science

An international team successfully drilled a 1.2-million-year-old ice core from Antarctica, reaching bedrock nearly 2 miles deep at Little Dome C.

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Polar vortex disruptions, bringing Arctic air deep into the U.S., are happening more frequently due to climate change.

Earth’s temperature has surged in the past two years, and climate scientists will soon announce that it hit a milestone in 2024: rising to more than 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. But is this sudden spike just a blip in the climate data, or an early indicator that the planet is heating up at a faster pace than researchers thought?

Article is a response to the paper:

The study, conducted by Dr Demid Getik, explores how mental health is related to income make-up within couples by examining the link between annual income rises for women and the number of clinical mental health diagnoses over a set period of time.

His answer is the octopus. What say you?

Solving Problems in your sleep Based on an article from theconversation.com https://theconversation.com/can-you-sleep-your-way-to-better-decision-making-heres-what-the-science-says-242714 Comparison of Objects After a sleep session, participants were more likely to obtain information about items in a certain order, before sleep they mostly only compared the first in row https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fxge0001638 Unconsciousness solving If a task was connected to a sound and the sound got played while the participants sleeped, they solved it way faster then others after waking up https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797619873344 Discovery of hidden connections After a nights sleep, people in the study were able to find indirect links between objects more likely then those who didnt sleeped https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2314423121 Recognition of underlying structures Given a math problem, people who had a short episode of light sleep before, were able to find the hidden rule more likely https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.abj5866

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The UK’s largest dinosaur footprint site, featuring about 200 tracks, has been unearthed in an Oxfordshire quarry.

New research reveals that Florida’s manatees are not native to the state, arriving only after the Little Ice Age ended in the late 1700s, when warmer waters became available.

NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, initiative aims to deliver science and technology payloads to the Moon using commercial landers. CLPS is what brought Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lander to the Moon in February 2024, marking the first U.S. Moon landing since Apollo.

Retraction to: Nature Communications https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17687-3, published online 25 August 2020

Preprint: https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.10234

In the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, researchers found that small leaks collectively account for 72% of methane emissions from U.S. oil and gas fields, challenging the focus on “super emitters.”

Sometimes people perplex me in that some of the most fundamental things aren't known to the newer generations (albeit, some of the older ones too, but not nearly as many). Nonetheless, I bet there are people that will TIL this! And you know what, have at it, obtain that knowledge 👍

Scientists conducting a biodiversity survey in Peru's Alto Mayo region discovered 27 new species, including a blob-headed fish, amphibious mouse, and arboreal salamander. The 38-day expedition recorded over 2,000 species.

New DNA analysis from ancient bones supports the theory that syphilis originated in the Americas and spread globally through European colonization and the transatlantic slave trade.

A study that stoked enthusiasm for the now-disproven idea that a cheap malaria drug can treat COVID-19 has been retracted — more than four-and-a-half years after it was published.

Source: Scientists discover alien-like creature in deep ocean

Scientists have discovered semi-Dirac fermions, particles that bizarrely gain or lose mass depending on the direction they travel.

Researchers analyzed the 17,000-year-old remains of an Ice Age infant found in a southern Italian cave, uncovering details about his life, ancestry, and cause of death.

Archaeologists found evidence of a Bronze Age massacre and cannibalism in a Somerset pit.

Unlike reptiles and fish, which usually replace their fangs on a regular basis, it is widely accepted that humans and most other mammals only grow two sets of teeth.

This is a rather detailed investigation by folks at WSJ into the business endeavors of David Sinclair, renowned celebrity scientist at Harvard Medical School (and kind-of a known fraudster among the field)

https://archive.is/2024.12.12-213644/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/science/a-second-tree-of-life-could-wreak-havoc-scientists-warn.html

Google has made an eyebrow-raising claim, saying that its new quantum chip may be tapping into parallel universes to achieve its results.

Testosterone plays important roles in reproductive behaviour in many species. Despite a common belief that testosterone regulates fluctuations in human sexual desire, there is little direct evidence that relates within-person changes in natural testosterone production to within-person changes in sexual desire. Here, we measured daily salivary testosterone concentrations from 41 adult men for one month, along with daily self-reports of sexual desire (*n* = 759 observations for the main analyses). We analysed concurrent relationships between within-person changes in testosterone and desire, and also lagged relationships that were analysed using a continuous-time modelling framework. We found no evidence for significant, positive relationships between testosterone and desire, which argues against the notion that day-to-day changes in eugonadal men’s baseline testosterone regulates changes in their sexual desire. However, additional analyses provided preliminary evidence for a positive relationship between testosterone and self-reported courtship effort, particularly on days when single participants interacted with potential romantic partners. Our findings add original evidence regarding day-to-day associations between testosterone and desire, and suggest that testosterone above minimum threshold concentrations does not increase sexual desire. We propose that the evolved functions of testosterone in human males are more closely associated with courtship efforts than with sexual desire.

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Related article: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2024/12/04/lead-gas-worsened-mental-health-gen-x/76711191007/

Google DeepMind has developed the first artificial intelligence (AI) model of its kind to predict the weather more accurately than the best system currently in use... The system, called GenCast, is described today in Nature.

Researchers studying ageing disagree on just about everything — including what ageing is, whether it is a disease and when it starts — according to a survey of about 100 scientists working in the field.

there are multiple groundbreaking things in here, absolutely amazing article and extremely inspiring news.

Space weather experts say auroras could be visible from 10 p.m. EST Thursday to 1 a.m. Friday EST, though it’s difficult to pin down an exact window. Updated forecasts may be available as the event draws closer on NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center website or an aurora forecasting app.

The results of a recent study suggest that, if there is no deficit of the hormone, supplements are unlikely to improve a man’s libido

Monitoring plastic pollution: key elements for a science-based framework for a global plastics treaty

Dear colleagues,

Of course killing the Younglings after Mouse Order 66 was carried out wasn't a big deal since the rodent mothers do that all the time anyway.

In this study, the scientists simulated the process of spaced learning by examining two types of non-brain human cells — one from nerve tissue and one from kidney tissue — in a laboratory setting.

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A shared meal, a kiss on the cheek: these social acts bring people together — and bring their microbiomes together, too. The more people interact, the more similar the make-up of their gut microorganisms is, even if individuals don’t live in the same household, a study shows.

A new study of 35 million news links circulated on Facebook reports that more than 75% of the time they were shared without the link being clicked upon and read

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Approximately one billion women require family planning services worldwide, 842 million women are currently using modern contraceptives, and 80 million are using traditional contraceptive methods for family planning (FP). Health literacy (HL) can significantly make women aware of contraceptives for family planning. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of health education in determining perceptions and intended contraceptive use among university students in Pakistan. A pre-and post-approach with cross-sectional study design was conducted in the public sector University of Islamabad from July to December 2022. A self-administered and structured questionnaire comprising variables on knowledge level and intended contraceptive use was conducted among randomly selected students (n = 396). Survey respondents were given Health Education Intervention (HEI), which included a lecture regarding contraception use for family planning, and a posttest assessment was conducted on the same group of students. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 24 was used for statistical data analysis. An Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the Health Services Academy (HSA) approved this study. A majority, 217 (55%), were female respondents. There was a significant difference in the overall mean score between pretest and posttest assessments after the intervention. Hence, the findings proved that this intervention successfully improved the knowledge and intention of the participants to use FP. Moreover, after the HEI, 99% of respondents had improved knowledge about family planning methods and the benefits of contraceptive use. Knowledge, perceived benefits, and intended use of contraceptives for FP were significantly improved after the HEI (P < 0.05). In the posttest, the most learned methods were intrauterine devices, injections, implants, and withdrawal. Most of the participants were already well aware of condoms and oral pills. The study concludes that health education is an effective intervention to improve the knowledge, perception, and intended contraceptive use among undergraduate university students regarding family planning.

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"Exposure to short duration gravity load changes including microgravity, as sustained in a parabolic flight statistically significantly decreases the sperm motility and vitality of human fresh sperm samples," the team found, adding that this may have huge importance for any prolonged human settlement missions in space. 

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X-irradiation of blood products is an alternative for gamma-ray to prevent post-transfusion GvHD. However, commercial X-irradiators are not widely available while little is known about their safety and efficacy for platelet products. This study introduces an efficient, accessible and cost-effective “X irradiation system” for platelet concentrates (PCs). By constructing a suitable radiation box (phantom) for a clinically available linear accelerator, an “X irradiation system” was designed specifically for PCs. PCs were divided into three equal bags either exposed to X- and gamma-irradiation or kept unirradiated (control). Irradiation-induced inhibition of T cells proliferation was examined by MTT and cell cycle assays on mononuclear cells (MNCs) obtained from PCs. The inhibitory effect of irradiation on allorecognition ability of MNCs was assessed by mixed lymphocyte reaction where MTT evaluated lymphocyte proliferation responses and flowcytometry examined CD8+T lymphocytes activity. Platelet activation was also examined with P-selectin expression and PAC-1 binding by flowcytometry. X- and gamma-irradiation reduced T cell proliferation while disturbing the cell-cycle with reduced entry of T-cells into the S phase and their G2 arrest. Both types of irradiations also effectively reduced “lymphocyte allorecognition responses” while inactivating CD8+T lymphocytes in platelet products but with no significant effect on platelet activity. This is the first study that showed “X irradiation system” effectively suppresses T cell proliferation and CD8+T lymphocyte activity in platelet products, with no effect to platelet quality and activation markers. This may suggest the LINAC-based “X irradiation system” with a dose of 30Gy as efficient and safe as gamma-irradiation for platelet products.

Previous studies have reported that a potential association between exposure to outdoor light at night (LAN) and diseases. However, there is no evidence regarding the impacts of outdoor LAN exposure on lipid metabolism in humans. This study aims to evaluate the associations between outdoor LAN exposure and the prevalence of dyslipidemia, using a nationwide sample of 10,894 adults aged ≥ 45 years from 150 investigated sites across China in 2011–2012. Outdoor LAN exposure was assessed by using satellite imaging data. The prevalence ratio (PR) was calculated. The present study found that a per-quintile LAN exposure was positively associated with the prevalence of high LDL-cholesterol (PR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.04–1.16), high triglyceride (PR = 1.07, 95% CI = 1.03–1.12), low HDL-cholesterol (PR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.08–1.16), and dyslipidemia (PR = 1.06, 95% CI = 1.03–1.09). The fifth quintile of LAN exposure was associated with a significantly increased prevalence of dyslipidemia (PR = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.07–1.35) compared with the first quintile of exposure. Long-term exposure to outdoor LAN was positively associated with dyslipidemia prevalence. Public policies aimed at reducing light pollution at night, guided by the spatial distribution patterns, could lessen the adverse effects.

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