For centuries, a beached whale provided coastal dwellers with a windfall of resources. People harvested the baleen, blubber, bone, meat, oil, and spermaceti. They used oil and spermaceti to fuel candles and lanterns. They consumed whale meat. And they repurposed bone and baleen (a plate in the upper jaw) to structure corsets, collars, and hoop skirts. Around 1710, people wanted a steady supply of whale-based products. The commercial whaling industry developed in response to the increasing dem ...read more

While ubiquitous now in some of our favorite true crime shows, the technique of using DNA samples to identify potential criminals started making its way into the forensic world by chance — and still is not as popular or helpful as one might think.Who Invented DNA Profiling?The method for DNA profiling as we know it today is largely attributed to Sir Alec Jeffreys, a British geneticist. Jeffreys' groundbreaking work led to real-world applications, from immigration disputes to solving heinous cr ...read more

Flushing food scraps down the garbage disposal in your kitchen can be borderline therapeutic. No digging out the potato peels or apple cores — just mash them down the drain, turn on the appliance, and hear the sweet sound of your problems disappearing.Of course, the food doesn't actually vanish. More specifically, it goes to a local wastewater treatment plant, where all the water coursing through your home plumbing ends up.Truthfully, washing away your troubles this way can cause issues elsewh ...read more

In his influential book Why Marriages Succeed or Fail, psychologist John Gottman describes the intensifying marital tempest of Eric and Pamela, a couple he interviewed extensively. Year by year, their relationship grew worse, eventually deteriorating to the point that Eric would shut down at the first sign of conflict, muttering a few monosyllabic responses before escaping to the local tavern.The pattern may sound familiar. Often, in the midst of a heated dispute between romantic partners, one o ...read more

In 2020, researchers caught something strange — and stunningly cute — on camera. In the dead of night in the southern Santa Cruz Mountains, a coyote and a badger sauntered out of a wildlife tunnel. The two ambled around then turned around, bumbling back toward the tunnel, but not before showing off the strength of their bond. As the coyote waited for the badger, it bowed its body and wagged its tail, almost as if it was inviting the badger to play. Seeing a coyote and a badger together in th ...read more

Imagine getting a Facebook friend request from the deceased. This happened to me not once, but twice. The account belonged to a distant relative named Carolyn who passed away in 2020 at the age of 96 due to COVID-19-related complications.Carolyn’s daughter-in-law, Janet, says, “Even into her 90s, Carolyn was somewhat active on Facebook. [Afterwards, it] was a useful tool to share information about her passing and gave the family a place to peruse old photos, either for memories or to use in ...read more

If you hear “extraterrestrial,” what do you picture? Google it, and chances are you’ll find at least one visualization of a humanoid alien, maybe even waving at the camera.The idea that extraterrestrials, specifically intelligent ones, might exist has long captured our fascination. Its longevity across the ages indicates a burning question: Is something or someone else out there?What Does Extraterrestrial Really Mean?The word itself is quite simple. “Extra” means outside of, and “ter ...read more

It was considered the biggest spider ever to scuttle across the Earth. Or so scientists in Argentina thought when they uncovered the fossil of what they inevitably dubbed Megarachne — a name worthy of a classic B-movie monster. While Megarachne would never have been big enough to go up against Godzilla, it was nothing you’d want to find under your bed either. The 300-million-year-old fossil revealed a creature with a leg span of nearly 20 inches and a body that was even longer — 21 inches. ...read more

Thanks to one of the slowest-ticking clocks in the universe, scientists have determined the moon is about 40 million years older than previously thought.That means the Earth was a young 100 million years old when an object about the size of Mars slammed into it, slinging magma out into Earth’s orbit.Over time, all that material cooled and formed into what we now refer to as the moon. It's unknown whether this took years or mere hours, per a 2022 simulation.As the moon’s mantle cooled, it for ...read more

For many men, the quest to maintain optimal testosterone levels is a common concern, especially as they advance in age. Testosterone is a hormone that is naturally produced in the bodies of both males and females, but males typically generate much more of it. For men, testosterone is primarily produced in the testicles, and it plays a pivotal role in male development, muscle mass, bone density, and sexual function. However, natural testosterone levels can decline with age, leading to a condition ...read more