The extent of sea ice around Antarctica has reached a record low level — for the second Southern Hemisphere summer in a row. This year’s low is 405,000 square miles below the 1981 to 2010 average minimum extent of sea ice around Antartica, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. That amount of ice loss is equivalent to more than half of the land area of Alaska. As Antarctic sea ice shrivels, it opens the way for waves to violently pound ice shelves that hold back the flow of gia ...read more
Cats have a reputation for being self-sufficient, especially when compared to their canine counterparts. Little bath time is required, for example, thanks to their overzealous grooming habits. They also don’t need to be taken outside for bathroom breaks multiple times per day. But make no mistake: Cats are not low-maintenance pets. Find out just how long it's okay to leave your cat alone. How Long Can Cats Stay Alone? “I would never describe any pet as low-maintenance if you’re providing ...read more
In the 2012 film Silver Linings Playbook, Pat, the main character played by Bradley Cooper, stays up all night reading Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. Enraged by the book’s ending, Pat snaps it closed, yells an expletive and throws it through the window. He then wakes his parents up at 4 a.m. to rant about it. This is an example of a manic episode. Viewer Discretion Advised: This Video Uses Strong Language While mania can impact people in different ways, those who experience manic ...read more
One of the great questions for humanity is whether we are alone in the universe. Indeed, astrobiologists appear tantalizingly close to being able to spot the signs of life on other Earths — should it exist elsewhere — using modern observatories such as the James Webb Space Telescope. Now a group of astronomers have taken this question further by asking whether life could exist in other universes. In other words, they want to know whether we are alone in the multiverse. And they have develope ...read more
Four decades ago, philosopher Hilary Putnam described a famous and frightening thought experiment: A “brain in a vat,” snatched from its human cranium by a mad scientist who then stimulates nerve endings to create the illusion that nothing has changed. The disembodied consciousness lives on in a state that seems straight out of The Matrix, seeing and feeling a world that doesn’t exist. Though the idea was pure science fiction in 1981, it’s not so far-fetched today. Over the past decad ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine