Coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the world for lots of reasons, including that it gives people a pleasant lift in the morning. New research shows that it also helps their memory. Researchers had 160 people who were not regular coffee drinkers look at pictures of objects; five minutes later they gave them either a placebo or […]
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On a tour of Noura Lifschitz’s home in Tel Aviv, you’ll find some unexpected guests hanging out. Lifschitz opened her home to some 70 injured fruit bats and created a shelter where she and volunteers help nurse them back to health and release them back into the wild. Source: Reuters
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Despite long-running drought, overall food situation appears similar to previous years. North Korea’s spending on imports of cereals decreased again in August, after recovering slightly the previous month, data from Chinese government figures show. Cereals – which include rice imports – decreased along with nearly every other food as classified by trade groups, and continued a downward trend that contrasts […]
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Stare out upon the ocean at sunset and you can almost convince yourself that all is well beneath the surface. Sadly, the exact opposite is very true. Three new studies reveal just how sick the oceans are, as well as just how big a role humans are playing. Let’s begin with climate change: according to a report from NASA and […]
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In comments likely to enhance his progressive reputation, Pope Francis has written a long, open letter to the founder of La Repubblica newspaper, Eugenio Scalfari, stating that non-believers (Atheists) would be forgiven by God if they followed their consciences. Responding to a list of questions published in the paper by Mr Scalfari, who is not a Roman Catholic, Francis wrote: […]
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Why do chimpanzees kill one another? For years, many studies have shown that chimps that were observed killing one another had become more aggressive only when humans encroached on their environment. But new studies have lent weight to an alternative theory: Chimpanzees are, like humans, natural-born killers who use violence as a means of expanding their territory and increasing their […]
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Research shows there may be an entire world underneath Antarctica’s ice-free Dry Valleys, which on the surface may seem hostile to life. Below the surface lies rivers of liquid salt water which flow into subsurface lakes, every drop of which could be swarming with microbial life. One of Antarctica’s most unique features, the briny, rusty-red colored Blood Falls, could possibly […]
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In a controversial move that has caused a massive public backlash, the city of Montreal will go ahead with their plans to dump over 2 billion gallons (8 billion liters) of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River — Montreal’s primary drinking water supply — in mid-October. While the Quebec Environment Minister David Heurtel has stated that the sewage dump […]
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For the first time, a mission designed to set its eyes on black holes and other objects far from our solar system has turned its gaze back closer to home, capturing images of our sun. NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has taken its first picture of the sun, producing the most sensitive solar portrait ever taken in high-energy […]
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Karachi, Pakistan Nuclear plants at risk: Pakistani activists are seeking to block the construction of two nuclear power plants in an earthquake-prone, coastal area that is vulnerable to tsunamis. The Chinese are building the two reactors—using an experimental design—less than 20 miles from the sprawling city of Karachi, where 20 million people would be at risk should a reactor meltdown […]
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