Processed Foods, Regardless Of Nutrition, Still Worse For You

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

You probably already had a feeling you should skip the vending machine for an afternoon snack. But it turns out ultra-processed foods are even worse than we already thought. A new study, out in Cell Metabolism, shows these foods cause weight gain even when they don’t have more fat, sugar, or carbohydrates than their healthier counterparts. There’s something about the processing itself that causes people to eat more before they feel full. On the flip side, switching to a whole f ...read more

O’Neill Colonies: A Decades-Long Dream for Settling Space

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Last week, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos revealed his spaceship company's new lunar lander, dubbed Blue Moon, and he spelled out a bold and broad vision for humanity's future in space. Faced with the limits of resources here on Earth, most fundamentally energy, he pointed to life in space as a solution. "If we move out into the solar system, for all practical purposes, we have unlimited resources," Bezos said. "We could have a trillion people out in the solar system." ...read more

Beyond Harmful Gas: The Future of Refrigeration May Rely on ‘Plastic Crystals’

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

(Inside Science) -- Refrigeration has been around for about 100 years, but hasn’t changed much in that time. A time traveller from the early 1900s would still recognize the big box full of chilled food in your kitchen. But soon, researchers say, new materials could replace refrigeration as we know it, making it more adaptable, efficient and environmentally friendly. Standard fridges work using a process called vapor compression. A compressor increases the pressure on a gas, which raises i ...read more

Frenchie Breathing Problems Run Deeper Than Smushed Faces

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Who can resist a smooshed nose, wrinkly wide grin, and buggy eyes? Flat-faced dog breeds like bulldogs and pugs have become the popular “it” pets of the moment. But the iconic looks that make Frenchies and the like so photogenic can also be harmful to their health and wellbeing. Veterinarians have long known that brachycephalic breeds – or dogs bred to have condensed snouts – are prone to breathing issues. One of the most worrisome conditions is what& ...read more

New Horizons Reveals Ultima Thule’s Quiet, Lonesome Past

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

After New Horizons streaked past Pluto in 2015, its main task was over, but it still had work to do. On New Year’s Day of 2019, it made a flyby of another, even more distant object named 2014 MU69, more commonly called Ultima Thule. Since then, the spacecraft has been slowly but steadily sending streams of information back across the increasingly vast gulf of space between it and Earth. From that information, scientists now know that the snowman-shaped space rock formed from a gentle coll ...read more