Syndicated Archives | Page 15 of 29

How Depression Affects People Even at the Linguistic Level

From the way you move and sleep to how you interact with people around you, depression changes just about everything. It is even noticeable in the way you speak and express yourself in writing. Sometimes this “language of depression” can have a powerful effect on others. Just consider the impact of the poetry and song […]

Billions of Years Ago, a Supernova May Have Nearly Destroyed the Solar System

Way back in time, about 4.6 billion years ago, our Sun and planets were busily forming nestled inside a cloud of gas and dust. Not far away, a supernova exploded, threatening to tear everything apart. Luckily, a filament of molecular gas protected the infant Solar System from imminent destruction. A team of astronomers at the […]

How Plants Trick Some Bugs Into Fighting For Them

Plants may seem defenseless against insects, having neither hands nor tails to brush them away. But many produce potent repellent chemicals, ranging from ones that just taste or smell bad to ones that can kill. These disgusting compounds work well against nibbling and sap-sucking insects that feed on a wide range of plant types, as […]

How Do Spices Work? The Delicious Science of Food and Flavor, Explained

I love savory and spicy foods. Lasagna laden with basil and oregano. Beautifully golden curries infused with turmeric or rice flavored with saffron. I can’t pass up a cinnamon-dusted Snickerdoodle cookie. And some of my favorite childhood memories center on my mom’s nutmeg-infused sweet potato pie. These ingredients come from many different plants and distinct […]

Astronomers Spot the Same Supernova 4 Times Due to an Einsteinian Effect

Measuring cosmic distances is challenging, and astronomers rely on multiple methods and tools to do it — collectively referred to as the Cosmic Distance Ladder. One particularly crucial tool is Type Ia supernovae, which occur in binary systems where one star (a white dwarf) consumes matter from a companion (often a red giant) until it […]

What Will Be in NASA’s UFO Report? A Physicist on Why NASA is Taking it “Very Seriously”

A committee set up by NASA has examined about 800 reports of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), or what most of us would call UFOs (unidentified flying objects). NASA defines these events as sightings “that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena from a scientific perspective.” The creation of this committee shows that NASA […]

The Biggest Hazard for Astronauts on the Moon May Be Right Under Their Feet

Lunar regolith (also known as Moondust) is a major hazard for missions heading to the Moon. It’s everywhere on the surface – 5 to 10 meters (~16.5 to 33 feet) in depth in some places – not to mention jagged and sticky! During the by Matt Williams. Read the original article here.

Linguists Make a Wild Discovery in Miami

“We got down from the car and went inside.” “I made the line to pay for groceries.” “He made a party to celebrate his son’s birthday.” These phrases might sound off to the ears of most English-speaking Americans. In Miami, however, they’ve become part of the local parlance. According to my recently published research, these […]

Are All Ultra-processed Foods Bad? Here’s Why Bread Could Be The One Exception

Humans have been eating bread in some form for centuries. But modern bread is a far cry from the bread of the past. In its sliced bread form, it often contains so many more ingredients than the kind our ancestors were eating that it is now widely considered an ultra-processed food. But this doesn’t necessarily […]

If Betelgeuse Goes Supernova, Earth Will Have Neutrino Rain — That’s Just the Start

The bright, red star Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion has shown some unexpected behavior. In late 2019 and 2020, it became fainter than we had ever seen it — at least in records going back more than a century. Briefly, it became fainter (just about) than Bellatrix, the third brightest star of Orion. This event […]