Category: Science

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A Super-Stinger Wasp Was Discovered in the Amazon

As if regular wasps weren’t frightening enough, now you have another insect to worry about. It’s a super-stinger wasp that was discovered in the Amazon by researchers from the University of Turku in Finland.

Photo Credit: The University of Turku

The Calistoga crassicaudata has a stinger that is almost 5 millimeters long. And the way it lays eggs is really horrifying. The wasp impales its prey, usually a spider, the sting paralyzes it, and the wasp lays its eggs inside the prey. When the eggs hatch the prey dies. Thus is life in the animal kingdom…

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10 Fascinating Facts About Life in Our Universe

Our universe is FASCINATING! Fascinating, I said!

And these 10 facts prove it.

1. Lots of stuff in there

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2. Interactive

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3. The hexagon

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4. Poor Pluto

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5. Retro

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6. It’s a long way to the moon

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7. Mars

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8. HUGE

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9. Large quasar group

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10. Cool…

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Here’s the Proof. Lightning Can Strike the Same Place Twice.

“Lightning doesn’t strike twice.” It’s a phrase you hear all the time, even if someone is not referring to the weather. Well, science says otherwise.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Actually, it’s almost inevitable that lightning will strike the same place twice. As soon as a lightning bolt hits the ground, a new one is not deterred in any way, shape, or form from hitting the same spot again. A good example is lightning hitting tall buildings. Take a look at this video from the tallest building in Chicago, now known as the Willis Tower.

That night the Willis Tower was hit by 10 bolts of lightning. According to storm chaser Dan Robinson, tall buildings are most likely to be hit by multiple lightning strikes.

And what about human beings? Can they be hit more than once? The story of park ranger Roy Sullivan proves that yes, this phenomenon can occur. I remember seeing poor Mr. Sullivan in the Guinness Book of World Records as a kid for his unfortunate encounters with lightning.

Sullivan was a park ranger in Virginia who was struck by lightning an incredible 7 TIMES between 1942 and 1977, more than any other human being on record. So be careful out there during thunderstorms. You may think you’re safe, but you never know…

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Monkeys in Panama Have Just Entered the Stone Age

Researchers have observed a small group of white-faced capuchin monkeys off the coast of Panama using stone tools to break nuts and shellfish. That’s right: a group of capuchin monkeys have entered the Stone Age.

Photo Credit: YouTube

These are the fourth group of primates to use stone tools after humans. It was reported all the way back in 2004 that monkeys on the island were using stone tools. In 2017, researchers placed cameras on Jicarón Island to try to capture the act on camera, which they eventually did.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Researchers saw the group of male monkeys using tools to break coconuts, snails, and crabs. For some reason, the same behavior has not spread to other groups of monkeys or other islands off Panama’s coast. The researchers think that the monkeys’ behavior may be by chance and isn’t necessarily the expected trajectory. The other three primate groups that have already entered the Stone Age are a group of capuchins in South America, macaques in Thailand, and chimpanzees in West Africa.

Watch the video below to see the monkeys in action.

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Do You See Blue or Purple Dots? Your Answer May Be Skewed

Recently, researchers at Harvard University released a study that makes a pretty surprising revelation: our concept of “threat” and the color blue, it turns out, is all relative and is not based on hard-and-fast rules. This is how the experiment worked: the researchers showed subjects a series of dots that ranged in color from very blue to very purple. For the first 200 times, the participants saw an equal number of blue and purple dots from the color spectrum. After that, the number of blue dots gradually decreased.

Photo Credit: YouTube

By the end, the subjects’ interpretation of the colors was different: dots they thought were purple in the first experiments they now saw as blue. This happened even after researchers told the subjects that the number of blue dots would decrease and they would be paid in cash for correct answers.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

The team also had similar results when they conducted experiments about whether a face was threatening or a research proposal was unethical. Even when the rate of threatening faces or unethical proposals decreased, the subjects picked them out at the same ratio, and viewed benign faces or proposals as being threatening and unethical.

So what does it all mean? The researchers think the results might explain why so many people are pessimistic about the state of world affairs. The authors of the study believe that as social problems decrease (poverty, illiteracy) and become less common, issues that previously seemed minor or insignificant start to seem more problematic.

Take a look at this video for more information:

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Uranus Once Took a Hard Pounding

Alright, get your mind out of the gutter. The fact of the matter is that Uranus is an unusual planet in our solar system. The planet has a strange tilt and rotates around the sun on its side. Each pole of Uranus faces the Sun for 42 years before switching to the other side.

Photo Credit: Public Domain

So why does Uranus tilt? Scientists have long suspected that a major collision at some point in history caused the planet’s unusual orientation. And they were right. Astronomers at Durham University in England led an international team of researchers and studied 50 different possible impact scenarios.

Photo Credit: Durham University

The team concluded that a huge rock and ice formation twice the size of Earth hit Uranus during the formation of the solar system about 4 billion years ago. The impact caused Uranus’ tilt and also the planet’s low temperatures.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

The researchers believe that debris from the collision might act as a thermal shield and that the heat from Uranus’ interior is trapped, making the planet’s outer atmosphere very cold. The team also believes that the impact could be the explanation for Uranus’ rings and moons.

Science!

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A Study Suggests That We Might Be Alone in the Universe After All

Hollywood has loved to imagine what it will be like to discover intelligent alien life one day, as have books and comics, and most other creative mediums for as long as we can remember. Sadly, science is starting to wonder whether or not the chances are actually good that we’re not alone.

According to a new study out of Oxford University’s Future of Humanity Institute, researchers applied existing knowledge of biology, chemistry, and cosmology to the Drake equation, created by astronomer Frank Drake in 1961 in an attempt to calculate the number of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

The equation takes into consideration things like the average rate of star formation and the average lifespan of intelligent civilizations, among other things. Using Drake’s model combined with modern astronomy, the researchers at Oxford estimate there’s a 53%-99.6% change we’re alone in the galaxy and a 39%-85% chance we’re the only intelligent life to be found in the entire universe.

They’re also relying on the class Fermi Paradox, which asserts that intelligent extraterrestrial beings exist and that they should have visited earth by now. Since they have not, the conclusion is that they are “probably extremely far away and quite possibly beyond the cosmological horizon and forever unreachable.”

Others, like Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute, are dismissive of the recent claims, mainly because there remains too much unknown about the universe to make any such claims.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

“I could walk outside here in Mountain View, California, and not see too many hippos strolling the streets,” he told Mental Floss, “but it would be incorrect for me to say on that rather limited basis that there’s probably no hippos anywhere. It’s a big conclusion to make on the basis of a local observation.”

Not only is so much of the universe still shrouded in mystery, there’s also the idea that scientists and astronomers here on earth aren’t even looking for the right type of communication. So far, we examine potential radio and light signals, but there’s a chance that alien beings are trying to contact us in ways we haven’t designed yet.

The bottom line is that the truth may still be out there, just waiting for our feeble human science to catch up enough to find it.

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Turns Out Lightning Can Strike the Same Place Twice… And Here’s Evidence

“Lightning doesn’t strike twice.”

It’s a phrase we’ve all heard a time or two in our lives, and one we’ve all probably believed at one point or another. While it makes for a fine anecdote, science has other things to say.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

In fact, it’s almost inevitable that lightning will strike the same place twice. As soon as a lightning bolt hits the ground, a new one is not deterred in any way, shape, or form from hitting the same spot again. A good example is lightning hitting tall buildings. Take a look at this video from the tallest building in Chicago, now known as the Willis Tower.

That night the Willis Tower was hit by 10 bolts of lightning. According to storm chaser Dan Robinson, tall buildings are most likely to be hit by multiple lightning strikes.

But what about human beings? Can they be hit more than once? The story of Roy Sullivan proves that even that phenomenon can occur.

I remember seeing poor Mr. Sullivan in the Guinness Book of World Records as a kid for his unfortunate encounters with lightning. Sullivan was a park ranger in Virginia who was struck by lightning an incredible 7 TIMES between 1942 and 1977, more than any other human being on record. So be careful out there during thunderstorms. You may think you’re safe, but you never know…

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This Infographic Shows Where in the U.S. People Aren’t Getting Enough Exercise

Yes, the United States is a notoriously sedentary country, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise that some places are lazier than others. There’s plenty of evidence out there to support the idea that Americans spend too much time in their cars and in front of screens, but according to the CDC, physical activity rates can vary significantly from state to state.

The CDC recommends that adults take part in 150 minutes of moderate physical activity a week, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, plus 2 days a week of weight lifting or calisthenics. Countrywide, only about 23% of people between the ages of 18-64 meet these recommendations.

The infographic below draws on data from 2010-2015 National Health Interview Surveys.

There are a few things to consider, like the fact that broad recommendations don’t take into consideration people who are injured, ill, or disabled. In addition, the survey only asks about leisure time used to exercise, which doesn’t account for people who might meet the requirements with physically demanding jobs or who bike or walk to work on a daily basis.

Still. I think I’m going to go for a walk.

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10 Facts You Might Not Know About Migraines

There’s not much worse than having a terrible headache – except, perhaps, having a terrible headache that won’t go away. It’s not just a headache, either. Migraines are often associated with nausea, dizziness, fatigue, sensitivity to light and sound, and sometimes temporary blindness.

Sounds pretty awful, right?

If this is news to you, here are 10 more facts you might not have known, either.

#10. They may be hereditary.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Most people find that their migraines run in the family – between 80%-90% of sufferers say that at least one family member also has them. If one parent has migraine headaches, children have a 50% chance of dealing with them, too.

#9. They’re the 3rd most common disease in the world.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

One good reason to learn about migraines is that chances are good that someone in your life suffers – they affect 14.7% of the population, or 1 in every 7 people. That’s 39 million people, just in the US.

#8. Veterans are more likely to suffer.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

After a 12-month deployment in Iraq, one study found that 36% of returning veterans exhibited symptoms. The cause stems often from head or neck trauma sustained during service, and most go away within a few months.

#7.  Women are also more likely to suffer.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Even though women make up 50% of the population, they make up 75% of migraine sufferers worldwide. Due to laboratory research, most medical experts attribute this to the cyclical nature of female hormones.

#6. Research is underfunded.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Last year, the National Institutes of Health invested just $22 million in migraine research – while asthma, breast cancer, and diabetes receive between $286 million and $1.1 billion.

#5. Some people experience “auras” as warning signs.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Even more than nausea, dizziness, and headache arrive, some people (around 25%) experience numbness or tingling in the hands or face, or blotches of light or darkness disrupting their vision. These typically occur anywhere from 10-30 minutes before a migraine develops.

#4. It costs a lot of money annually.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Because migraines are so widespread, they do havea widespread negative societal impact. Workers take time off from jobs – some estimates say up to 113 millionwork days are missed annually, which can add up to $13 billion in costs.

#3. One rare symptom is the loss of limb function.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

It’s called hemiplegic migraine and people who experience it can have weakness, numbness, tingling, or loss or motor function in part or even half of their body. The sensations typically dissipate within 24 hours.

#2. Migraines are linked to depression.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

In the US, up to 40% of migraine sufferers also deal with depression. The risks of anxiety, bipolar disorder, and panic disorder are also elevated for people who get migraines. Researchers are still working out why the link exists, but they suspect the brain chemical serotonin, which is involved in both mental illness and migraines, may play a role.

#1. Kids can get them, too.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

10% of school-aged kids will report migraines and are reported as the third most common reason for children’s emergency room visits. They have similar symptoms, though nausea and stomach pain can often be more pronounced. The good news is that, according to one study, 23% of children will report “outgrowing” their migraines by age 25.

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