Have you ever hesitated to treat yourself to a tuna steak or a colorful sushi plate because of concerns about mercury and other heavy metals? You’re not alone — and your caution is justified. Considered one of the top ten chemicals of public health concern by the World Health Organization, mercury can cause serious medical issues, distinctly for developing fetuses during pregnancy.While eating fish regularly is encouraged for its nutritional benefits — especially during pregnancy — globa ...read more
Do nonhuman animals live in a kind of eternal present, or are they aware of the passage of time? That question has been debated by scientists for decades. Most experts agree that animals have some way of measuring time, but how their brains process time has long been a mystery. We may never know what the passage of time feels like to other animals, but researchers are beginning to discover what’s going on in the brain when animals process time.How Animals Process TimeDaniel Dombeck, a neurosc ...read more
That scratch on your arm, that scrape on your knee — they’re taking their sweet time to heal, and it’s likely the fault of your fur, or, really, your lack thereof. Testing the speed of skin healing in an assortment of animals, a team of researchers has found that skin takes a lot longer to heal in humans than it does in other primates and mammals. Publishing their results in a study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, the researchers say that the reason may be b ...read more
Every spring, Earth passes through a cosmic trail left behind by one of the most famous visitors from the outer solar system: Halley's Comet. The result is the Eta Aquarids meteor shower, a dazzling display of shooting stars that’s set to peak this year during the night of May 5, 2025 into the early hours of May 6, 2025.If you’re hoping to catch one of the best celestial shows of the season, here’s everything you need to know about the Eta Aquarids — including what causes them, where the ...read more
For some technological speculators, the universe could be considered a gold mine. But in terms of literally yielding precious metals, a more accurate description might be a factory — albeit one that operates intermittently and under both rare and extreme circumstances.Astronomers now have a much better understanding of the cosmic conditions that create gold, platinum, and other heavy elements. They’ve identified and characterized a giant flare from a supermagnetized star that may have genera ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine