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Biological Activity on Earth Really Is Affected by The Gravity of The Sun And Moon

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Those two orbs we see in the sky during the day and night have even more of an influence on the animals and plants on Earth than you might think. The gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon really does appear to affect flora and fauna activity, although the exact mechanisms by which this happens … Read more

Origins of Drug-Resistant Superbug Weren’t What We Thought, Surprise Discovery Shows

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An evolutionary battle between fungi and bacteria on hedgehogs’ skin gave rise to a type of antibiotic-resistant bacteria long before humans started using the antibiotics that were thought to lead to such superbugs, a new study reveals.   Researchers traced some lineages of the superbug MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, to a parasitic fungus found … Read more

Small study suggests pandemic may slow babies’ development | Science

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Babies born at two New York City hospitals in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic scored slightly lower on developmental tests at 6 months of age than did babies born before the pandemic, according to a new study. There were no significant differences between the groups in communication and problem-solving skills. The study, published in JAMA … Read more

Brain Signals Associated With OCD Discovered by Scientists For First Time

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Scientists have been able to observe brain activity linked with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in more detail than ever before – and if these neural signals can be identified, it opens up the possibility of being able to change them as well.   OCD can affect up to two in every 100 adults, and while various … Read more

NASA delays tightening James Webb Space Telescope sunshield to study power system

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NASA personnel are spending the day studying the power subsystem of the massive James Webb Space Telescope to ensure the observatory is ready to execute a key procedure: tensioning its vast sunshield. The Webb space telescope, which launched on Dec. 25, is conducting a month-long deployment procedure necessary to prepare the telescope to gather data. … Read more

There’s Something About Eating Mushrooms That Seems to Lower Depression Risk

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A large-scale analysis of people who eat mushrooms suggests they have a lower risk of developing depression. The association is still a mystery, and for now, the authors say the data should be interpreted with caution. There’s always a chance the results are a mere correlation, especially since eating more mushrooms didn’t seem to lower … Read more

Equal access to space: New study investigates how to get more ‘parastronauts’ aloft

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A new study sponsored by NASA investigates the feasibility of sending people with disabilities safely into space and returning them back to Earth.   The appraisal, called the Parastronaut Feasibility Foundational Research Study, makes a number of recommendations, including revising medical standards for astronaut selection and using parabolic aircraft flights to demonstrate parastronaut proof of … Read more

Biologist E. O. Wilson Dies at 92. His Legacy Is More Critical Now Than Ever

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E. O. Wilson was an extraordinary scholar in every sense of the word. Back in the 1980s, Milton Stetson, the chair of the biology department at the University of Delaware, told me that a scientist who makes a single seminal contribution to his or her field has been a success.   By the time I … Read more

The Largest Known Flying Animal Was Even Weirder Than We Thought

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The pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus northropi is the largest known flying animal to have ever existed, living on Earth more than 67 million years ago. Now new research on the creature and its newly discovered smaller relative, Quetzalcoatlus lawsoni, gives us a better idea of how Q. northropi flew and got airborne to begin with.   Our knowledge of Q. … Read more