Alcohol, often deployed as a social lubricant, can easily turn into a poison. It's a thin line between enjoyment and danger. Alcohol poisoning is a serious — and sometimes deadly — consequence of drinking large amounts of alcohol over a short period of time. Understanding what alcohol poising is, recognizing the symptoms, and knowing how to respond could be lifesaving. So in this article, we’ll go over the basics of alcohol poisoning. What Is Alcohol Poisoning?Alcohol poisoning occurs when ...read more

Alcohol is a ubiquitous part of many cultures and social gatherings. But it is also a substance that can profoundly impact the human body. And it stays in your system longer than you might think. Understanding the journey of alcohol through the body is crucial for understanding the impacts it can have on your health and for making informed decisions. So, let’s take a deeper dive into exactly how the human body processes and gets rid of alcohol, as well as the effects alcohol detox can have. Ho ...read more

The saccule and utricle, two chambers in the inner ear, detect the direction of gravity and help the body to balance. Without their influence, we quickly become lost and disoriented.To prevent this confusion from happening to astronauts in space, scientists at Brandeis University have proposed a new system that is surprisingly simple.It involves a series of small vibrating devices that are taped to the skin and vibrate to signal one’s position in space, a kind of mechanical inner ear. Early re ...read more

When gathering for a Thanksgiving meal, a few staples adorn the table. From roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, and mashed potatoes, these fixings will surely be part of the feast. But ever wonder why these classic foods are commonly seen every year?According to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, many foods enjoyed on American tables are from Mexico and South America. Here are how these foods made it to millions across the U.S. and how they are rooted in the country's early beg ...read more

One unsuspecting February morning in 1976, a 7.5 scale earthquake shook the Central American country of Guatemala. Originating from the Motagua Fault, the meeting point of the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates, the earthquake killed around 23,000 people and injured many more. The damage to buildings was also devastating, with tens of thousands of brightly painted adobe houses reduced to rubble in a matter of seconds.Ironically, one of the few places in Guatemala that wasn’t leveled ...read more

According to legend, Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be a national symbol of the fledgling United States. That actually isn’t true.However, Ben apparently did have a high opinion of the bird. According to the Franklin Institute, when comparing it to the bald eagle, Franklin considered the turkey more courageous and wrote that it was “… a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America …. “Franklin was right to admire the turkey, although even the great s ...read more

Theropods – the family of dinosaurs that included the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex and the smaller Allosaurus – had the largest and most sophisticated brains of any such dinosaur group. But scientists aren’t sure how they used these advanced faculties, whether for hunting or tracking down the next corpse to scavenge.A 2011 study found that if you set loose a group of scavenging T. rex’s in an environment comparable to the Serengeti in Africa, they would struggle to survive. But a new st ...read more

Cats are mysterious creatures. There’s a lot we don’t understand about them. Why do they sleep on our heads? Why do they almost always land on their feet? Why do they love boxes so much? One cat mystery, however, may have been solved. A team of European researchers say they’ve found an answer to the question — how do cats purr — that has vexed science, and owners, for decades.How Do Cats Purr?Cats have an amazing vocal range, from high-pitched yowls and screeches to deep, resonant pu ...read more

Mars looms large in the scientific imagination, as well as in fiction. Of all the worlds of the solar system, it’s the only one Earth-like enough for exploration with Earth-like tools: Its atmosphere is thin and transparent, its surface is dry and cold, and it’s close enough for regular study. From telescope eyepieces, we’ve probed the Red Planet for centuries. And over the past 50 years, we’ve even sent instruments for a closer look.However, in geological terms, that’s just a sliver o ...read more

The routes that our ancestors followed out of Africa have been long debated. But now researchers have uncovered evidence that the so-called northern route — a traverse that took Homo sapiens from the Sinai Peninsula into the Jordan Rift Valley — might have been a particularly viable corridor during the last interglacial period, which persisted from about 129,000 to 71,000 years ago. Sediments unearthed at three sites in southern Jordan suggest that wetland conditions likely persisted there ...read more