Science has long accepted that people are affected by their social environment – a term researchers use to describe day-to-day surroundings, interactions and stresses. For example, people with money, a robust social life and access to safe outdoor spaces are often going to have better long-term health outcomes than those without. Our four-legged friends, whose lives in many ways mirror our own, are also thought to be influenced by their social environment. But the specifics of how and why have ...read more
The divine blend of spices needed to make curry first reached Southeast Asia about 2,000 years ago, when the region began trading with the Indian subcontinent, according to an analysis of ancient spice residue.The new project analyzed 12 different spice grinding tools unearthed at the ancient trading port of Oc Eo, in modern-day Vietnam, by washing them with water and chemicals. This produced hundreds of tiny fragments that the researchers painstakingly identified (to a reasonable degree of cert ...read more
King Charles III, who assumed the throne of the United Kingdom in 2022 upon the death of Queen Elizabeth II, has a reputation as an environmental activist. What's more, some political commentators see his reign as an opportunity to enact the large-scale change needed to fight global warming. When he first entered public life at age 20, the then-Prince of Wales used his celebrity to sound the alarm. “Conservation or problems about pollution should not be held up as separate concepts from housin ...read more
With forty wild feline species scattered across the globe, cats boast an array of adaptations that allow them to thrive in some of Earth’s harshest environments. Here, we marvel at some of the extremes of the cat world – smallest, fluffiest and more – and see what evolution has done with these magnificent mammals. 1. Cheetah: The Speed Demon(Credit: Elana Erasmus/Shutterstock)Holding the records for the world's fastest cat and fastest land animal, cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) can reach spee ...read more
Natural disasters, such as tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, floods and volcanic eruptions, have caused devastating effects. However, human-caused disasters can have equally devastating impacts on the lives of countless people. Here are five of the biggest human-caused disasters to occur in modern history. 1. Chernobyl Disaster(Credit:JoRanky/Shutterstock)In 1986, an explosion at the Number 4 nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant released massive amounts of radioactive ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine