Consumers’ love for avocados in the United States seems to know no bounds. From 2001 through 2020, consumption of this fruit laden with healthy fats tripled nationwide, rising to over 8 pounds per person yearly.On average, 90% of those avocados are grown in the southwest Mexican state of Michoacán. As with other foods that have become trendy, such as acai berries, or widely used, such as palm oil, intensive avocado production is causing significant environmental damage.My research on 20th-cen ...read more
Paleoanthropologist Briana Pobiner wasn't expecting an ancient revelation during a routine examination of a Paleolithic shin bone in 2017. She observed clean, carved cuts on a human tibia that mirrored processed animal food remains, hinting that a human may have butchered and consumed the bone. And this wasn't a one-off find. Across the English Channel, evidence from the Magdalenian culture echoed Pobiner's find. Here, a staggering 42 percent of prehistoric human bones bore human teeth marks wit ...read more
When a star is born or dies, or when any other very energetic phenomenon occurs in the universe, it emits X-rays, which are high-energy light particles that aren’t visible to the naked eye. These X-rays are the same kind that doctors useto take pictures of broken bones inside the body. But instead of looking at the shadows produced by the bones stopping X-rays inside of a person, astronomers detect X-rays flying through space to get images of events such as black holes and supernovae.Images an ...read more
There's a baby girl gestating in the womb of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, and if she's born without complication, she'll make a big impression all around the world.
I'm speaking of the La Niña climate phenomenon. And according to the latest forecast, she stands a 69 percent chance of being born between July and September, pushing aside the almost dead 2023-2024 El Niño. (A new forecast is coming soon.) You can see her developing along the equator in the screenshot above, and in this video: [ ...read more
Bat populations in Colorado may be headed for a decline that could cause ecological disruptions across the state.Two bats discovered in Boulder County in late February 2024 were confirmed to have white-nose syndrome, a deadly fungal disease. Additional bats in Larimer County also tested positive for white-nose syndrome early this spring.The first North American bats with white fungus on their faces, ears and wings were discovered in 2006 in caves where they hibernated near Albany, New York. The ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine