To quote Elton John, it’s lonely out in space. Luckily, the residents of the International Space Station (ISS) have an entertainment library to keep them company during their stays, which can be several months long. But some have taken issue with the cultural diet on board the ISS, complaining that our astronauts deserve a better reminder that there’s intelligent life back on Earth.
Category: Life Is Like Science Fiction
Brain regions key to cognition are smaller in older people who are obese compared with their leaner peers, making their brains look up to 16 years older than their true age. As brain shrinkage is linked to dementia, this adds weight to the suspicion that piling on the pounds may up a person’s risk of the brain condition.
Warming oceans could cause Earth’s axis to tilt in the coming century, a new study suggests. The effect was previously thought to be negligible, but researchers now say the shift will be large enough that it should be taken into account when interpreting how the Earth wobbles.
It is not a nice way to die. As the virus spreads through your lungs, your immune system goes into overdrive. Your lungs become leaky and fill with fluid. Your lips and nails, then your skin, turn blue as you struggle to get enough oxygen. Basically, you drown.
A 14-YEAR-OLD boy drank gasoline for five years to obtain “energy” – just as his idols “Bumble Bee” or “Optimus Prime” do in “Transformers,” the Sichuan-based West China Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.
After the boy, in Yibin City, southwest Sichuan Province, had watched the animated TV series, he began to drink gasoline to become a “valiant fighter” like “Optimus Prime,” his father told the newspaper.
“He began to drink gasoline five years ago, when we found he liked smelling lighter fuel,” he said.
Ronald Mitchell, 36, was airlifted to Royal Perth Hospital for burns treatment following a confrontation with police who were called to a house in Warburton, 1,540km northeast of Perth on Monday.
Mitchell ran from the house at the officers carrying a container believed to contain fuel and a cigarette lighter, police said.
He was asked to stop but continued running toward the officers.
SAN DIEGO – Thousands of jumbo flying squid — aggressive 5-foot-long sea monsters with razor-sharp beaks and toothy tentacles — have invaded the shallow waters off San Diego, spooking scuba divers and washing up dead on tourist-packed beaches.
The carnivorous calamari, which can grow up to 100 pounds, came up from the depths last week and swarms of them roughed up unsuspecting divers.
The Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Well, test results are in – and the verdict on the gooey mystery glob seen floating in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska’s northern shore is: algae.
Ed Meggert of the Department of Environmental Conservation in Fairbanks said results returned on Thursday showed it’s marine algae – a stringy batch of algae.
Miles of the thick, dark gunk had been spotted floating between Barrow and Wainwright, prompting North Slope Borough officials and the U.S. Coast Guard to investigate. View full article »
“Superhydrophobic” materials that never get wet have an Achilles’ heel, say chemists: they can fend off cold, but not hot water.
After studying this effect, the team has now designed a new material coating that can repel hot water.
Brain connections that encourage the formation of false memories have been identified. Such memories appear to be more likely in people with high-quality links between neurons in a particular brain area.
