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Around the world, humans communicate with each other using nearly 7,000 distinct languages. But despite how different languages like English and Chinese are for example, we all use the same basic anatomy to talk. Our lips, tongues and the bones inside our mouths allow humans to make the noises of language.
Now researchers have found that differences in the shape of the roof of the mouth influence how we pronounce vowel sounds. And the team says that these mi ...read more
When you stack up the most promising recent exoplanet finds, as illustrated here, it becomes clear none is Earth’s true twin. But even more habitable worlds may be out there waiting to be found. (Credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech)
Earth is the only place in the universe where we know life exists. But with billions of other star systems out there, it might not be the best place for life. In a new study, astronomers modeled the potential for life on other watery planets and found some conditi ...read more
Scientists recently dug into salt marshes and discovered abundant amounts of a"good guy gas" that helps cool Earth's climate. (Credit: JuneJ/shutterstock)
The tangy smell of the sea may seem like nothing more than salt in the air, but in fact it comes courtesy of a specific chemical. And dimethyl sulfide, or simply DMS, not only defines that airy aroma, but it also helps cool the climate. In a study published Monday in the journal Nature Microbiology, researchers say they’ve discovered ...read more
(Credit: Sara López Gilabert/SAPIENS)
It is early morning on a wide plain in Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya. With a small Dixie cup and a wooden tongue depressor, Susan Alberts picks up a fecal sample left by a female baboon named Yoruba.
Alberts is an eminent primatologist. She is both the chair of the department of evolutionary anthropology and a member of the biology department at Duke University, and the co-director of the Amboseli Baboon Research Project. But this mor ...read more
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A human’s genes are laid down at
conception. A fetus’ heart, brain and other organs start to form five weeks later.
At six months, an unborn child has most of its body parts. But there is one
essential component missing: the helpful bacteria, often referred to as the microbiome,
that will inhabit its gut, skin and other organs.
Our first interactions with microbes set the stage for health throughout our lives. Babies’ microbiomes have b ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine