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Repetitive Sounds can be Music to Your Ears

Music includes a lot of repetition of lyrics, but recent studies show that repetition of any sound could be melodious. A team of psychologists, at the University of California, collected around 20 different environmental sounds, like dripping water. Then, they had played it twice: first, individually and then, in a series with increasing repeats. The team had found that as the repeats start to increase, the sounds became more tuneful. The conclusion was that repetition had affected not only speech but any sound in its ability to make a sound seem good. The experiment raises the question that how and why does this happen, as the sound itself does not change, only the interpretation made by the mind.
SOURCE: https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/repetitive-sounds-are-music-to-the-brain/

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DNA Techniques for Facial Recognition Technology

Early tests in vide-omics, or the use of genomic (DNA sequence) analysis to in videos, have demonstrated potential for better facial recognition technology. Despite its purpose to develop a safer and more secure society, today’s facial recognition system continues to make false matches between suspects of crimes and members of crowds. Furthermore, they continue to remain limited to specific tasks in relatively controlled environments such as detecting trespass on a given property. However, researchers have discovered a similarity between genomic analysis and visual surveillance: both require the study of the evolution of a setting over time through the investigations of changes that have occurred in that setting. Researcher Jean-Christophe Nebel suggests that bio techniques used for genomic analysis can be applied to videos. Overall, if DNA techniques are applied to videos, engineers can develop better facial recognition technologies.
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dna-techniques-could-transform-facial-recognition-technology/

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Supermalaria: A new Super Villian

Malaria has been one of the most infamous and harmful diseases that has affected people, and hopefully, it will be eradicated in the future. However, what scientists call a “supermalaria” parasite has been spreading across Southeast Asia and is resistant to artemisinin, a treatment for the disease. In recent years, death by malaria has been falling with help from the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) funding, but there may be a 44 percent cut if Congress does pass it. Although this “supermalaria” may have developed, this should not be a surprise because diseases do change and mutate. It’s varying form will always force scientists and researchers to find a new treatment, as well as help communities, to protect themselves from this disease. If malaria and its future strains are to be eradicated, more research, finding, and a cumulative effort are required to help achieve this.
Source: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/supermalaria-is-on-the-way/

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Electric Eel-Inspired Devices Could Power Artificial Organs

A device to be used to power electrical devices in the body has been invented by scientists inspired by electric eels. Their first prototype runs on salt and water, but they hope to have them running on bodily fluids in the future. The electric eel, or knifefish, which can discharge up to 600 volts of electricity with special cells called electrolytes. Thomas Schroeder, a chemical engineer, and his team mimicked the anatomy of these cells and 2,500 of these units stacked on each other to copy the eel's organs in which electrolytes appear. The team wants to try to make the organ-like battery even better by making the membrane on each cell even thinner like an eel's organs and cells to be able to discharge a higher amount of volts. They also want to be able to mimic the way eels use their metabolic energy to aid in replacing the use of salts and water with bodily fluids. In conclusion, scientists are trying to improve on an artificially created organ that was inspired by electric eels.
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/electric-eel-inspired-devices-could-power-artificial-human-organs/

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Why Fractions Are So Complicated for Most Americans

In a study, it was shown that only 24% of eighth graders could accurately answer basic fraction equations. Studies similar to this led to the conclusion that, unfortunately, U.S. children do worse on these problems compared to children studying in Europe or Asia. There are two main types of difficulty: inherent and culturally contingent factors. Inherent difficulties include notations to express fractions, relations between whole numbers and fractions, and the different arithmetic operations to use. Culturally contingent factors include explanations of teachers, the language in which fractions are taught, and the way textbooks present the problems. So, what can be done about the fact that many children and adults do not fully understand fractions? To start, teachers should maintain a more complex understanding of fractions, the subject can be taught with clearer methods, and textbooks can present more challenging problems.In response, a program called "Fraction Face-off!" was designed to help improve the knowledge of fractions in children from low-income backgrounds.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fractions-where-it-all-goes-wrong/

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Bacteria May Regulate Blood Pressure Through Smell Receptors

Jennifer Pluznick was studying kidneys when she discovered a smell receptor; a protein that did not seem to have any purpose in the function of kidneys. However, as she studied the smell receptor with her team, she found out that it receives messages from the gut microbiome, a symbiotic bacteria that live in the intestines, and that the microbiome works with the kidney and blood vessels to manipulate the flow of blood. The smell receptor responds the acetate and propionate that are released by bacteria when digesting fiber by in turn creating renin, a hormone that makes blood vessels smaller to increase blood pressure. The smell receptor found in the kidneys is not the only protein of its type with this job. There is another receptor present in blood vessels that alternatively lower blood pressure by making the vessels larger. Overall, Pluznick discovered that bacteria create acetate and propionate to induce the two smell receptors to help control blood control and flow or blood pressure.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-bacteria-may-help-regulate-blood-pressure/

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The Skills Of Success Every year, Bloomberg, a global finance company, runs a comprehensive survey of recruiters to find out what skills are in demand by employers, and are hardest to find in potential employees. The most recent survey revealed the need for six key skills to create the foundation necessary for people to be informed, next-generation citizens and global leaders: analytical thinking, strategic thinking, creative problem solving, leadership skills, collaborative work styles, and communication skills. The International Baccalaureate (IB) makes it a priority to teach students how to learn, and development of the six skills identified in the Bloomberg report is a big part of that effort. GEMS leaders believe these skills, as brought to life in the IB, position students to take on important global leadership challenges in the years to come.
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/weird-news

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Antifreeze Molecules Could Allow Organs to Freeze at a Slower Rate Scientists have found antifreeze molecules within wood frogs, Arctic fish, and other organisms that allow them to live in the cold. These molecules are related to a protein in the organisms and scientists experimented with this protein on rats to see if it could function in all organisms. Through their experiments on rats, they discovered that the process of obtaining these proteins is very expensive and can be extremely toxic to some species. Thus, they worked to create a new molecule that had a similar antifreeze function as the protein. It has both water repellent and water-loving molecules to stop ice crystals from forming in the organs. This new molecule, inspired by the antifreeze protein, has the potential to save many organisms from having their organs freeze since it is potentially nontoxic to most organisms.
Source: https://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/34190/title/Icing-Organs/

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The Waltz: A Once Forbidden Dance

People today are familiar with the waltz, which has become a holiday traditional dance. However, a surprising fact about this dance is that it started out as a form of rebellion by teenagers in the ballrooms of Vienna many years ago. It caused indignation and brought about changes in European society. By the late 1700s, the waltz was spreading throughout Europe and was adopted quickly, except for elders and conservatives. Despite these criticisms, the popularity of the waltz led to the opening of the first public dance hall in Europe and other nations following soon after. Soon, the waltz spread to the United States after the Civil War, creating American versions of the dance. The waltz was a widely enjoyed activity, all the way up to the 20th century.
Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/magazine/2017/11-12/history-waltz-dance-vienna/

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DNA Going Digital

Recently, biology has become more digitized, meaning computers can be used for things such as analyzing DNA and operating equipment. This modernization, though, can lead to several risks, including the vandalization of machines and creation of dangerous materials. For example, in 2010, a nuclear plant in Iran was found to have a harmful computer virus which attacked all equipment controlled by computers. Today scientists are also able to chemically make synthetic DNA which is almost as easy to mess with as written documents are and it can be destructive. Not all digitalized biotechnology is harmful, seeing that they help scientists and researchers follow experiments and discover new information. Either way, the security of the digital DNA interface is important to think about.
Source: https://www.livescience.com/61131-digital-dna-cyberbiosecurity-risks.html

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To the Moon and Beyond!

NASA and the ESA are holding conferences to discuss plans about a future project that will create an outpost that will succeed the current International Space Station. It will be called the Deep Space Gateway and is planned to be planned and built in 2020s although no concrete fundings have been provided yet. However, there have been many proposed outlines and possible experiments that may take place in the new space station. Scientists nd researchers are working on a plan to allow the satellite to orbit the moon and hope to use it to help future explorations to Mars as well as further the development of science. The array of experiments that could be carried out seem endless from learning about Earth’s magnetic field to seeing how space affect a human’s physiology to planetary studies. Overall, one profound impact would be the easy-access of the Moon; scientists on the space station can easily retrieve rock samples as well as learn more about the known water sources found on the Moon. Who knows what lies ahead of us.
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-want-in-on-humanity-rsquo-s-next-big-space-station/

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How Other Countries Deal with Net Neutrality

The Federal Communications Commission has a decision to make in December 2017 to change the principle of open internet, known as net neutrality. Net neutrality is the principle that internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications without favoring or blocking a website. There have been debates on whether or not to keep or deny internet freedom. Before internet freedom, there were various issues of blocked pages and even no pages being accessible to users on certain networks. To remedy this, the FCC established the Open Internet Order; to remove it would undo the very idea of net neutrality. There is still indecision on whether net neutrality should be removed in the U.S.

Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-other-countries-deal-net-neutrality-180967558/

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The Joy In Music Compositions Songs evoke happiness or sadness, anger or despair, or positive or negative emotions. But how is this feat accomplished? Scientists have performed a study on music compositions to determine what factor a song plays in emotion. They did this by using labMT to analyze words and whether it brings out positive or negative emotions. They, then, had corresponded the positive words with the notes. The conclusion was that major and seventh chords had a high correlation with positive feelings.
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/have-scientists-found-a-secret-chord-for-happy-songs/

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Too Much Intelligence Can Be Harmful People with high IQs are shown to succeed more than others in academic environments and workplaces. Also, they tend to have a longer life span and healthier lives. Contrary to that, a study published by researcher Ruth Karpinski and her colleagues found that these people are prone to suffer from various disorders. Karpinski proposed the hyper brain/body theory to explain the association of "psychological and physiological overexcitabilities," or OEs, with being highly intelligent. These OEs include a susceptibility to worry and stress more. However, since this study was taken among people in Mensa, it cannot be concluded yet that high intelligence is the cause of the disorders. Although these findings do promise further research on the link between intelligence and health, people with higher IQs should watch their health carefully.
Source:https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bad-news-for-the-highly-intelligent/

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Wax Worms Inspire the Development of Waste-Degrading Tools People create approximately 300 million tons, or 600 million pounds, of plastic trash each year. About half of this trash is deposited in landfills, which pollutes the Earth's oceans. However, researchers in Spain and England have discovered that the wax moth's larvae can efficiently deteriorate polyethylene, which many plastics are made of. Studies show that 100 wax worms can degenerate 92 milligrams of plastic in 12 hours, and a wax worm grub paste could degrade about 13% of plastic films after being pasted for 14 hours. The reason the wax worms are so effective at degrading the plastic is that they have evolved a mechanism that allows them to break down plastic into a by-product, ethylene glycol. In the future, scientists plan to research how this mechanism works and then use their findings to eliminate the plastic in landfills and in the ocean.
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/plastic-eating-worms-could-inspire-waste-degrading-tools1/

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Artificial Glaciers Water the Himalayas Due to climate change, glaciers have shrunk and rainfall and temperatures became unpredictable in areas near the mountains, like the region of Ladakh in India. Two years ago, in 2015, $125,000 was raised to build a 64-foot tall "ice-stupa." This is an artificial glacier that spouts water from mountain streams like a geyser. It was created to stay frozen until it gets warmer for the sun to melt it. Each ice-stupa supplies about ten million liters of water per year, enough to irrigate 25 acres of farmland. This method has been spreading across mountains all over the world. At the time being, water shortage is a major issue and it might disable future generations from farming. If the local farmers start adapting to climate change now, they would be greatly assisting their descendants.
Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/04/explore-desert-glaciers/

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Mounted Laser Weapons Developed By US Military After the successful test of a laser weapon mounted on a helicopter against an unmanned target, the United States military has installed a weapon of this kind on other helicopters. This test took place at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, with the laser mounted on an Apache AH-64 helicopter. The newly mounted weapons will help increase the accuracy of the Army helicopters. Unlike expensive bombs that can only be used one time, the cost of the lasers is expected to very low in the long-term, around $1 a shot. In addition to the low cost, the lasers can also increase the power of the U.S. military and help soldiers fight with less risk. However, they might not be immediately used in combat because they need clean air to operate in, which renders them useless in desert areas.
Source: http://www.militaryaerospace.com/articles/2017/12/laser-weapons-uavs-ballistic-missiles.html

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Taking Control of Our Lives

Social media has recently become a seemingly essential part of our lives: to communicate, to gather and plan events, to look for the next headline, to promote businesses, to use for the greater good of mankind. Although it seems we may know ourselves, in this day and age, it seems that the people around us know who we are, but machines that use data points and information about our personal lives know us best. So what are the causes? Humans have vulnerabilities such as a desire to have a high social status. This is why when we receive a like or a comment from a Facebook post, our brains unconsciously tells us that this is a reward, causing us to be addicted and even be controlled by social networks. These companies such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram realized this desire to fit in and to be respected by our peers because we are in a sense self-centered whether we like to be or not. This is why we notice our names being called even when we are situated in a noisy environment. But if we truly want to understand ourselves and not be manipulated by social networks, we have to be self-conscious about the effects they have on our lives and outlook of ourselves.
Source: Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-social-networking-sites-controlling-your-mind/

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The Effects of High Salt Intake on Your Diet and Weight We commonly hear that consuming too much salt can lead to high blood pressure, but there's more than just that to salt. A new study by Kento Kitada and his colleagues demonstrates that in addition to increasing a person's blood pressure, salt can have other effects on the human body. For one, excess salt can make you hungrier, which causes thirst and ultimately increases your fluid intake. This increases urine output to flush the sodium out of the body. In addition, when humans eat a lot of salt our bodies break down fat and muscle tissue to produce water, a process also seen in camels. In doing this, our bodies burn extra energy, which in turn increases our hunger in another way. These facts might make it seem as though eating more salty food could help with losing weight; however, the fat that is broken down during the process of making water is not the type of fat that contributes to weight loss. Instead, the breakdown of this specific fat can result in a high amount glucocorticoid hormones in your body, which are linked to a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes. You are also at a higher risk of eating more calories than necessary because of your increased appetite. Thus, this study does not prove that there is an effective correlation between high salt intake and weight loss.
Source: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/health-fitness/weight-loss/how-salty-foods-affect-hunger-and-weight-loss?page=1

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Our Biological Clocks Helping Our Hearts

Our bodies have internal clocks, which regulate the circadian rhythm that helps us to function properly, know when to sleep, eat certain foods, and behave in particular ways. Recently, researchers have discovered that patients who had open-heart surgery in the afternoon were better off than those who had operations in the morning; they had half the risk of a major cardiac event than their morning counterparts. These findings have been the latest supporting evidence that our biological clocks in play with the time of the day play an important role not only in our daily lives and activities, but also in the effectiveness of various medical treatments. As for the reason behind the better outcomes, gene expression varies throughout the day, causing different outcomes, such as causing a person’s heart to heal quicker and refill it with blood, as well as tissue changes in the body. Now, scientists are attempting to test whether this gene expression can be controlled and activated no matter the time of day by manipulating a gene that appears a lot or less during the day. Hopefully, developing such a process may help open-heart surgery patients.
Source:Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-heart-surgery-may-be-better-in-the-afternoon/

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Advances in Electromagnetic Technology Strengthen Chinese Military As the United States has taken steps to increase the use of electromagnetic technologies in the military, China has taken similar steps to compete with the US. However, the United States' efforts have declined, and China is now bypassing the US in terms of electromagnetic technology with their development of the railgun. A railgun is a weapon that repels objects by using an electromagnetic force. They are not easy to manufacture as it is difficult to scale them and make the barrel durable enough for multiple firings. According to General Mao, a weapon like the railgun could decrease the use of guns and canons. China is also working on other breakthroughs in key areas of electromagnetic applications like electromagnetic-assisted launch system (EMALS) catapults. It is likely that the Chinese aircraft carrier CV-18 will be equipped with EMALS catapults. This will allow China's Navy to more capably shoot down stealth aircraft and ballistic missiles, or bombard enemy ships and land targets from hundreds of miles away.
Source:https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/11/technology-breakthrough-will-let-chinas-aircraft-carrier-use-electromagnetic-jet-launching-system.html

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China Working To Achieve Intercontinental Hyperloop Train China's Aerospace Science and Industrial Corporation (CASIC) may achieve the creation of a hyperloop system before Ellon Musk does. CASIC announced on August 30th their plans for an intercontinental hyperloop train that could reach a top speed of over 2,300 miles per hour. Musk's initial proposal called for a 745 miles per hour hyperloop to connected Los Angeles and San Francisco. Currently, the fastest bullet trains, in Germany and China, have top speeds in the range of 180-250 miles per hour. This means that China may possibly have the ability to achieve hyperloop. China's advances in power generation, magnetic and propulsion technology, and material sciences should enable them to make further advances in superconductors, energy efficiency, civil aviation, and military technology. The Chinese might be working toward the creation of technology that the United States has not even attempted to achieve.
SOURCE: https://www.popsci.com/china-hyperloop

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How Turtles Hibernate Underwater Being an ectotherm, a cold-blood animal, a turtle's body temperature changes with that of its environment, so if it is 1° Celsius outside, the turtle's body will also be that temperature. When going into hibernation, turtles depend on stored energy and oxygen in the pond water they are in, which they take in through their butts; this is called cloacal respiration. However, even ectothermic animals have their temperature limits. Most turtles cannot survive in freezing temperatures, so they hibernate in fresh water. Biologists observed the turtles to find out that they can survive in cold temperatures only for about 100 days. It is important to understand how turtles adapt to different climate changes since recently they are at a risk of going extinct.
https://www.livescience.com/61018-turtles-breathe-through-butt.html

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Intelligence Versus Critical Thinking Intelligent people might do dumb things from time to time. Intelligence, typically measured in IQ, is different from critical thinking as the latter is the ability to think rationally and the former is the ability to memorize equations, vocabulary, and so on. Intelligent people are often mistook to be successful in life, however that is not the case. According to a study performed by professor Heather A. Butler, critical thinkers experienced fewer negative life events such as having debt, forgetting an exam, and so on. Not only is critical thinking a significant skill for the future but it can also be improved if lacking, whereas intelligence is predominantly predetermined by genetics. Critical thinking, therefore, is as, if not more, important than intelligence.
SOURCE: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-smart-people-do-foolish-things/

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Super Eyes of a Bird

As much as we have improved on eye technology, none of those inventions could help humans compete with the superior eyesight of many birds of prey. This is mostly due to the fact that these birds' eyes have unique anatomic features. For example, while a human only has one fovea, raptors, birds of prey, have two. The foveas are lenses in the eye that magnify a bird's vision, which is mostly related as to how they can espy food from miles away. Also, raptors have been thought to obtain the ability to perceive UV light for years. For airborne predators who scrutinize grounds for prey, this can be beneficial. However, it turns out not all raptors possess this attribute.
https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/news-posts/birds-of-prey-rely-on-super-sight-to-hunt

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The Reason Why We're All So Attracted to Facebook Ads

Almost everyone has been targeted and lured by ads, whether it be on social media or television commercials. Focusing on Facebook, the ads there gives off a vibe of familiarity by popping up in the middle of your feed and showing names of family members or friends who have pressed the like button for that product. However, people tend to be less trustworthy, looking for verbal hints to affirm that a product is real and worthy. The two major verbal hints are "technology" and "new." Those words give an illusion to the consumer that they are buying something superior to others, and this often makes them pleased with their purchase for the long-term. It's pretty difficult for anyone to be immune to these infamous advertisements.
https://www.popsci.com/psychology-facebook-product-ads#page-4

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Earth's Rotation Slowing Down

According to new research, the rotation of the Earth may slow down a little next year, which can result in an increase in earthquakes. Since 1900, there were about 15 earthquakes with a magnitude above six per year, but there were periods when this number rose to 35 earthquakes. Geophysicists found that these periods aligned with the times that the earth spun slower and the days were longer. According to data, the planet "is entering a period of prolonged slower rotation" and "next year could see more quakes." This information can be useful to know beforehand in order to perform construction and do city-planning with earthquake-safe techniques. Plus, it does not take a major change in the rotation to have an effect on the Earth's interior stress.
https://www.livescience.com/60989-slow-earth-rotation-triggers-earthquakes.html

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Talking on the Phone Makes People Selectively Attentive While Driving Every day, people are always talking on their smartphones. A recent study, proven by older experiments, has shown that being glued to your smartphone will make you miss a lot of information. For example, talking on the phone while driving causes drivers to ignore hazard signs, because when people talk on the phone, they visualize the other person’s environment and actions. This visual component taps into resources needed for accurate visual perception, which makes the driver miss out on details such as stop signs and speed limit signs. This is proven by the “invisible gorilla” experiment, which shows that while an observer is trying to count the amount of passes a group makes in a basketball game, they will not notice a gorilla walk by, because they draw upon resources to count the basketball passes, ignoring other visuals. This can be related to phone calls and distracted driving; because the driver is distracted, they have a higher likelihood to get into an accident.
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/5-vital-things-you-cant-do-properly-when-youre-on-your-phone/

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A Possible New Way of Curing Obesity

Obesity may be "curable" with the injection of a protein. Scientists have discovered that a protein called GDF15 can be abundantly found in lean animals more than it can be found in fatter creatures. Scientists have injected this protein into fatter creatures, which slimmed them down without any side-effects. In addition, after taking the injection, animals have been seen to prefer a low-fat diet. As this protein has worked on animals, scientists are optimistic to test on humans. However, the safety of doing so is murky.
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-zero-in-on-a-new-target-for-obesity/

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Tech Company Offers Employees Microchip Implants

A Wisconsin-based technology company, Three Square Market, announced on Thursday that it will be offering its employees the chance to be micro-chipped with radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips into their hands. Roughly the size of a rice grain, this chip acts as a credit card ID badge inside of the employee's hands. It can be used for accessing multiple features throughout the office, and uses the same near-field communication technology found in programs like Apple Pay. Chief Operating Officer Patrick McMullan says that this could just be another payment and identification option that can be used not only in their markets, but other stores and centers.
Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/employees-tech-company-microchipped_us_5975ffa9e4b0e79ec19abdff?section=us_weird-news

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Scientists Detect Mysterious Radio Signals from Deep Space

An initiative set up by scientists in order to find intelligent life in the universe has detected a series of mysterious radio signals from a dwarf planet 3 billion light-years away. The organization known as Breakthrough Listen used instruments at the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia to observe that location over the span of 5 hours on Saturday, detecting 15 bursts over the 4 to 8 GHz frequency band. The organization stated that possible explanations for fast radio bursts (FRBs) range from outbursts from rotating neutron stars with extremely strong magnetic fields, to more speculative ideas that they are directed energy sources used by extraterrestrial civilizations to power spacecrafts. Earlier this year, researchers from Harvard speculated that these radio bursts could be "beams set up by extragalactic civilizations to potentially power light sails." Several other scientists have other theories on this; how they are caused remains up for debate. The organization said more information will be presented in an upcoming article to be published in a scientific journal.
Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/deep-space-radio-bursts_us_59a7bbcbe4b07e81d35530b7?section=us_weird-news

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Mysterious Object Makes Waves On Rhode Island Beach

People first noticed a bizarre object - which looks a little like a giant metal starfish with eight legs - several weeks ago off the shore of Westerly, Rhode Island. Being embedded six feet underwater, an excavator was called on Thursday to dig up the object. The excavator wasn't able to unearth it in one piece, but did enough to show that it had a circular base with metal poles that lead to a single point at its top. No one was able to tell what this strange object actually was; a suggestion by a 12-year-old boy was that it could be a UFO! Other theories, however, were a little less fanciful. Archaeologist Stephen Carini had his own theory: "Well, it's not that mysterious. It's been here forever, you know," Carini told WFSB-TV. "It's been marked by a buoy for the past several years. It's a big piece of concrete and metal that they used probably as a buoy, for rescue rafts where there were shipwrecks here back then." It may be a while before the public discovers what the object really is.
Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/westerly-rhode-island-mysterious-object_us_59a9aa0ce4b0354e440a50bf

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Tourists Stranded as Protesters Block Path to Machu Picchu

The PeruRail train, that takes thousands of people to the famed Inca City of Machu Picchu, Peru, has been blocked by protesters, leaving many tourists stranded. The protests, unrelated to the tourists, concerned the government and raises; one such group of protesters were some 20,000 teachers demanding raises in pay. The government dispatched about 1,000 riot police, state news agency Andina reported. PeruRail has suspended rail services Wednesday and Thursday, however, they are promising to refund or reschedule the money for the tickets already bought. A similar situation had happened last year, which caused the rail service to be shut down for several days.
Source: http://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-tips/travel-warnings/protesters-machu-picchu-peru

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Correlation Between Sleeve Length and Hospital Infections Every day, people attend their biannual health checkups to find out if there are any anomalies in their health. However, it has recently been shown that doctors, too, are a source of infections. A study, with 34 healthcare workers participating, required its participants to examine a mannequin for a "cauliflower mosaic virus" four times, twice with long sleeve and twice without. Results show that twenty-five percent of the simulations when wearing long sleeves had the virus on their sleeves, compared to zero percent when wearing short sleeves. Not only have they contaminated their sleeves, but about five percent of the workers who wore long sleeves had also contaminated the mannequin. Despite such results, researchers still have to experiment on whether or not short sleeves will have an effect on the number of infections spread in a hospital.
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/long-sleeves-on-doctors-white-coats-may-spread-germs/

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Fighting Illegal Animal Trafficking Around the globe, illegal wildlife trading is a constant threat. A team of biologists decided to understand and address this concept by investigating the slow loris trafficking. These animals are one of many to be illegally poached and hunted for several reasons such as medicine, food, and to be made domesticated pets. Unfortunately, this study needed more information on the effects of human behavior and society on the complex idea of trading wildlife. Future studies, though, could bring research to provide plans of action to decrease the impact of wildlife trading and pass laws that could possibly save and conserve many of their lives.
Source:https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/research-posts/a-new-approach-to-combating-illegal-wildlife-trafficking

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China Bans the Foreign Imports of Recyclables In July 2017, China has announced its plans to ban foreign imports of recyclables and solid waste by the end of the year. For many years, China has been a dominant power that has bought recycled plastic from many countries such as the United States and Japan. Because of their reliance on China, many countries now have to come up with ways to solve their recycling and waste problems. Some solutions include: lessening the average consumer reliance on plastic, burning plastics to generate energy, and banning harmful products such as micro-beads. China’s new incentive to ban foreign waste has encouraged many countries to directly face and develop solutions to their recycling and waste problems.
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/china-bans-foreign-waste-but-what-will-happen-to-the-worlds-recycling/

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Bodies In Space Space travel not only allows scientists to see what’s floating in our little galaxy, but also allows them to see its unique effects on the body. NASA’s “Twins Study” has revealed much about it by studying astronaut Scott Kelly and his twin brother a Mark Kelly. Scott Kelly and a fellow astronaut spent a year on the International Space Station (ISS), an unprecedented mission. Chris Mason, principal investigator of the Twins Study, said, “Some of the most exciting things that we've seen from looking at gene expression in space is that we really see an explosion, like fireworks taking off, as soon as the human body gets into space.” He and his team has discovered that methylation (addition of methyl groups on DNA) processes increase which may turn off genes expressed in the person. Scientists have already known that space travel causes changes on the body at a macro level, causing muscle atrophy and decreased bone density.
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa-ldquo-twins-study-rdquo-shows-how-spaceflight-changes-gene-expression

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Betsy Ross and the American Flag Betsy Ross is well known for making the first American flag. She was first called upon by three members of a secret committee from the Continental Congress, including George Washington, who would later become the first president of the country. Ross and Washington were good acquaintances, which is partially the reason why she was chosen to make the flag. As a widow, Ross struggled in her upholstery business when General Washington provided her a rough design of the flag. Months before the Declaration of Independence was publicly announced for the first time, Ross finished the flag. The Continental Congress decided that the American flag would promote national pride and unity, with thirteen alternate red and white stripes and the union would be shown in a blue field with thirteen stars.
Source: http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagtale.html

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Intelligence Versus Critical Thinking Intelligent people might do dumb things from time to time. Intelligence, typically measured in IQ, is different from critical thinking as the latter is the ability to think rationally and the former is the ability to memorize equations, vocabulary, and so on. Intelligent people are often mistook to be successful in life, however that is not the case. According to a study performed by professor Heather A. Butler, critical thinkers experienced fewer negative life events such as having debt, forgetting an exam, and so on. Not only is critical thinking a significant skill for the future but it can also be improved if lacking, whereas intelligence is predominantly predetermined by genetics. Critical thinking, therefore, is as, if not more, important than intelligence.
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-smart-people-do-foolish-things/

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A Void Inside the Great Pyramid Due to the use of cosmic rays, a large void has been recently discovered in the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. The Egyptology community is skeptical about it because they believe that the void could just be another hole in the pyramid from construction. Researchers found the mysterious void by using muon particles, which are formed by the reaction between cosmic rays and Earth's upper atmosphere. All of the methods that the researchers utilized gave the same conclusion: the empty space was in an area that was not expected at all. There are two major opposing views on the appearance of the void. Some, like the Egyptologist Hanna, say the pyramids can be studied more in-depth through non-destructive methods. Others are more dismissive and disagree by saying that the void has nothing to do with secret rooms or chambers, and it's probably just an irregularity. Either way, in order to be completely sure about the significance of the void, there needs to be further research and investigations.
https://www.livescience.com/60842-cosmic-rays-reveal-void-great-pyramid.html

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A Peculiar Phenomenon with Light Quantum physics is a study that helps scientists understand the way particles interact with one another, and with the universe, which leads them to solving their curious interests with light. A weird phenomenon with light is their particle-wave duality, which explains light as behaving as both a wave and a particle, and that it “chooses” how it behaves. The particle-wave duality has been confirmed with the double-slit experience: when one slit is open and light passed through, light appears as a block; when two slits are open and light passed through, light scatters and appears as a gradient of light. There are also delayed experiments where light acts as a particle under certain conditions, and as a wave in others. Scientists are now examining light as it travels through space to see how it behaves. They’re doing this by sending a laser beam to various satellites in space, which then return to Earth.
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/space-based-test-proves-lights-quantum-weirdness/

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High Risk of Baldness for Short People Men who are shorter may have a higher risk of premature hair loss. An international study of over 200,000 men's genetics was conducted by leadership of the University of Bonn. Results show that premature hair loss is linked with other illnesses and diseases. In the study, researchers identified 63 changes in the human chromosome, including a chromosome for short height. However, premature hair loss only signals increased risk of getting illnesses, therefore short height does not result in an inevitable premature hair loss. Even then, there is a high change that short people may have premature hair loss.
Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170308084034.htm

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It’s Time to Go! A new version of the revolutionary computer program AlphaGo, created by DeepMind Technologies, has now been declared second best at an ancient Chinese board game called Go. AlphaGo Zero is now the dominant player after defeating its predecessor in all 100 games played. Unlike its original version of the program, AlphaGo Zero’s algorithm has taught itself how to play, and it no longer needs to be monitored and given human knowledge on the game. While it trained, AlphaGo Zero learned about Go from scratch; it learned to play against itself and anticipate the next move by applying what it learned in previous games. One intriguing thing about AlphaGo Zero is that it developed and used unconventional strategies that were rare and never before seen, such as a new series of corner sequence, known as “joseki.” This has led to the hope of developing AI that can think for itself, and AlphaGo Zero is one step closer to it.
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-versus-ai-self-taught-alphago-zero-vanquishes-its-predecessor/

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Fighting Illegal Animal Trafficking Around the globe, illegal wildlife trading is a constant threat. A team of biologists decided to understand and address this concept by investigating the slow loris trafficking. These animals are one of many to be illegally poached and hunted for several reasons such as medicine, food, and to be made domesticated pets. Unfortunately, this study needed more information on the effects of human behavior and society on the complex idea of trading wildlife. Future studies, though, could bring research to provide plans of action to decrease the impact of wildlife trading and pass laws that could possibly save and conserve many of their lives.

Source: https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/research-posts/a-new-approach-to-combating-illegal-wildlife-trafficking

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Flour, Eggs, and Firecrackers for Weapons

Antonia Gibotta, a photographer, went to Spain to capture a unique occurrence at the Els Enfarinats, a 200-year old traditional festival that has been celebrated annually on December 25th in the town of Ibi, Spain. In this festival, locals and tourists are to stage a fake coup d’état and are divided into two groups: Els Enfarinats and La Oposicio. The Els Enfarinats enforce outrageous laws and collect fines from those who don’t obey their laws, while the La Oposicio act as the police and try to secure “order.” The festival, interestingly, ends with both sides vivaciously bombarding each other with flour, eggs, and firecrackers rather than with deadly weaponry. Gibotta took photos that captured intense and powerful moments from this pretend battle at the Els Enfarinats.
Source: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2017/09/you-won_t-believe-this-bizarre-celebration-in-spain/

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Get Out of Your Parent's Basement Young adults are unable to find decent living spaces. Most living spaces are limited and very expensive for kids who are in debt after college. However, Ravi Naik has created a company called Katerra, where he is the Senior Vice President for Technology. Katerra's purpose is to create buildings and spaces quickly and efficiently. Naik said that "Katerra finished the construction of an entire first floor of a multi-unit residential building in just six hours." Katerra's revolutionary mission will change the construction business while helping young adults come out of their parents' homes and find a place of their own to call home.
Source:http://www.digitalistmag.com/digital-supply-networks/2017/09/29/builder-gets-young-adults-out-of-your-basement-05383588

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Taking Control of a Brighter Future

Communities in Brazil are now able to create their own maintainable and inexpensive power supply with the power of solar energy. For example, in a neighborhood in the city of Rio de Janeiro, the people are determined to build a better life than they previously had. They had electricity that was not affordable or reliable. The neighborhood decided to campaign new ideas that would help create leisure time and make everyday tasks much easier. Eventually, there was an answer from the Brazilian energy start-up company Insolar, who offered the residents of the neighborhood solar panels and a local solar grid. This has brought the residents many social and economic benefits along the way. Not only is this community taking control of their energy future, but it is also collaborating to provide a positive future for generations to come.
Source:https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/10/sponsor-content-bringing-communities-together-to-build-a-brighter-future/

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Why Boys Are More Prone to Autism than Girls Recently, researchers have discovered a correlation between inorganic mercury levels in blood and autistic trends. They determined that boys are more susceptible to autism because of the high levels of inorganic mercury in their blood. Boys tend to have high levels of inorganic mercury in their systems because of a high consumption of processed food, which could contain inorganic mercury. This may be linked to autism because boys have their PON1, a gene expression that contributes to cognitive learning, suppressed by the mercury consumption from their mothers’ diets during pregnancy and breastfeeding; however, this outcome does not happen to girls. The high level of inorganic mercury in the blood of boys is the reason why boys are more prone to autism than girls.
Source: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/why-does-autism-impact-boys-more-often-than-girls/

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Why the Islamic World May Have Had an Impact on the Vikings New historical evidence has suggested that interactions between the Vikings, Scandinavian warriors who roamed the sea, and Islam were greater than thought previously. While studying burial garments, Annika Larsson, a textile archaeologist, discovered that the garments were created with a form of Arabic script. It had characters signifying the “Allah,” the Arabic word for God. Past DNA tests have shown that people buried in Viking graves were originally from a dominant Islamic territory. Larsson also noted that the characters for the Arabic God were a consistent pattern on all the burial garments, indicating that the Vikings had specific connections with the Shiites, part of a branch of Islam. She made a point on how this research could possibly help clear up the fact that Vikings opposed Islam and instead personally embraced parts of the religion.
Source - http://www.history.com/news/why-are-these-viking-burial-clothes-inscribed-with-arabic-script

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Corridors in the Forest Ecologist Thomas Lovejoy conducted an experiment in the 1980s where he asked loggers, who were cutting down trees in the Brazil’s Amazon rain forest, to leave small islands of forests to observe how animals situated in them to see how they would survive. Unfortunately, even the largest “forest island” of 250 acres had the number of bird species decline in half in 15 years, meaning that other animals in smaller areas would die off due to lack of population and disease. Recently, however, there is a possible plan to slow down extinction threats which uses “corridors” to connect one fragment of a forest to another: this can help existing population to interact with each other and also provides more space and allows them to adapt to climate change. Fragmented forests that have been connected using corridors have shown to help populations survive 13 times as long as it would without the corridors. However, these forest corridors should not be the permanent plan to help solve deforestation and to stop extinction; instead, it should be used as a way to slow down the rates and provide a temporary solution to a big problem, providing time for more permanent and better solutions to take place.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/21/climate/rain-forest-corridors-species-habitats-extinctions.html

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The Mystery of Left-Coiled Snails Jeremy the Lefty Snail has passed away, but his genetic information is still alive. Jeremy became famous for his shell that had coiled left instead of right, a rare occurrence in snails. Dr. Davison discovered him and wanted to know if the cause of the left-coiled shell was due to genetics or was an accident. This would be answered through observing his offspring, but consequently, his organs also had turned counterclockwise, which made it hard to mate with right-coiled snails. Fortunately, left-coiled snails were found through the help of social media, and they were sent to Dr. Davison, who hoped to have Jeremy produce offspring, but, after the offspring was produced, it was observed that they all had right-coiled shells. Shortly after, Jeremy passed away, but his genes have been passed on and his shell has been preserved in the University of Nottingham.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/12/science/jeremy-lefty-snail.html

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3-D Printed Heart A team at ETH Zurich has 3D printed a soft, artificial heart made of silicon that beats similarly to a real heart, putting us closer to replacing damaged hearts without having to do a transplant. The team says that the heart can beat continuously for about half an hour before the materials break down, but they are working to improve the invention. The heart has a left and a right ventricle or chamber as well as a third one that acts as the heart's engine by driving the external pump; pressurized air inflates and deflates this third chamber, which drives blood through the ventricles to make the heart function. The hope is that this artificial version can eventually replace mechanical pumps that cause a risk of failure or complications within the body. With about 26 million people worldwide suffering from heart failure and a shortage of donors, this is one step closer to finding a solution.
Source: https://www.sciencealert.com/this-3d-printed-soft-artificial-heart-beats-just-like-a-real-one

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Artificial Sweeteners Connected to Weight Gain Many think that artificial sweeteners are a low or zero-calorie way to enjoy something sweet and not gain weight, but a new study proves otherwise. The Canadian Medical Association Journal recently published a report in which researchers analyzed 37 studies on artificial sweeteners. The study tested about 400,000 artificial sweeteners in 10 years, some of which were randomized controlled trials. The results showed that artificial sweeteners didn't help people lose weight. Instead, it raised the risk of health issues like weight gain, obesity, diabetes and heart disease for those who consumed the sweeteners regularly, drinking one or more artificially-sweetened beverages per day. People often assume that zero calories mean zero harm, however, this is not true.
Source: http://time.com/4859012/artificial-sweeteners-weight-loss/

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Fight or Flight… or Frozen “Fight” and “Flight” are the primitive responses in humans, however, “freeze” is another response that animals usually do. Some humans "freeze" when they are in a threatening position, but this is involuntary. "Our primitive brain takes over and immobilizes us, " says Dr. Rachael Sharman, a psychologist. When that happens, humans are reported to have little or no memory from the trauma. This can only happen when the event is so shocking or overwhelming that the brain shuts down. Basically, when it comes down to a dangerous situation, you can "fight and flight" or freeze.
Source: https://www.popsci.com/why-do-we-freeze-when-frightened

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This $18 Key Could Protect You From Hackers Hacking is a major problem on the internet, and the many people that use it seek protection from hackers, but many security methods are not very protective at all. However, Yubikey, created by Yubico, has a promising solution; it connects to a USB port of a computer and tells services like Gmail that the person logging in is not an intruder. Once plugged into a computer, it authenticates the person's identity and automatically creates a one-time-use password to log into an account, and data can not be intercepted in transit because it's a physical key. It takes just minutes to set up with services like Facebook and Google, which have an option to add it under Security Settings. Phishing, a common way for hackers to gain people's personal information by sending a malicious email pretending to be a trustworthy service, is one example of a cyber attack attempt that Yubikey works great at protecting people from. Yubikey is a great step forward in making the internet a safer place, and perhaps in the future, more promising security methods will also be available for people to use.
Source: http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/06/technology/gadgets/yubikey-security-key/index.html

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Too Focused on Protein Adults are recommended to have a daily intake of 46 grams of protein for women and 56 grams for men. Most adults eat about double the recommended amount of protein, with some hoping to give themselves more energy while avoiding sugar, carbohydrates and steering towards high protein foods that are usually only necessary for athletes. Not only can protein be found in meat but also beans, legumes, nuts, broccoli and whole grains. For everyday people to be consuming this high of an amount of protein, it can lead to long term risks or kidney damage. It is also important for people to be able to identify high protein foods and monitor their consumption of the food to keep their bodies healthy. Source-https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/28/well/eat/how-much-protein-do-we-need.html
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New Smart Windows That Save Money Researchers have developed a new, cheaper smart window, that is more durable and can dim in less than a minute. This is an updated version of a car window that typically takes about twenty minutes to dim. Moreover, this new window can save money,not only on heating and cooling, but also by eliminating the need for blinds. The windows are made of glass plates coated with a thin film of indium tin oxide, and are outlined with a liquid mixture of copper and another metal -either lead or silver. When charged with electrical current, the mixture spreads over the glass surface, blocking up to 95% of the passing light and it takes less than a minute for the window to become transparent again, allowing 80% of the light to pass through in the process. This new, updated version of a tinted window is not only economically viable, but also extremely effective in its purpose.
Source: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/08/watch-window-turn-itself-black-less-minute

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A Change in Batteries New alkaline batteries are cheaper and safer than the lithium-ion batteries we have today. The new battery is safer in that it is not prone to combustion that is regularly seen in lithium-ion batteries. The Massachusetts tech company, Ionic Materials, said that “prototypes of a rechargeable alkaline battery right now to have up to 400 recharge cycles.” Another positive outcome of this new battery is that it does not rely on cobalt which is mined in Africa and is accused of using child labor while leaving toxic waste behind. One downfall to this invention is that it cannot be recharged causing them to be inefficient in computers, smart phones or other electric vehicles. Although these new alkaline batteries would be heavier, they are safer, cheaper, and good for the environment.
Source-https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/01/technology/

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