(Credit: Антон Воробьев/Unsplash) The FDA today announced plans to reduce levels of nicotine in cigarettes, a move that is aimed at lowering smoking rates in the U.S. In a press release, FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the move will cut the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to “non-addictive” levels, although he did not specify what that meant. The agency plans to issue an Advanced Notice of ...read more
There are three basic types of human smile: “reward”, “affiliative” and “dominance” smiles. That’s according to a new paper by psychologists Magdalena Rychlowska and colleagues. Here’s the authors’ illustration of the types, as posed by actors: Reward smiles, the authors say, are used to signal enjoyment: Reward smiles are displayed to reward the self or other people and to communicate positive experiences or intentions… the reward s ...read more
This week is Shark Week so we wanted to celebrate by returning to three posts written about Sevengill Sharks and ways you can support their conservation through the Sevengill Sharks Tracking Project. The first post (seen below) was published in 2013 with others following in 2015 and 2016. Not really into carnivorous fish? Check out SciStarter’s Project Finder! With 1100+ citizen science projects spanning every field of research, task and age group, there’s something for e ...read more
The all-black swans that glide across New Zealand’s wetlands today are only a lame replacement for the bulky beasts that lived there in the past, scientists have discovered. When humans first arrived in New Zealand in the thirteenth century, they found it swimming in black swans. But quickly, it seems, they hunted the birds to extinction. By the time Europeans arrived in the late eighteenth century, the swans were gone. But black swans had lived in Austr ...read more
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(Credit: rangizzz/Shutterstock) Oh, kids these days. When they want to know something they Google it. When they want to buy something they go to Amazon. When they want to date someone they open Tinder. It’s almost like they’re from a different country, one where technology has bled into every aspect of life. These so-called “digital natives” are endowed with the ability to seamlessly interact with any device, app or interface, and have migrated many aspects of thei ...read more
Okay, to be more accurate, Cassini produced a noodle. Well, actually, it’s a noddle-shaped movie. Sort of… This video pans across a continuous long and narrow mosaic of 137 images of Saturn captured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft when it dove between the giant gaseous planet and its rings on April 26th, 2017. Please click on the image to watch the video. As for why NASA scientists are calling this a “noodle,” read on… (Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Scie ...read more
Toss a few droplets of water in a hot pan and they seem to come alive, skittering to and fro as if trying to escape. Try the same thing with balls of hydrogel, and they actually could break free. The spheres bounce animatedly about a hot pan, emitting a piercing, shrieking noise as they do so. Both tricks are due to something called the Leidenfrost effect, which describes the instantaneous vaporization that occurs when water touches a hot surface. If enough steam is produced, it can be enough t ...read more
A Tang ad using a Gemini image. via General Foods/Kraft. Tang, the orange flavoured breakfast drink, is so synonymous with NASA that people seem to think the space agency invented it. Even Homer Simpson somehow called up NASA to demand why he couldn’t get “no Tang ’round here!” But contrary to popular belief NASA didn’t invent Tang. That honour goes to William Mitchell, the guy who also invented Pop Rocks and Cool Whip. The short version of the story is that Charle ...read more
