Humans have linked emotions to the same body parts for 3,000 years
3,000-year-old clay tablets show that some associations between emotion and parts of the body have remained the same for millennia.
TECH DEIYO
Science and Technolgy blog
Nearby exoplanet has grown a tail 44 times longer than Earth — and it’s acting like a giant ‘stellar windsock’
Researchers have detected a giant tail of gas leaking from an exoplanet near Earth. The giant structure, which is up to 350,000 miles long, is being blown away from the alien world by stellar gusts, allowing researchers to use it…
Feminine advantage in harm perception obscures male victimization
A review published in Biology Letters highlights that harm toward women is perceived as more severe than similar harm toward men, a disparity rooted in evolutionary, cognitive, and cultural factors. Maja Graso and Tania Reynolds explore this “feminine advantage” in…
Americans spend more years being unhealthy than people in any other country
The gap of time between how long Americans live and how much of that time is spent in good health only grew wider in the last two decades, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open. The study,…
Twirling body horror in gymnastics video exposes AI’s flaws
On Wednesday, a video from OpenAI’s newly launched Sora AI video generator went viral on social media, featuring a gymnast who sprouts extra limbs and briefly loses her head during what appears to be an Olympic-style floor routine. As it…
The 2024 eclipse gave a rare view of the sun. Here’s a peek at early data
Teams are starting to analyze data from the total solar eclipse to learn more about the sun’s corona, gravity waves and changes in Earth’s ionosphere.
Marble Caves: Chile’s ethereal turquoise caverns with ‘mineral ice cream’ on the walls
The Marble Caves sit on the shores of a turquoise glacial lake in southern Chile. Light bounces off the water onto the walls, creating a magical, ever-changing display inside the caverns.
Marble Caves: Chile’s ethereal turquoise caverns with ‘mineral ice cream’ on the walls
The Marble Caves sit on the shores of a turquoise glacial lake in southern Chile. Light bounces off the water onto the walls, creating a magical, ever-changing display inside the caverns.
How neurons work together: A fractal approach to brain efficiency
The brain is a marvel of efficiency, honed by thousands of years of evolution so it can adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing world. Yet, despite decades of research, the mystery of how the brain achieves this has remained…
Rocket Report: Chinese national flies drone near Falcon 9, Trouble down under
Welcome to Edition 7.23 of the Rocket Report! We’re closing in on the end of the year, with a little less than three weeks remaining in 2024. Can you believe it? I hardly can. The biggest question left in launch…
Two teens have proved an ancient math rule — again
Two years ago, a couple of high-school classmates each composed a mathematical marvel. It was a trigonometric proof of the Pythagorean theorem. Now, at age 19, they’ve just reported finding 10 more proofs of it. For more than 2,000 years,…
Stealth destroyer 1st to carry hypersonic missiles that travel 5 times the speed of sound — with testing imminent
The Zumwalt-class stealth destroyers will mounted with experimental hypersonic weapon systems, but what makes this technology so lethal?
Why does Earth look flat if it’s really round?
It’s all about perspective: The higher you go, the more you can see the curve.
China aims to be 1st to bring samples back from Mars
China’s planned mission to bring rock samples to Earth from Mars would beat both NASA and the European Space Agency to the punch.
Reducing screen time boosts children’s mental health and prosocial behaviors, study finds
A new study published in JAMA Network Open offers experimental evidence supporting the idea that reducing leisure-time screen media use can improve the mental health of children and adolescents. The research, a secondary analysis of the SCREENS randomized clinical trial,…
NASA’s Perseverance rover found a new potential setting for Martian life
Now atop Jezero Crater, the robotic explorer found quartz indicative of habitable environments and possibly the oldest rocks yet seen in the solar system.
Are LLMs capable of non-verbal reasoning?
Large language models have found great success so far by using their transformer architecture to effectively predict the next words (i.e., language tokens) needed to respond to queries. When it comes to complex reasoning tasks that require abstract logic, though, some researchers have…
Burials of 28 people Andrew Jackson enslaved found at his Hermitage plantation in Tennessee
Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, enslaved hundreds of people. Archaeologists have discovered where 28 of them were buried.
Report: AT&T, Verizon aren’t notifying most victims of Chinese call-records hack
AT&T and Verizon reportedly are not notifying most customers whose call records were stolen in the ongoing attack attributed to Chinese hacking group Salt Typhoon. NBC News reported today that “the vast majority of people whose call records have been…
Critical WordPress plugin vulnerability under active exploit threatens thousands
Thousands of sites running WordPress remain unpatched against a critical security flaw in a widely used plugin that was being actively exploited in attacks that allow for unauthenticated execution of malicious code, security researchers said. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-11972,…
Character.AI steps up teen safety after bots allegedly caused suicide, self-harm
Following a pair of lawsuits alleging that chatbots caused a teen boy’s suicide, groomed a 9-year-old girl, and caused a vulnerable teen to self-harm, Character.AI (C.AI) has announced a separate model just for teens, ages 13 and up, that’s supposed…
Satellites reveal stunningly detailed maps of Earth’s seafloors
A newly-deployed satellite has created the most-detailed map yet of the ocean floor, finding hundreds of hills and underwater volcanoes that were previously missed.
How does fluoride prevent cavities?
Whether delivered in water or toothpaste, fluoride can help guard teeth against decay. But how?
The optical disc onslaught continues, with LG quitting Blu-ray players
Like with much of physical media, the onslaught against optical media is ongoing. In the latest hit against physical media fans, LG has discontinued its remaining Blu-ray players. However, this doesn’t spell the end for Blu-rays, which, in at least…
OpenAI introduces “Santa Mode” to ChatGPT for ho-ho-ho voice chats
On Thursday, OpenAI announced that ChatGPT users can now talk to a simulated version of Santa Claus through the app’s voice mode, using AI to bring a North Pole connection to mobile devices, desktop apps, and web browsers during the…
Studies pin down exactly when humans and Neanderthals swapped DNA
Two recent studies suggest that the gene flow (as the young people call it these days) between Neanderthals and our species happened during a short period sometime between 50,000 and 43,500 years ago. The studies, which share several co-authors, suggest…
Generating power with a thin, flexible thermoelectric film
The No. 1 nuisance with smartphones and smartwatches is that we need to charge them every day. As warm-blooded creatures, however, we generate heat all the time, and that heat can be converted into electricity for some of the electronic…
Neandertal genes in people today came from hook-ups around 47,000 years ago
Most present-day humans carry a small amount of Neandertal DNA that can be traced back to a single period of interbreeding, two genetic analyses find.
The ‘Blob,’ an unprecedented marine heat wave, killed 4 million seabirds
Millions of other animals may have perished too, suggesting the die-off event might be one of the worst in modern times.
Modern human ancestors and Neanderthals mated during a 7,000-year-long ‘pulse,’ 2 new studies reveal
An analysis of genomes from some of the earliest modern humans to live in Europe reveals their ancestors interbred with Neanderthals in one period between 43,000 and 50,000 years ago.
Our sun may be overdue for a ‘superflare’ stronger than billions of atomic bombs, new research warns
A conceptual image of the sun launching a massive fiery plume toward Earth.
Largest-ever survey on ayahuasca highlights links to better mental health and wellbeing
A new study published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs has uncovered significant associations between naturalistic ayahuasca use and improved mental health. The research, based on a large international survey, found that frequent use of ayahuasca—a traditional Amazonian psychoactive brew—is…
Intel Arc B580 review: A $249 RTX 4060 killer, one-and-a-half years later
Intel doesn’t have a ton to show for its dedicated GPU efforts yet. After much anticipation, many delays, and an anticipatory apology tour for its software quality, Intel launched its first Arc GPUs at the end of 2022. There were…
Google steps into “extended reality” once again with Android XR
Citing “years of investment in AI, AR, and VR,” Google is stepping into the augmented reality market once more with Android XR. It’s an operating system that Google says will power future headsets and glasses that “transform how you watch,…
What are ‘attachment styles,’ and is there science to back them up?
Attachment styles are real, but there are a lot of misconceptions about how they work.
4 biologists awarded Germany’s most prestigious scientific award, worth 2.5 million euros
The Leibniz Prize is awarded annually to scientists for their “outstanding achievements in the field of research.”
Flesh-eating human parasite sweeping across Central America is raising concerns in US — what to know
New World screwworm was largely eradicated from the U.S. and Central America in the 1960s and 1980s, respectively. But the potentially fatal parasite is starting to make a comeback, U.S. officials say.
Scientists spot ‘L-shaped structures’ and ‘weird things’ near monster black hole in epic new Hubble telescope images
New Hubble Space Telescope images of a black hole-powered quasar reveal ‘weird’ structures and gigantic jets of energy that scientists are just beginning to explain.
Weight loss drugs may also treat addiction, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease
One of Dr. Mo Sarhan’s patients was experiencing intense cravings for opioids and alcohol when the Florida-based doctor offered him a striking solution: the Eli Lilly weight-loss drug Mounjaro. “Within days, all of his cravings were gone and he was…
AI helps ID paint chemistry of Berlin Wall murals
The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 was a seminal moment in 20th century history, paving the way for German reunification. Many segments, both large and small, were preserved for posterity—including portions covered in graffiti or murals. A…
Expressive suppression can effectively reduce negative emotions under specific conditions
Published in the Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, a new study reveals that expressive suppression reduces negative emotions at both experiential and expressive levels, challenging long standing assumptions about its ineffectiveness. Jessica L. Jones and colleagues investigated the experiential effects…
In an odd bit of propaganda, Belarus claims to have its own Starlink technology
In recent days, there has been a smattering of coverage in state-run Russian media outlets about how the Belarusian army has developed its own satellite Internet service akin to SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, called “Kulisa.” According to the TASS news service,…
YouTube TV raisies prices $10 per month in 2025, citing content costs, quality
YouTube TV, now one of the country’s leading cable (or cable-ish) television providers, is starting to act like it. The service told customers in an email this morning that prices are going up in the new year, from $73 per…
These are the viruses that defined 2024
Here’s the latest on mpox, bird flu, dengue and other viral outbreaks that flared up this year.
‘Drones’ swarm New Jersey and New York. How close are we to learning what these UAPs actually are?
Reports of unidentified flying objects in the northeast U.S. are on the rise, but so far officials have few answers for alarmed residents.
Objectification and abuse of women: New study highlights a dangerous connection
Intimate partner violence is a global scourge. One in four Australian women have experienced physical or sexual violence at the hands of an intimate partner. The perpetrators are overwhelmingly heterosexual men. Many factors contribute to this form of violence. Persistent…
Trump’s nominee to lead NASA favors a full embrace of commercial space
ORLANDO, Florida—On Wednesday, Jared Isaacman made his first public appearance since his nomination earlier this month to become NASA’s next administrator. Although his remarks were short on specifics, Isaacman endorsed a vision that would signal radical departures from the way…
Earth’s inner core may be changing shape
Earthquake data suggest that all or small patches of the inner core’s surface may be swelling and contracting.
Low-calorie, high-protein diet might help reduce depression and anxiety symptoms in obese individuals
A randomized clinical trial in Iran exploring the effects of a low-calorie, high-protein diet on obese individuals found that 15 days on this diet resulted in decreased symptoms of anxiety and depression. After 30 and 60 days, participants adhering to…
Back where it started: “Do Not Track” removed from Firefox after 13 years
It might not really ever be fully dead, but Firefox calling it quits on Do Not Track (DNT) is a strong indication that an idealistic movement born more than 13 years ago has truly reached the end of its viable…
