Christmas is a time full of indulgence: desserts with rich chocolate, dripping caramel sauce, and moist cakes (no soggy bottoms, please). In line with the holiday season, one research group found that the Great British Bake Off (GBBO) Christmas desserts are not as naughty as we may have feared. Firstly, why this one television show? … Read moreDon’t Worry, Some Christmas Desserts Aren’t As Naughty As You’d Think
In sports, coin tosses are often used to decide who goes first, or pick who goes to bat for the first part of the game. It seems fair. You’d assume that as coins have two sides and you introduce a random element (flipping the coin and catching it), the odds of it coming up with … Read moreCoin Tosses Are Not 50/50: Scientists Toss 350,757 Coins And Prove Old Theory
It may be odd to think about, but the strangest of the strange creatures, octopuses, may hold information related to Antarctica’s ice sheets. In a new study, scientists have examined the genes of one species of tentacular cephalopods that live in this cold environment, and they have reached some worrying conclusions. According to the paper, … Read moreOctopus DNA Reveals Arctic Ice Sheet Could Collapse Sooner Than Expected
Hunting and gathering are two subsistence roles that describe how humans used to get their food, with females typically being associated with passive gathering, while the aggressive ancient men folk were considered to have gone off and done the active hunting. Not so, says a growing body of research that shows there’s both archaeological and … Read moreFallacy Of The Female Forager Is Dead, We’ve Always Been Proficient Hunters
Just because something is a classic, doesn’t mean everybody has heard of it. You might want to give the cowgirl position a spin in the bedroom (though please dismount before you do) but aren’t quite sure how to get started; you might want an explanation that doesn’t require clicking an “I am over 18” button; … Read moreThe Cowgirl Position: What It Is And What The Risks Are
Tears in humans are not just for lubrication and the cleaning of the eyes. We shed tears also for emotional reasons. Sadness, joy, anger, or just being moved might lead to crying, but it is not obvious why humans have evolved such a capability. Or if animals could shed emotional tears. Scientists have in the … Read moreSniffing Women’s Tears Lower Male Aggression
It’s the holiday season and I am sure many of us will enjoy some extra indulgence over the next week or so. However, for some people, alcohol consumption can lead to problematic behavior and health issues. If you experience problematic alcohol use (PAU), there’s a chance that it’s because of your genes. A new study … Read moreGenetic Basis For Problematic Alcohol Use Identified By Extensive Global Multi-Ancestry Study
Let’s start with a quiz… How many senses do you have?Which of the following are magnetic: a tomato, you, paperclips?What are the primary colors of pigments and paints?What region of the tongue is responsible for sensing bitter tastes?What are the states of matter? If you answered five; paperclips; red, yellow, and blue; the back of … Read moreFive Science “Facts” We Learnt At School That Are Plain Wrong
In 1977, NASA launched Voyager 1 and 2, the spacecraft that have traveled further than any human-made objects, crossing the heliopause and heading into interstellar space. While doing so, the probes have been communicating constantly with Earth, even if Voyager 1 has recently begun sending back repeating patterns of 1s and 0s. It has … Read moreVoyager Has Been Sending Out Signals For Decades. What’s The Soonest We Can Expect A Reply?
The Bible tells an overall story about the history of the world: creation, fall, redemption and God’s Last Judgement of the living and the dead. The Old Testament (which dates to 300 BCE) begins with the creation of the world and of Adam and Eve, their disobedience to God and their expulsion from the garden … Read moreWho Wrote The Bible?