Some dinosaurs feasted on smaller lizards, eggs or even early mammals. Others hunted other dinosaurs as prey, or scavenged the remains of dead animals. Most dinosaurs, though, ate plants. Research suggests more than 180 dinosaurs preferred a plant-based diet, but it’s quite hard to put a precise number on it, says Paul Barrett, a paleontology researcher at the Natural History Museum in London.“There's a little bit of a gray area because some of the dinosaurs that we think mainly ate plants m ...read more

When Sir Patrick Moore, the late president of the British Astronomical Association, would step outside on a cold, clear night, he’d look up at the sky and take up his usual vigil.“I look at Orion before anything else,” he wrote of the constellation, “to make sure that Betelgeuse is still there in its familiar guise!”Betelgeuse, located on the huntsman’s shoulder, takes its name from an Arabic term that means the “giant’s shoulder,” and the unpredictable supergiant star has alwa ...read more

Social scientists have noticed an interesting trend in the last few decades. Groupthink is blamed when something goes wrong, whether it’s a military failure, technological disaster or even an advertising campaign in poor taste.Some social scientists say groupthink is also used to explain everyday healthcare and corporate management failures.If groupthink is so bad, why do humans do it so much?What is Groupthink?Groupthink occurs when people go along with a group’s irrational ideas. The m ...read more

A new raptor-like dinosaur discovered in Spain helps to tell the backstory of a little-understood, semi-aquatic family of predators that likely originated in Europe, researchers have concluded.The Spinosaurids were a family of long, scrappy dinosaurs that branched into many different species, including the new Protathlitis cinctorrensis, which was believed to measure 10 to 11 meters long and possess long, conical teeth. Past studies have concluded that the family most likely ate fish – wading ...read more

Like many famous men over the course of history, Charles Darwin gets his name attached to a lot of things that he had nothing to do with. The great naturalist certainly never came up with the Darwin Awards. And he didn’t coin the phrase “survival of the fittest.” So, what are we to make of his relationship to Darwin Island, exactly? Did he even set foot on the Galápagos island that bears his name? What Did Charles Darwin Do?Darwin traveled to the Galápagos, of course. He remains the most ...read more

Supernatural, religious and mythical beliefs are a normal part of human culture.In every society, for as long as human history has been recorded, people have explained all manner of phenomena in the world by way of divine intervention or some supernatural agenda.Ancient societies believed they had to sacrifice innocent people to please gods to bring rain, while today, some people blame natural disasters on the perceived moral indiscretions of their peers. Why do we do this?God of the Gaps IdeaSc ...read more

ChatGPT and other AI systems have emerged as hugely useful assistants. Various businesses have already incorporated the technology to help their employees, such as assisting lawyers draft contracts, customer service agents deal with queries and to support programmers developing code. But there is increasing concern that the same technology can be put to malicious use. For example, chatbots capable of realistic human responses could perform new kinds of denial service attacks, such tying up all t ...read more

Strokes primarily impact the aged, but they can also strike the young, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). One in seven affect people between the ages of 15 and 49.The agency recounts the case of Brooke Bergfeld of Bismark, North Dakota, a 29-year-old mom who suffered a stroke not long after giving birth to her son, Hudson. Bergefeld reported many common symptoms, including a terrible headache, a pain in her arm, slurred speech and a drooping face.She was later dia ...read more

In Alexandre Dumas’s classic novel The Count of Monte-Cristo, a character named Monsieur Noirtier de Villefort suffers a terrible stroke that leaves him paralyzed. Though he remains awake and aware, he is no longer able to move or speak, relying on his granddaughter Valentine to recite the alphabet and flip through a dictionary to find the letters and words he requires. With this rudimentary form of communication, the determined old man manages to save Valentine from being poisoned by her ste ...read more