Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain New research published in Science shows that for some people who believe in conspiracy theories, a fact-based conversation with an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot can “pull them out of the rabbit hole.” Better yet, it seems to keep them out for at least two months. This research, carried out by Thomas … Read more
This 2021 handout image released by Indonesia’s environment ministry shows one of two rare Javan rhino calves that were caught on video in Ujung Kulon National Park. This week, a billionaire made a spacewalk, archaeologists found a new, isolated Neanderthal lineage and the James Webb Space Telescope revealed the extreme outskirts of the Milky Way. … Read more
Research showing that pigeons can be used to guide missiles was awarded one of this year’s Ig Nobel prizes. Mammals that can breathe through their backsides, homing pigeons that can guide missiles and sober worms that outpace drunk ones: these are some of the strange scientific discoveries that won this year’s Ig Nobels, the quirky … Read more
The great whodunnit of the human family is exactly what caused Neanderthals to suddenly die off 40,000 years ago. A new study posits a very surprising answer to one of history’s great mysteries—what killed off the Neanderthals? Could it be that they were unadventurous, insular homebodies who never strayed far enough from home? Scientists studying … Read more
Pfizer‘s experimental drug for a common, life-threatening condition that causes cancer patients to lose their appetite and weight showed positive results in a midstage trial, the drugmaker said Saturday. Patients with the condition, called cancer cachexia, who took Pfizer’s treatment saw improvements in body weight, muscle mass, quality of life and physical function, according to … Read more
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain This summer was the hottest on record worldwide, outpacing even last year’s blistering temperatures, according to a new report by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. “During the past three months of 2024, the globe has experienced the hottest June and August, the hottest day on record, and the hottest … Read more
THIS ARTICLE IS republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Enormous floods have once again engulfed much of South Sudan, as record water levels in Lake Victoria flow downstream through the Nile. More than 700,000 people have been affected. Hundreds of thousands of people there were already forced from their homes by huge … Read more
Gardener Jana Kretschmer is working to protect trees from climate change. In the castle gardens of Muskauer Park, which straddles both banks of the German-Polish river border, caretakers have mounted a fightback against the impacts of climate change. On the stump of a 150-year-old oak tree, gnawed by parasites and felled in a storm, a … Read more
NEW YORK — The cuddles. The loyalty. The worshipful eyes. There’s a lot of joy in having a dog, not the least of which is heading out for a brisk walk. And therein lies a peril some dog people should pay more attention to. Over the past 20 years, injuries related to dog walking have … Read more
In 2020, while the Covid-19 pandemic raged, a steadily growing epidemic continued to burn its path across the United States. Gun violence stole the lives of 45,222 Americans that fateful year, the worst year on record for gun deaths to that point. The path leading to each one of these deaths is layered and complex. … Read more
