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November 8, 2015
Watch Two Guys Fly Their JETPACKS Alongside A Plane
Photo credit:
XDubai/Emirates
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s some viral marketing!
This insane video features French “Jetman” Yves Rossy and his daredevil protégé Vince Reffet. Rossy is no stranger to crazy jetpack stunts, he flew over the Grand Canyon on a jetpack four years ago and has previously been seen flying around the skies of Dubai.
This Robot Will Let Kids In Hospital Explore Zoos Through Virtual Reality
Photo credit:
Robots for Good, courtesy of Richard Hulskes.
A community called “Robots for Good” has come together to help kids stuck in Great Ormond Street Hospital in London visit the zoo. If the name hasn’t given it away, the project involves robots, but perhaps not in the way you might be thinking.
What On Earth Was This Mysterious Light In The Sky Above The West Coast Last Night?
Photo credit:
Image by Jack Fusco http://www.jackfusco.com/
Last night a mysterious light lit up the skies over California, leaving people as far east as Louisiana perplexed. What was that weird blue glow in the sky? Naturally, there was some speculation that perhaps the light was a UFO or even a meteor - but in reality it was the launch of a Trident II (D5) missile by the U.S. Navy.
November 7, 2015
Archaeologists Believe They Have Found Mysterious Concealed Chambers Inside Tutankhamun’s Tomb
Photo credit:
Jim Zuckerman
Despite being one of ancient Egypt’s most famous queens, researchers still don't agree on where Queen Nefertiti was buried. Earlier this year, archaeologist Dr. Nicholas Reeves suggested her long-lost tomb is hidden within the burial chamber of King Tutankhamun. Now his theories may be proven true, as infrared scans have shown the possible location of a concealed chamber.
November 6, 2015
What We’re Reading
Settle in for a long read this week....
Hope you don’t have too many weekend plans, because NCSE found a lot of interesting articles this week. Here are some of them. Feel free to share articles that crossed your screen in the comment section, or e-mail us directly during the week with things that caught your eye. We’ll add the best to our weekly posts.
An Evolutionary Basis for Allergies, The Scientist, October 29, 2015 — Understanding the evolution of the human immune system let researchers track down one reason we may get allergies (and why parasites may be good for us).
Alabama’s Hidden Role in Darwin's Theory of Evolution, AL.com, October 29, 2015 — The only state that requires science textbooks to have a disclaimer about evolution played a role in the development of Darwin's theory of evolution—via the geologist Charles Lyell. Says a modern paleontologist, “The fact that Lyell was here in Alabama, looking at what we are looking at today[,] is really cool.”
A Venomous Fight Among Reptile Scientists, The Atlantic, November 2, 2015 — Ed Yong explores a scientific den of vipers, the fascinating and contentious battles over how venomous reptiles got their bite. Where did venom come from? As herpetologist Brian Fry explains: “They aren’t magically created by the toxin fairy. They evolve.” But did venom evolve once, or many times, and how do scientists address those sorts of questions?
Religious Rants in the Classroom, Slate, November 2, 2015 — Zack Kopplin, an NCSE Friend of Darwin award winner, displays his impressive reporting skills in a sobering story of Christian proselytizing run rampant at a Louisiana public high school.
Exxon Mobil May Be Investigated for Willfully Funding Climate Change Denial, Gawker, November 2, 2015 — Exxon Mobil’s funding of anti-science groups to dispute the scientific consensus on climate change is finally catching up with it. Having been outed recently for knowing about the science of climate change for years while simultaneously funding groups that undermined and attacked scientists and the scientific consensus, politicians are now calling for an investigation into Exxon’s activities. Where will it lead? Only time will tell.
Can UN Climate Talks Catch Up With the Real World? Reuters, November 4, 2015 — A UN deal to curb global warming continues to be effectively structured around 1990’s national income levels and understandings of climate change. The article discusses the importance of involving developing nations as key players in reducing carbon emissions, rather than sticking with old models that focus more completely on utilizing financial resources from developed nations.
New Giant Raptor the Largest Ever with Wing Feathers, Discovery News, November 4, 2015 — Another exciting find out of the famous Hell Creek formation in South Dakota: not only a new raptor, but a new 17-foot-long raptor with evidence of feathers. The article comes complete with a great illustration that looks nothing like the popular depictions of dinosaurs even twenty years ago.
How to Explain Climate Change to Teens, Grist, November 6, 2015 — A reporter from Grist follows Wen Lee, an Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) presenter, to a high school assembly where Lee tells the students about the science and consequences of climate change, while giving them the tools to change the future.
Obama Rejects Construction of Keystone XL Oil Pipeline: The New York Times, November 7, 2015 — It turns out hell froze over. Brrr.
Photo credit: Photo by Ramchand Bruce Phagoo (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Brain Responds To Driving Routes Repeatedly
From the backseat of a cab, the moves a driver makes may at times seem, let’s say, daring. In fact, cabbies may actually be better, more agile drivers than the rest of us. Because they know their streets so well.
Previous research found that the hippocampus in the brain of a typical cab driver is enlarged. That’s the part of the brain used in navigation. But now a study confirms that learning detailed navigation information does indeed cause that part of the brain to grow. The findings are in the journal NeuroImage. [Timothy A. Keller and Marcel Adam Just, Structural and functional neuroplasticity in human learning of spatial routes]
Researchers had young adults who were not regular gamers play a driving simulation game. Some practiced maneuvering the same route 20 times, while other players were confronted with 20 different routes. The participants’ brains were scanned before they performed the simulated driving and again after.
Researchers found that subjects who kept repeating the same route increased their speed more than those driving multiple routes. The single-route drivers were also much better able to put in order a sequence of random pictures taken along the way and to draw a map of the route.
The investigators also found increases in the single-route drivers in the functional connectivity between the hippocampus and other parts of the brain involved with navigation. And the amount of change was directly related to the amount of improvement each participant displayed.
These findings may explain why your Uber driver can eventually get you from point A to point B, but may lack the seemingly effortless mental flexibility that a yellow cabbie displays on the streets. Veterans have been there, done that—and their brains show it.
—Erika Beras
(The above text is a transcript of this podcast)
Hubble Spies Ancient Dead Stars At The Heart Of The Milky Way
Photo credit:
A dense collection of stars as seen by Hubble. NASA/ESA/STScI/SWEEPS Science Team
Billions of years ago what would eventually be the Milky Way galaxy began to form. Young, hot, Sun-like stars within the galactic center were some of the first stars and as such, laid the foundation for what would be our galaxy. The majority of these first residents of our galaxy have long since burned out, leaving behind smoldering stellar cinders known as white dwarfs. Locked away within the dying embers of these “dead stars” is a fossilized account of our galaxy’s earliest history.
What It’s Like To Live In A Town That Needs Its Own Polar Bear Jail
Photo credit:
Polar bear waiting for the ice to freeze near Churchill. Kt Miller/PBI
For our final piece celebrating Polar Bear Week, we thought we’d turn our attention to the polar bear capital of the world: Churchill. A former fur trading post then turned military base on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay, Canada, the settlement is now one of the few towns in the world where the bears can be observed in the wild. Only accessible by train or plane, at the height of the season bears can often outnumber people.
Why High Intensity Training Can Be As Effective As Longer Exercise
Photo credit:
Medicine ball push-ups. ostill/Shutterstock
Researchers from Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute have discovered how high-intensity interval training (HIIT) can deliver similar health benefits to prolonged endurance exercises. HIIT is an exercise strategy that alternates short, intense anaerobic activity with a less intense recovery period.
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