According to a recent study published in Science Advances, a greasy hair day keeps the ice away — for polar bears, that is. After examining polar bear fur, an international research team identified what helped keep polar bears ice-free, even in sub-zero temperatures. It all comes down to their greasy fur. “This work not only represents the first study of the composition of polar bear fur sebum, but it also resolves the question of why polar bears don’t suffer from ice accumulation,” sa ...read more
Tropical lowlands that flood during the rainy season and scorch during the sunny season don’t exactly sound ideal for agriculture. But the people who lived in what is now Bolivia between 500 A.D. and 1400 A.D. turned those conditions to their advantage by engineering a system of canals to divert excess water and ponds to save it for later. By building a sophisticated irrigation network, the pre-Hispanic Casarabe society of the Llanos de Moxos produced maize year-round — ushering in a Neolith ...read more
Climate change is wreaking havoc across the globe, upending weather patterns and the Earth’s hydrological cycle with often dramatic effects on some of the largest water bodies. 2024 was the hottest year on record, and there are concerns that these pressures on the Earth’s water system are likely to increase as the climate crisis continues.One classic example is the Aral Sea. Once one of the largest lakes in the world, it has shrunk to only a fraction of its size. “In 2016, this lake was le ...read more
A sleeping giant of a volcano is stirring in its underwater bed.The volcano, tucked underneath a submerged peak called Axial Seamount, is the most active volcano in the Pacific Northwest. Seismic activity, including hundreds of small earthquakes a day, indicate an eruption may be forthcoming — perhaps by the end of 2025, according to a blog kept by Bill Chadwick, a volcanologist who’s been closely monitoring activity associated with Axial Seamount, for years.Volcano Wake-up TimeThat seismic ...read more
A feeling of relaxation. An altered sense of time and space. A slowed reaction time. These effects are all associated with cannabis, but what else do we understand about the drug’s effects on the brain? Investigating the impacts of the drug, recent research in JAMA Network Open has revealed that heavy cannabis use is associated with reduced brain activity during working memory tasks. Representing the largest of any such study so far, the research indicates that the negative outcomes that are l ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine