning by the police—even if they’ve done nothing wrong—are more likely to engage in criminal behavior later than those who aren’t stopped, a new study has found. University of Missouri researchers say that “stop-and-frisk” programs intended to deter crime may actually create more criminals. Researchers followed 2,600 students for seven years and recorded […]
Read more
Awe-inspiring experiences, such as viewing works of art or overlooking a scenic vista, may have physical as well as mental health benefits, according to a new study. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, found that the positive emotions triggered by these encounters can have an immune-boosting, anti-inflammatory effect that helps protect the body from heart disease, depression, autoimmune conditions, […]
Read more
Mapping the infant universe is no easy task. New data from the European Space Agency’s Planck satellite is giving astronomers their most complete look yet at the very earliest moments of the universe. Planck, which measures microwave radiation, has created a heat map of the temperatures present in the universe a mere 370,000 years after the Big Bang. The data […]
Read more
Scientists have been looking into Pluto’s possibility of having an ocean under its icy (a minus 380 degrees Fahrenheit) surface according to NASA’s New Horizon mission. This finding may shed some light on the internal world of Pluto. It has always been thought that Pluto was a frigid planet totally frozen over. They have discovered that Pluto may have an […]
Read more
Miami South Florida is battling a growing infestation of one of the world’s most destructive invasive species: the giant African land snail. At least 1,000 of the snails are being caught each week \ in Miami-Dade County, and a total of 117,000 of the mollusks have been caught since September 2011. They can grow as big as a rat and […]
Read more
A mother-of-eight, 30, died suddenly from a cardiac arrest because she drank up to 18 pints of Coke every day for years, a coroner has ruled. Natasha Harris died at home in Invercargill on New Zealand’s south island. An inquest revealed that she would drink at least four 2.5 litre bottles of the fizzy drink each day, consuming more than […]
Read more
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of the blood test for concussions. The handheld device is used to detect concussions or mild traumatic brain injuries in place of a CT SCAN. Banyan Brain Trauma Indicator is used to diagnose brain lesions, but the lesions are not common in most concussions. The tests are very encouraging but […]
Read more
When communities like San Francisco and Seattle began banning plastic bags, said Ramesh Ponnuru, it seemed like a public-spirited thing to do. But’ benign-seeming laws often have unintended consequences— and the plastic-bag ban is now producing a sickening result. The reusable shopping bags that people now use to bring groceries home turn out to be breeding grounds for bacteria carried […]
Read more
Of the world’s billion Internet users, one in three logs on in English. That’s no surprise. The technology got its start in the U.S., most Web pages are English, and more than 60 percent of the U.S., Canadian, U.K., and Australian populations are online. But China is catching up. The number of Chinese speakers using the Internet is five times […]
Read more
Chinese scientists have been modifying certain brain genes to create a new kind of monkey. Chinese researchers have incorporated the MCPH1 human brain gene into monkey embryos, in an experiment with hopes of crossing the wires of human and animal intelligence.A study based on the MCPH1 gene experimentation (PDF available below) was published in Beijing’s National Science Review journal describes […]
Read more