Tag Archives: ScienceAlert

More than 13 million people worldwide owe their lives to in vitro fertilization (IVF), according to the first estimates of their kind. Since the original ‘test tube’ baby was born in 1978, the number of children brought into the world by IVF technologies – collectively known as assisted reproductive technology (ART) – has exploded into the millions. Today, an ART-conceived …

Imagine this: You’re at your doctor’s office with a sore throat. The nurse asks, “Any allergies?” And without hesitation you reply, “Penicillin.” It’s something you’ve said for years – maybe since childhood, maybe because a parent told you so. The nurse nods, makes a note and moves on. But here’s the kicker: There’s a good chance you’re not actually allergic …

The mere sight of a sick person may set off an alarm system in your brain and body, even if they are too far away to infect you. A series of experiments using virtual reality headsets has now revealed just how “exquisitely sensitive” our brains are to symptoms of sickness. When participants saw a virtual avatar at varying distances showing …

A first-of-its-kind study estimates that lightning strikes kill 320 million trees every year. For perspective, these dead trees account for up to 2.9 percent of annual loss in plant biomass and emit up to 1.09 billion tons of carbon dioxide. Even more striking (pun unintended), the study includes only tree deaths caused directly by lightning. It does not include tree …

Researchers have linked spending more time playing video games with a boost in intelligence in children, which goes some way to contradicting the narrative that gaming is bad for young minds. While the difference in cognitive abilities was a small one and isn’t enough to show a causal relationship, it is enough to be notable – and the 2022 study …

You need fibre. That much is true. But in the world of online health trends, what started out as sound dietary advice has spiralled into “fibremaxxing” – a push to consume eye-watering amounts in the name of wellness. In the UK, NHS guidelines suggest that an adult should consume at least 30g of fibre a day. Children and teens typically …

In the cold darkness deep beneath the waves of the Arctic Ocean, a hidden barrier appears to separate the haves from the have-nots. There, in the midnight zone more than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) below the surface, the gossamer jellyfish of the subspecies Botrynema brucei ellinorae drifting in the water column have two distinct shapes. Some have hoods topped by …

A small, retrospective study in a part of Utah known for poor air quality retraced pollution exposure levels in patients hospitalized for brain bleeds, finding a potential link. “We found that these patients were experiencing higher rates of aneurysmal rupture three to six months after peaks in air pollution levels,” University of Utah neurosurgeon Robert Rennert explains. Airborne pollutants, including …

Is there a massive undiscovered planet on the outer reaches of the Solar System? The idea has been around since before the discovery of Pluto in the 1930s. Labelled as planet X, prominent astronomers had put it forward as an explanation for Uranus‘s orbit, which drifts from the path of orbital motion that physics would expect it to follow. The …

Late in the evening, the Antarctic sky flushes pink. The male leopard seal wakes and slips from the ice into the water. There, he’ll spend the night singing underwater amongst the floating ice floes. For the next two months he sings every night. He will sing so loudly, the ice around him vibrates. Each song is a sequence of trills …