Wisdom teeth seem like a biological mishap. Our third and final set of molars to grow, wisdom teeth don’t quite fit in many people’s mouths, leading to millions of surgeries per year. But in some people, these "extra" teeth come in just fine, while others don't have them at all.
What’s the biological story here?
First let’s establish what’s probably not the story: Conventional wisdom about wisdom teeth assumes evolution was doing away with these unnecessary chompe ...read more
Tall undulating seaweed known as kelp grows in thick underwater forests off the southern coasts of Africa. The kelp forests were once thought to provide a safe haven to Cape fur seals from great white sharks. Then researchers put GoPro-like high-resolution cameras on the predators.
Instead of being deterred by the underwater flora, the sharks dive right into thick kelp forests in pursuit of prey, the researchers find. It's a new discovery for shark researchers, who had previously thought ...read more
(Inside Science) -- In the battle of the sexes, sexually transmitted diseases may sometimes be a weapon that males use to win. That’s the conclusion of a new study that used mathematics to model an age-old evolutionary struggle: the quest to fill the next generation with as many of your offspring as possible.
The findings probably don't apply to humans, and the outcome would vary depending on the animals and diseases involved, said the researchers. But by infecting a female with an STD, a ...read more
Underwater archaeologists excavating Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, South America, have been uncovering artifacts like this bowl. The finds offer clues to a long-vanished culture.
Recently, a group working on Khoa Reef at the lake have uncovered a number of ritual offerings, including ceramic puma shaped incense burners, the remains of sacrificial llamas, and ornaments made of shell, gold and stone.
The reef is located near the Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun), an important religious site ...read more
No, you can’t actually take a picture of a black hole. But astronomers have promised to do the next best thing: To image the seething chaos just outside the black hole, known as its event horizon. To capture this region, just on the cusp of the black hole itself, astronomers have had to link telescopes from across the globe and focus them on the closest, most massive black holes known: Sagittarius A* (pronounced “A-star”), which resides at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine