Chewing Gum While Walking Burns More Calories, Researchers Say

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(Credit: Lizardflms/Shutterstock) Walking and chewing gum, at various points in this nation’s history, has served as a benchmark to gauge one’s competence as a leader. Democratic vice presidential-nominee John Edwards in 2004 assured Americans that a president must possess the ability to walk and chew gum. During that same campaign, Sen. Jim Bunning boasted to Kentuckians that he could indeed walk and chew gum. Last year, Rep. Paul Ryan promised citizens that Republicans in the Hou ...read more

Friendly Monkeys Have More Cuddle Buddies

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A kind word or gesture from a friend can give you the warm fuzzies. But a warm, fuzzy friend can give a macaque a better chance of surviving the winter. After following dozens of macaques through snowy woods for months, scientists found that friendlier monkeys earned themselves more cuddle buddies on cold nights. Earlier studies in macaques, baboons and even wild horses have shown that animals who are more social may live longer and have more offspring. In other w ...read more

Stick Insects Expand Territory by Being Eaten

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(Credit: Stephane Bidouze/Shutterstock) The stick insect may have something else in common with plants besides its stem-like looks. Plants use wildlife to spread seeds, and, similarly, the stick insect might use wildlife to spread its eggs, a study in the journal Ecology reported this week. Alternative Transportation Most of a stick insect’s life is spent in a circle of trees and bushes, even for those species with wings. The insect would have an evolutionary advantage if it could disper ...read more

Take A Look At This Wee Spinosaurus Fossil!

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This tiny toe tip of a baby Spinosaurus reveals a surprisingly big piece of information about the famous dinosaur. (Credit G. Bindellini) Big paleontological news can come in teensy packages, as shown by a new study on a fragment of a very young Spinosaurus, one of the most fascinating flesh-eating (in this case, fish-eating) dinosaurs. You remember Spinosaurus, right? And I’m not talking about its cheesy guest role in the worst of the Jurassic Park sequels. I’m ...read more

State-of-the-art NOAA-20 satellite is operational, promising better weather forecasts

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Check out this imagery from the next generation, polar-orbiting NOAA-20 spacecraft, which also heralds improved environmental monitoring The NOAA-20 satellite captured this infrared image of Tropical Cyclone Mekunu on May 25 as it was approaching Yemen and Oman. (Source: NOAA/UWM/SSEC/CIMSS, William Straka) A constellation of satellites that monitor the vital signs of our planet just got a new, official member: the next-generation NOAA-20 satellite. It was declared fully op ...read more

Yet Another Study Says Vitamin Supplements Are Worthless

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(Credit: Thunderstock/Shutterstock) Vitamin — the first four letters come from the Latin word for “life.” To sustain that, we need these organic compounds in small amounts, but it seems their purpose ends there. New research reaffirms the counterintuitive notion that vitamin and mineral supplements aren’t the magical panacea we’ve been led to believe. It’s something that researchers have been finding for years, and a meta-analysis, summarizing the ...read more

Found: The Genes Behind Big Human Brains

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Human brains are three times bigger than those of our ancestors. Researchers behind a pair of new studies think they’ve found the genes responsible. (Credit Fiddes et al) With a new pair of studies on a handful of genes unique to the genus Homo, researchers took a big step toward solving one of the most important questions about our evolution — why and how human brains got so big. Understanding why the Homo brain became significantly larger than th ...read more

Life Recovered Mere Years After Asteroid Impact

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Life recolonized the Chicxulub impact crater so fast that bones from now-extinct animals, like this mosasaur, might not have fully decayed yet. (Credit: John Maisano, University of Texas Jackson School of Geosciences) Around 66 million years ago, a city-sized space rock splashed into the Gulf of Mexico and killed 75 percent of life on Earth, including the dinosaurs. We all know that story. But — at least for the survivors — the aftermath might not have been as hellish as we thought ...read more

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