In April 2024, the cicadas are starting to buzz. Reports of cicada broods emerging in the South of the U.S. are underway. The insect’s signature high-pitched and alarming sound has already led some people to call law enforcement in South Carolina to report a siren-like noise. However, that noise is not a siren, but periodical cicadas. These cicadas, broods XIX and XII, emerge in cycles of 13 to 17 years. It’s estimated that in 2024, trillions of cicadas will emerge from different states in t ...read more
In 1956, the U.S. Federal Aid Highways Act provided $25 billion to create a network of roads across the nation. In today’s money, that’s equivalent to $215 billion.The act had huge economic and social consequences. It helped boost the economy and create an automobile-centered society. But the new freeways also divided communities, disrupted pedestrian movement and broke social ties. In some notorious cases, freeway building was used to clear working-class Black communities and segregate citi ...read more
You did it! As of April 26, you've completed 1,024,319 acts of science, with four days still to go! But even though we've reached our target and April ends next week, we’re not skimping on fun citizen science activities! We’re focusing on medicine and public health, along with a big One Million Acts of Science Celebration. April 28: Help the Girl Scouts fight Alzheimer's Disease!For the month of April, Girl Scouts Overseas is playing Stall Catchers to fight Alzheimer's Disease and you can he ...read more
The terror bird — an extinct group of carnivorous birds that once dominated the current territory of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay after the extinction of dinosaurs — persisted between 23 million years ago and up to about 17 thousand years ago.With the head of an eagle, curved beak, body and legs of an African ostrich, and claws as big as those of the Jurassic Park raptors, “you wouldn't want to be in a cage with one of them,” remarked Washington Jones, a paleo-ornithologist at t ...read more
“We haven’t had a full night’s sleep since our son was born eight years ago,” said Mrs. B, pointing to her son’s dry, red and itchy skin.Her son has had eczema his entire life. Also known as atopic dermatitis, this chronic skin disease affects about 1 in 5 children in the industrialized world. Some studies have found rates of eczema in developing nations to be over thirtyfold lower compared with industrialized nations.However, rates of eczema didn’t spike with the Industrial Revoluti ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine