News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
At a point some 12,800 years ago, a tenth of Earth’s surface suddenly became covered in roaring fires. The firestorm rivalled the one that wiped out the dinosaurs, and it was likely caused by fragments of a comet that would have measured around 100 kilometers (62 miles) across. As dust clouds smothered Earth, they … Read more
There is perhaps no better way to see the absolute pinnacle of human athletic abilities than by watching the Olympics. But at the Winter Games this year – and at almost all professional sporting events – you rarely see a competitor over 40 years old and almost never see a single athlete over 50. … Read more
As the climate crisis grows, “cli-fi” books are driving action by showing dark, all-too-possible futures, says climate researcher Bill McGuire. Here are some of his favourites Environment 2 February 2022 By Bill Mcguire Cli-fi provides visions of the future that aren’t yet too late to change Jorn Georg Tomter/Getty Images SCIENTIFIC papers, however well-written, rarely carry … Read more
Our eyes are continuously bombarded by an enormous amount of visual information – millions of shapes, colors, and ever-changing motion all around us. For the brain, this is no easy feat. On the one hand, the visual world alters continuously because of changes in light, viewpoint, and other factors. On the other, our visual … Read more
Sex has many beneficial physical and psychological effects, including reducing high blood pressure, improving the immune system and aiding better sleep. The physical act of sex and orgasm releases the hormone oxytocin, the so-called love hormone, which is important in building trust and bonding between people. But there’s a dark side: people sometimes die … Read more
Slender gold and silver tubes crafted during the Bronze Age are the world’s oldest drinking straws, a new study finds. Archaeologists found the 3-foot-long (1 meter) metal tubes in 1897 while excavating a burial mound known as a kurgan from the ancient Maikop (also spelled Maykop) culture in the northwestern Caucasus, which primarily includes modern-day … Read more
A quick and pain-free scan of the human eyeball could one day help doctors identify ‘fast agers’, who are at greater risk of early mortality. Getting older obviously has an impact on everybody’s body, but just because two people have the same number of years under their belt doesn’t mean they are physically declining at … Read more
The universe was born with the Big Bang as an unimaginably hot, dense point. When the universe was just 10-34 of a second or so old — that is, a hundredth of a billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second in age — it experienced an incredible burst of expansion known as … Read more
The course of human evolution never did run smooth. The emergence of hominins on the continent of Africa is full of twists, turns, gaps, and dead ends, which makes it all the more difficult to retrace the rise of our own species. Today, we still don’t really know when or where the first Homo … Read more
Even with regular visits to the dentist, affluent children are more likely to experience tooth decay, according to the first meta-analysis of its kind. The systematic review suggests the corrosive effects of soda, juices, and energy drinks have eaten away at some of the privileges provided by wealth and education. Across 65 studies from … Read more