Around the world today, you’ll find at least 700 different kinds of carnivorous plants, ranging from pitcher plants that lure their victims into pools of digestive enzymes to adhesive-trap plants whose stalks secrete a natural glue, turning them into living flypaper. The fossil record contains evidence of early predator plants dating as far back as 40 million years, although many such plants likely existed much earlier than that. As fascinating as these plants are, none have captured the human ...read more

Fossilized cheek teeth have helped paleontologists learn a lot about what ancient elephants ate millions of years ago. Turns out, those with a less picky diet and more adaptability to changing environments survived. And those who stuck to a grass-based diet went extinct when there were extreme fluctuations in the climate.“This supports the hypothesis of such regions as 'species-factories' where evolutionary adaptation to changing environmental conditions first centered around," said Juha Saari ...read more

Borax was first mined in the Mojave Desert in the late 1880s, when wagon teams of 18 mules and two horses pulled huge loads of it out of Death Valley. A chemical compound, borax contains the element boron. Three-quarters of the world’s boron reserves are in Turkey, while the rest is mined from the town of Boron, California. Since it was discovered, borax has been used for many reasons and has recently been the subject of a popular TikTok challenge. However, the challenge claims that it will im ...read more

Nearly 6,000 years ago, our ancestors climbed arid rocky outcrops in what is now the Nigerian Sahara and carved spectacularly intricate, larger-than-life renditions of giraffes into the exposed sandstone. The remarkably detailed Dabous giraffe rock art petroglyphs are among many ancient petroglyphs featuring giraffes across Africa – a testament to early humans’ fascination with these unique creatures.We are still captivated by giraffes today, but many of these animals are at risk, largely ...read more

Though tobacco use is declining among adults in the U.S., cannabis use is increasing. Laws and policies regulating the use of tobacco and cannabis are also moving in different directions.Tobacco policies are becoming more restrictive, with bans on smoking in public places and limits on sales, such as statewide bans on flavored products. In contrast, more states are legalizing cannabis for medical or recreational use, and there are efforts to allow exceptions for cannabis in smoke-free laws.T ...read more

The health of people with diabetes, hypertension and obesity improved when they could get free fruits and vegetables with a prescription from their doctors and other health professionals.We found that these patients’ blood sugar levels, blood pressure and weight improved in our new study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.The improvements we saw in clinical outcomes could have a meaningful impact on overall health. For example, systolic blood pressure, or blood pre ...read more

A new paper opens a window on the largest astronomical event in the known universe: the merging of two galaxy clusters. It finds that during the galactic crunch, just one side exerts as much energy as a billion suns burn in a year – and does so every second.Galactic clusters are massive collections of galaxies bound together by gravity. (We in the Milky Way belong to the Laniakea Supercluster.) They include both galaxies and clouds of gas, which mix together vigorously when two clusters collid ...read more

Napping during the day is an ancient custom that is practiced worldwide.While some people view napping as a luxurious indulgence, others see it as a way to maintain alertness and well-being. But napping can come with drawbacks as well as benefits.As an orofacial pain specialist, I have extensive education in sleep medicine and how sleep impacts wellness, due mostly to the relationship between sleep and painful conditions such as headaches and facial pain. My training involved all aspects of sle ...read more

The discovery of a new dinosaur, Tharosaurus indicus, in India is shaking up the study of a branch of sauropods, the long-necked, plant-eating group best known for brontosaurus. The find has also highlighted India’s growing status within paleontology, although the field continues to face many challenges in the country.Fossils have been found around the world, with new species identified in Argentina, East Africa, China and the U.S. The discovery of a major one in India, now, greatly changes pa ...read more

Coming to terms with death isn’t easy — even if you’re an insect that’s little more than an eighth of an inch in size. For fruit flies, or Drosophila melanogaster, the mere sight of their companion’s corpses can trigger certain cues known to alter their brain chemistry, deplete fat stores and even cause other flies to avoid them, as if the traumatized insects still carried the stench of death. What’s more, scientists from the University of Michigan have found that fruit flies who wit ...read more