Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one cause of death in the U.S. An easy way to help lower your risk is to get the recommended 150 minutes of physical activity per week. Although these recommendations are well known, more than a quarter of all adults don’t meet this goal. So, how can you get more heart-healthy exercise? According to research from a study published in Environmental Research and presented at the scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology, living in a wal ...read more

It’s a given that we associate higher exposure to wildfire smoke with decreased lung health. But a new study, for the first time, links breathing in fine particulate air pollution (labelled by public health scientists as PM2.5) to mental health issues as well.The study published in JAMA Network Open connected increased exposure to wildfire smoke with a spike in visits to emergency departments for mental health conditions.“Wildfire smoke isn’t just a respiratory issue — it affects mental ...read more

Our relationship with alcohol is quite complex. While it can serve as a social lubricant or help some individuals relax, excessive intake can lead to addiction and cause various health problems. Alcohol occurs naturally as a byproduct of fermenting sugary fruits and nectars, which is why several animals — including insects, monkeys, bats, and even elephants — are known to intentionally seek out fermented fruits for their alcohol content. Researchers are fascinated by why some animals can't r ...read more

Romeo and Juliet were a pair of doomed, star-crossed lovers. Now, astronomers have detected a pair of doomed star-crossed stars. Like Shakespeare’s famously unlucky couple, two white dwarfs spiraling around each other are on a course toward destruction.Astronomers discovered that the stellar partners are separated by a distance of 1/60th — the difference between the Earth and the sun, they report in Nature Astronomy. This proximity will eventually destroy them.Stellar Collision Course to Sup ...read more

The U.S. now hosts over 157,000 wind turbines. If each tower holds three blades, and each blade’s weight is about 65 glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP), that’s a lot of plastic. Even if each turbine lasts an estimated 30 or so years, those blades will still need to be reckoned with.Critics challenging wind power often claim that the turbine blades can’t be recycled but are often buried, potentially leeching harmful pollutants into the groundwater.Perhaps in an attempt to blunt that clai ...read more

Along with a slew of other physical impacts that running a marathon can have on the human body, a new study reveals that your body may also start eating your brain while running the 26.2-mile race. While this sounds terrifying, the effects the marathon has on the brain are reversible and it typically returns to normal levels in about two months. From this study, researchers are hoping to understand how the brain is able to repair itself so quickly and perhaps use this as a way to treat other di ...read more

Superbugs are pathogens, such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi, that present serious threats in hospitals, exposing vulnerable patients to higher risks of infections and even death. In the U.S. alone, an estimated 2.8 million infections and 35,000 deaths annually are caused by microbe strains that have developed resistance to multiple drugs — one of the most significant global public health threats of this century.Unfortunately, hospitals, where the most vulnerable patients are concentrated, al ...read more

If you close your eyes and picture dinosaurs roaming across Earth, what do you see? Probably not the cold, misty shorelines of Scotland.Thanks to 131 footprint findings by a team at the University of Edinburgh, we can now confirm that Tyrannosaurus rex’s ancestors, and others, did indeed frequent the Scottish islands. These footprints, located at Prince Charles’s Point on the Isle of Skye, give insights into dino distribution during an important evolutionary period. Dinosaur Footprints and ...read more

Researchers have successfully created solar cells from simulated moon dust that could fuel power. The cells the scientists developed should convert sunlight into energy efficiently and withstand radiation damage, they report in the Cell Press journal Device.The technique kills two space logistics birds with one stone: it could create electricity without involving heavy payloads. Building a solar power electrical plant with existing technology would likely require multiple expensive trips to ferr ...read more

One of the curious features of Taylor Swift’s work is that she regularly uses words borrowed from astronomy and cosmology. “Taylor Swift’s discography frequently incorporates astrophysics terminology,” point out Sophie Newman and Ana Sainz de Murieta at the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at the University of Portsmouth in the U.K. That reflects the role that science and technology play in shaping cultural phenomena. But for Swifties, it also raises the question of which areas of ...read more