[embedded content]On Aug. 16, 2020, a lightning strike sparked a wildfire at Cima Dome in the Mojave Desert and burned about 1.3 million Joshua trees, leaving behind a standing graveyard of the iconic trees. “They take hundreds of years to get to the size that they are,” says Bri Montoro, a project manager with the Nevada Conservation Corps, in the video. “Seeing them burnt is beautiful and devastating.”Drew Kaiser, a botanist with the Mojave National Preserve, watched the habitat burn i ...read more

When actor Bruce Willis was diagnosed with aphasia in the spring of 2022, it ignited interest in what exactly the condition is and how it affects those who have it. While Willis later received a more specific diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia in February of this year, the two conditions are closely linked.Primary Progressive AphasiaIn general, aphasia is classified as a neurogenic language disorder that causes a loss of language — both the ability to produce language and the ability to unde ...read more

Chytridiomycosis, the most destructive disease to ever affect vertebrates, moves swiftly. As a doomsday disease affecting amphibians, it often begins when a microscopic zoospore propelled by a squiggly flagellum tail collides with the skin of a frog. From there, it penetrates the tissue and through a complex process widens the infection and produces new zoospores.The disease tends to affect the keratin-producing skin in the frog’s groin and legs and throws off the amphibian’s normal regulati ...read more

According to the myth, handsome Narcissus once gazed at himself in a pool of water and fell in love with his own reflection, a self-obsession that would ultimately doom him.While we can be grateful to this cautionary tale for inspiring the term narcissism, it seems a tad unfair for us to fault one Greek youth for being fascinated by his own appearance. After all, humans have been obsessed with their reflections for millennia, and that obsession would trigger the development of one of the greates ...read more

What's more appetizing than a mouthful of fluffy feathers? Not much, apparently, for a rare type of arthropod from the planet's remote past.That's because around 105 million years ago, ancient beetles fed on the feathers of the dinosaurs. In fact, fossilized remains trapped in amber recently revealed this relationship between the arthropods and the theropods, according to a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.(Credit: CN IGME-CSIC) The larval molts of the beetles w ...read more

Recently, Kobi Gal, an AI researcher at Ben-Gurion University and the University of Edinburgh, asked GPT4 to generate messages for SciStarter, based on self-determination theory (the motivation behind people's choices). Kobi and his team created an AI-powered recommendation system for SciStarter as described here, here, and here.And here are the motivation messages from GPT4 based on Self-Determination Theory to motivate SciStarter.org volunteers:Autonomy: "As a SciStarter.org volunteer, you ha ...read more

Just minutes into his latest six-part docuseries The End is Nye, Bill Nye gets drenched in a rainstorm. Later on, a hurricane sends him hurtling into a car’s windshield. In a later episode, he explodes in a fiery inferno after being struck by debris from a wayward comet. Don’t worry: Nye, the science educator and engineer who became a household name in the 90’s thanks to his much-loved Bill Nye the Science Guy show, meets his (fictional) demise in every single episode. In a recent intervie ...read more

Decades of conflicting reports seem to have finally resolved into a clear, buzz-killing picture, while yet another study confirms it: No amount of alcohol consumption will protect against disease or extend your lifespan, according to a sweeping review published in late March.The meta-analysis, printed in the Journal of the American Medical Association, draws on more than a hundred studies involving nearly 5 million people.The researchers found that just 25 grams a day for women and 45 for men � ...read more

Vacationing somewhere far from home is always fun — but traveling there via plane can be a real lesson in self-discipline. Hours upon hours in a cramped, confined space with low air pressure and low humidity can bring on discomforts ranging from headache to dehydration. No surprises there.But even after stepping off the plane, your troubles may be only beginning. While the symptoms of travel fatigue fade fairly quickly, the icky feelings that accompany jet lag — irritability, indigestion, sl ...read more

As long as there have been little kids and curious scientists, people have been dropping cats to see what happens. And for just as long, cats have landed on their feet. But how do cats pull this off? The answer to that question has been a scientific query for hundreds of years. Do Cats Always Land on Their Feet?In his 2019 book Falling Felines and Fundamental Physics, Greg Gbur, a physics professor at the University of North Carolina Charlotte, gives a delightful tour through the history of th ...read more