Category: 7. Science

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — SpaceX delivered a fresh crew to the International Space Station on Saturday.

The four US, Russian and Japanese astronauts pulled up in their SpaceX capsule after launching from NASA”s Kennedy Space Center. They will spend at least six months at the orbiting lab, swapping places with colleagues who have been there since March. SpaceX will bring those four back as early as Wednesday.

Moving in are NASA’s Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov — each of whom had been originally assigned to other missions. “Hello, space station!” Fincke radioed as soon as the capsule docked high above the South Pacific.

Cardman and another astronaut were pulled from a SpaceX flight last year to make room for NASA’s two stuck astronauts, Boeing Starliner test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose space station stay went from one week to more than nine months.

Fincke and Yui had been training for the next Starliner mission. But with Starliner grounded by thruster and other problems until 2026, the two switched to SpaceX.

Platonov was bumped from the Soyuz launch lineup a couple of years ago because of an undisclosed illness.

Their arrival temporarily puts the space station population at 11.

“It was such an unbelievably beautiful sight to see the space station come into our view for the first time,” Cardman said once on board.

While the flight, in 15 hours, was speedy by US standards, the Russians hold the record for the fastest trip to the space station — a lightning-fast three hours, AP reported.

During their stay aboard the orbiting laboratory, the astronauts will support a range of scientific research and technology demonstrations. Their tasks include simulating lunar landings, testing vision protection strategies, and conducting studies to improve human health and performance in space.

The crew will also study plant cell division and microgravity’s effects on bacteria-killing viruses, and perform experiments to produce a higher volume of human stem cells and generate on-demand nutrients, according to NASA.

The ISS is set to be decommissioned after 2030, with its orbit gradually lowered until it breaks up in the atmosphere over a remote part of the Pacific Ocean called Point Nemo, a spacecraft graveyard.

Agencies – Xinhua

A dazzling green light, identified as an exceptionally large “fireball,” startled residents across several Thai provinces in the early hours of Monday, 4th August.

The Thai Astronomical Society has confirmed the celestial event, suggesting the meteoroid’s striking green hue could indicate the presence of nickel.

The spectacle, which reportedly included a loud accompanying explosion, captivated onlookers as it streaked across the night sky. Investigations by the Thai Astronomical Society point to the object being a fireball meteoroid, a phenomenon occurring when celestial bodies enter Earth’s atmosphere.

Generally, meteors are observed when small space objects encounter atmospheric friction at altitudes of approximately 80-120 kilometres, burning up and creating a luminous trail. The intensity of the light produced is directly proportional to the object’s size.

Footage and images widely circulated on social media depict this particular meteor as remarkably large and bright, with a luminosity described as comparable to that of Venus, thus unequivocally classifying it as a #Fireball. 

The distinct green light observed is a key indicator, potentially signifying the meteor’s metallic composition, specifically nickel.

 

A crew conducting deep-sea explorations off the coast of Japan was shocked to discover a new species of sea snail living at depths never before seen for that family of animal, Discover Wildlife reported.

Researchers from the Japan Agency for Earth-Marine Science and Technology made the discovery at a depth of 3.72 miles beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean, per Discover Wildlife.

The sea snail was measured at 1.6 inches in diameter, which may not sound massive but is a surprising size for that depth, where the pressure is nearly 600 times the average air pressure at sea level.

The researchers found the sea snail, also known as a limpet, attached to underwater volcanic rock, per Wildlife Discovery. Limpets use their tough tongues to scrape algae off rock and to aid in decomposition, playing a vital role in the ocean’s ecosystem.

In a study detailing the discovery, the researchers noted that most true limpets live in shallower, intertidal areas, but that scientists previously had identified two other species of deepwater true limpets. One was sighted in waters off Chile and the other in Antarctica.

Due to characteristics distinguishing the newly discovered sea snail from its deepwater cousins, the researchers concluded that they had identified a new species altogether — calling it “enigmatic” and “mythical,” per the Miami Herald.

Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers that can help you save as much as $10k on installation. To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best local options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.

They named it Bathylepeta wadatsumi, inspired by the god of the sea in Japanese mythology, noting that “it is also a reference to the fish-man character ‘Lark Monk’ Wadatsumi from Eiichiro Oda’s manga series ‘ONE PIECE,’ whose enormous body size is reminiscent of the large size that B. wadatsumi sp. nov. reaches for a deep-water patellogastropod.”

The discovery highlighted the benefits of using crewed submersibles for deep-sea explorations. 

“Even in the age of sophisticated remotely operated vehicles, there’s often an edge to the human eye on the seafloor,” said Chong Chen, the study’s lead author, per Wildlife Discovery.

“Crewed submersibles like Shinkai 6500 let us explore with intention and nuance – spotting lifeforms … that might otherwise be missed entirely,” he added, referring to the vehicle in which the researchers had ventured to the sea floor.

The deep sea remains a massively underexplored and little understood region of the planet, with the sea bed being less well-mapped than the surface of Mars, according to the USGS.  

Exploring the world’s oceans “allows us, collectively, to protect ocean health, sustainably manage our marine resources, accelerate our national economy, better understand our changing environment, and enhance appreciation of the importance of the ocean in our everyday lives,” explained the federal organization NOAA Ocean Exploration.

Particularly in the midst of rising global temperatures, better understanding oceans is vital to sustaining the world’s economy and food supply. According to the U.N. Conference on Trade & Development, the cumulative value of “ocean-based economic sectors” is a staggering $3 trillion to $6 trillion every single year. 

Further, more than “3 billion people rely on the oceans for their livelihoods and more than 350 million jobs are linked to oceans worldwide,” per UNCTAD.

There are plenty of actions that can be taken at the individual level to protect the world’s oceans. For example, NOAA has recommended reducing the use of pollutants and hazardous chemicals that can run off into the ocean, supporting sustainable fishing practices, and boating responsibly. 

Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don’t miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.

Venting when angry seems sensible. Conventional wisdom suggests expressing anger can help us quell it, like releasing steam from a pressure cooker.

But this common metaphor is misleading, according to a meta-analytic review from 2024. Researchers at Ohio State University analyzed 154 studies on anger, finding little evidence that venting helps. In some cases, it could increase anger.

“I think it’s really important to bust the myth that if you’re angry you should blow off steam – get it off your chest,” said senior author and communication scientist Brad Bushman when the results were published last year.

“Venting anger might sound like a good idea, but there’s not a shred of scientific evidence to support catharsis theory.”

Related: Angry Outbursts Could Literally Be Putting Some People’s Heart at Risk

That doesn’t mean anger should be ignored. Reflection can help us understand why we get mad and address underlying problems. It can also aid emotional validation, an important first step towards healthily processing emotions.

Venting, however, often goes beyond reflection into rumination. The study suggests that many people also try to exorcize anger with physical exertion, which can offer health benefits but may not lighten the mood in the moment.

The studies reviewed included a total of 10,189 participants, representing a variety of ages, genders, cultures, and ethnicities. The findings show the key to curbing anger is reducing physiological arousal, the authors say, from anger itself or from the otherwise beneficial physical activity it might inspire.

“To reduce anger, it is better to engage in activities that decrease arousal levels,” Bushman said. “Despite what popular wisdom may suggest, even going for a run is not an effective strategy because it increases arousal levels and ends up being counterproductive.”

The research was inspired partly by the popularity of ‘rage rooms’, where people pay to smash objects in hopes of releasing anger, said first author Sophie Kjærvik, a communication scientist at Virginia Commonwealth University.

“I wanted to debunk the whole theory of expressing anger as a way of coping with it,” explained Kjærvik. “We wanted to show that reducing arousal, and actually the physiological aspect of it, is really important.”

The team designed the review based on the Schachter-Singer two-factor theory, which describes anger (and all other emotions) as a two-part phenomenon, each comprising a physiological and a cognitive component.

frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen>

Previous research has often focused on the cognitive angle, according to Kjærvik and Bushman, like examining how cognitive behavioral therapy can help people adjust the mental meanings underpinning their anger.

Research shows that can work, they say, but the review also sheds important light on an alternate pathway for defusing fury. What’s more, standard cognitive behavioral therapies are not effective for all brain types.

Their study examined both arousal-increasing and arousal-reducing activities, from boxing, cycling, and jogging to deep breathing, meditating, and yoga.

Calming activities reduced anger in the lab and the field, they found, and across other variables like methods of instruction or participant demographics. Effective arousal-reducing activities included slow-flow yoga, mindfulness, progressive muscle relaxation, diaphragmatic breathing, and taking a timeout.

“It was really interesting to see that progressive muscle relaxation and just relaxation in general might be as effective as approaches such as mindfulness and meditation,” Kjærvik said.

“And yoga, which can be more arousing than meditation and mindfulness, is still a way of calming and focusing on your breath that has the similar effect in reducing anger.”

Rather than trying to vent anger, the researchers recommend undermining it by turning down the heat. Calming tactics already proven to ease stress may also rob anger of physiological fuel.

“Obviously in today’s society, we’re all dealing with a lot of stress, and we need ways of coping with that, too,” Kjærvik said. “Showing that the same strategies that work for stress actually also work for anger is beneficial.”

The review found that most arousal-boosting activities didn’t reduce anger, and some increased it, with jogging most likely to do that.

Ball sports and other physical activities involving play seemed to reduce physiological arousal, suggesting exertion might be more useful for reducing anger if it’s fun.

“Certain physical activities that increase arousal may be good for your heart, but they’re definitely not the best way to reduce anger,” said Bushman. “It’s really a battle because angry people want to vent, but our research shows that any good feeling we get from venting actually reinforces aggression.”

More research is needed to clarify these findings, but for now, the researchers say calming techniques – even just taking a timeout or counting to 10 – offer the best options for taming a temper.

“You don’t need to necessarily book an appointment with a cognitive behavioral therapist to deal with anger. You can download an app for free on your phone, or you can find a YouTube video if you need guidance,” Kjærvik said.

The study was published in Clinical Psychology Review.

An earlier version of this article was published in April 2024.

Teeth on display at the Wellcome Collection, London. — Image by © Tim Sandle.

Sensory neurons inside the tooth send pain signals to the brain, as is well-established. A new study reveals greater functionality; here, these neurons are multitaskers that also trigger a jaw-opening reflex that almost instantaneously prevents damage and further injury to teeth.

The reflex that pops open the lower jaw was a widely known craniofacial reflex, but until this study was published the cellular origins of this phenomenon were not known.

With the study, University of Michigan researchers in sensory neuroscience, dentistry and mechanical engineering found the origin using special live imaging, behaviour-tracking tools and mice molars to uncover the neurons’ additional role of monitoring the inner tooth and outer enamel.

The discovery and understanding of this additional role shows how important healthy, active nerves are for preserving teeth.

“We suspected there was a more fundamental role for tooth nerves,” says Joshua Emrick, senior author of the study and assistant professor at the U-M School of Dentistry in a research note. “When we consider regenerating a tooth pulp, we need to bring back the nerves.”

The science team looked at how nerve cells reacted to stimulation of the molar teeth of mice in real time. These experiments have revealed a newly defined, protective role for intradental High-Threshhold Mechanoreceptors (HTMR), which are highly specialized sensory neurons that respond to tooth damage. These HTMRs detect dangerous threats and send the message rapidly to the brain for instantaneous action.

“Our study challenges the prior assumption that nerves inside the tooth primarily function to elicit pain and force us straight to the dentist for help,” Emrick adds. “If you’ve ever accidentally bitten down on your fork, you’ve probably experienced a startling jolt, but also stopped short of fracturing your teeth. You may thank these intradental HTMRs for that.”

The reflex is really about self-preservation

Continuing with the importance of the finding, Emrick continues: “We think protection of the teeth through this jaw-opening reflex is highly conserved among mammals that haven’t developed the ability to replace teeth—like humans or in the molar teeth of mice…Our work reports an ability to use these neurons to also elicit pain which will open up possibilities for developing new methods for relieving toothache at the dentist’s office.”

To break it down further, the study, shows that when enamel or dentin is damaged, the neurons fire a response. Follow-up experiments determined what happened after the HTMRs were activated. As previously known, the research group identified that they trigger acute pain, yet surprisingly they also witnessed a rapid jaw-opening reflex within 5 to 15 milliseconds of the activation.

HTMRs may also protect other oral and body structures from damage, since sensory neurons are essential in protecting and maintaining our tissues throughout life.

The findings appear in the journal Cell Reports, titled “Intradental mechano-nociceptors serve as sentinels that prevent tooth damage.”

More than 6,000 years ago, in the Krumlov Forest of South Moravia in the Czech Republic, two sisters endured a hard life in an ancient mining settlement. Now, thanks to advanced forensic methods and archaeological research, their incredibly lifelike faces have been uncovered in new 3D reconstructions. These reconstructions give us not just a glimpse into their physical appearance but also into a society that may have exploited its most vulnerable members.

The remains were first discovered over 15 years ago during excavations at a Neolithic chert (flint) mine—specifically, Pit 4, one of hundreds discovered in the area, which is known for prehistoric mining activity from the Mesolithic to the Iron Age. The remains included two adult females buried one atop the other, with the older woman hugging a newborn baby on her chest. Next to them was a partially complete skeleton of a small dog. The females were likely sisters and were interred in the shaft in which they had labored, according to a paper published in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.

Dr. Martin Oliva, an archaeologist with the Moravian Museum and a co-author of the study, told Live Science that the location of the women’s graves within the mine suggests that the women likely labored there. The mine may have also had spiritual meaning, serving as a sacred site related to ancestral or sacrificial rituals, the researchers suggest.

Detailed analysis, involving radiocarbon dating, genetic analysis, isotopic analysis, and bone study, paints a grim picture of physical suffering and exploitation. Both women, estimated to have been around 30 to 40 years old, were around 1.48 and 1.46 meters (approximately 4.8 feet) tall and bore signs of heavy labor. The bones exhibited worn vertebrae, early arthritis, herniated discs, and partially healed fractures—specifically, one on the older sister’s forearm—indicating that they continued to work despite severe trauma.

Interestingly, isotopic analysis of nitrogen and carbon levels indicated that although the sisters had grown up malnourished and ill, in adulthood, they had consumed a high-meat diet. This was unusual for European Neolithic populations, which may have been due to better access to wild game in the densely forested region or a nutritional strategy to fuel their hard labor.

DNA testing confirmed the sibling relationship and even determined some physical features. The younger sister likely had dark hair and green or hazel eyes, while the older may have had blue eyes and blonde hair. These features were utilized for the lifelike facial reconstructions—on display today at the Moravian Museum in Brno—created using plaster, silicone, prosthetic eyes, and implanted hair. The skulls were in a good state and allowed for detailed facial modeling.

The reconstructions also depict clothing derived from Neolithic-era archaeological textile finds, made entirely of plant fibers like flax and nettles. The older woman wears a simple blouse and plant-fiber wrap, and a hairnet. The younger one wears a linen blouse with braided fabric strips woven through her hair.

But questions remain. The infant that was buried was genetically not related to either woman, and the positioning of the dog’s remains adds another question mark to the burial. Scientists have not ruled out that the women and infant could have been victims of ritual sacrifice or symbolic appeasement to the earth, as mining shafts could have had spiritual significance to Neolithic peoples.

In the broader social context, the authors point to a possible reorganization of work in the Neolithic period. The article contends that as soon as hierarchical societies began to emerge, “the hardest labour may no longer have been done by the strongest, but by those who could most easily be forced to do it.” This is a hint that even in early agricultural societies, labor might have been distributed in unequal forms, possibly on the basis of gender, age, or social status.

The fossil skeleton nicknamed Lucy has long been the poster child for Australopithecus afarensis – a small, bipedal human ancestor that walked East Africa roughly three million years ago.

For decades, researchers have debated whether males and females of A. afarensis differed sharply in body size or whether, like modern humans, the sexes overlapped substantially. A newly published study now answers that question – and upends some familiar assumptions.

“These weren’t modest differences,” said lead author Adam D. Gordon, an associate professor of anthropology at the University at Albany. “In the case of A. afarensis, males were dramatically larger than females – possibly more so than in any living great ape.”

His work also shows that a close southern relative, Australopithecus africanus, shared a similar but slightly less extreme pattern.

Together, the findings paint a picture of early hominin societies in which big-bodied males competed intensely for mates and smaller females faced their own evolutionary pressures to conserve energy.

Size gap in early humans

In modern primates, sexual size dimorphism (SSD) is not merely cosmetic. High SSD, as seen in gorillas, typically signals strong male–male competition and social systems in which one or a few large males monopolize access to several females.

Low SSD, characteristic of modern humans, aligns with more egalitarian or pair-bonded structures. Gordon’s results place both A. afarensis and A. africanus at the high end of that spectrum – and even suggest that A. afarensis may have exceeded gorillas in the male–female divide.

What makes the study novel is not just quantifying SSD in each fossil species but comparing them directly while accounting for the frustratingly incomplete nature of the fossil record.

Earlier efforts produced conflicting estimates – some pegged A. afarensis as almost human-like in its parity – partly because individual fossils are fragmentary and often cannot be sexed with confidence.

To overcome those hurdles, Gordon devised an iterative resampling method. First, he gathered measurements from multiple skeletal elements – humerus, femur, tibia, and others – in as many Australopithecus fossils as possible.

He then built a comparative framework using full skeletons of living gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans.

By randomly deleting measurements in those modern skeletons to mimic the missing data pattern in the fossils, he could simulate the same limitations researchers face.

Repeating that process thousands of times allowed him to generate robust expectations for SSD under different scenarios.

Unlike earlier studies that sometimes treated inconclusive statistics as evidence of similarity, Gordon’s approach revealed clear differences. It showed statistically significant gaps between the sex-specific size of the two fossil species and among all three living apes.

“This analysis overcomes these issues by using an iterative resampling method that mimics the missing data structure in both fossil species when sampling from skeletal material of living species,” Gordon said.

“This allows the inclusion of multiple fossil individuals even when those individual specimens are fragmentary.”

Size stayed, sexes differed

Could the size variation within A. afarensis simply reflect gradual body growth over 300,000 years rather than a male–female split?

Gordon tested that possibility using fossils from the well-dated Hadar Formation in Ethiopia.

However, his analysis found no consistent trend toward larger or smaller bodies over time, ruling out a species-wide size shift and strengthening the case for pronounced dimorphism.

Environment shaped their bodies

Although both Australopithecus species show greater SSD than modern humans, they are surprisingly unlike each other. That contrast is unusual: among living apes, closely related species such as chimpanzees and bonobos exhibit similar levels of dimorphism.

The stark dimorphism gap between the two extinct hominins suggests they faced unusually different selection pressures, highlighting the diverse ways our ancestors interacted with the world.

One plausible driver is variation in environmental stress. Earlier work by Gordon links high SSD to habitats where food scarcity penalizes large females more than small ones.

If A. afarensis faced harsher dry seasons than A. africanus, selection could have driven the sexes apart -favoring ever-smaller females and ever-larger, competitive males, and widening the size gap.

Alternatively – or additionally – male competition for mates may have been fiercer in East Africa than in southern Africa.

Unequal societies emerged early

Whatever the causes, the implications are striking. A. afarensis males may have enjoyed exclusive breeding rights, similar to silverback gorillas today. Females likely lived in groups dominated by these towering males.

The slightly lower – but still high – dimorphism in A. africanus hints at a somewhat different social structure, perhaps with less monopolization or different foraging pressures.

Either way, the findings dispute the long-held view that gracile Australopitheci formed a uniform ecological and social bloc.

Rewriting the story of human evolution

Australopithecus afarensis is often cast as a direct ancestor of humanity, while A. africanus may represent a side branch. Yet the new evidence suggests that both lineages experimented with social strategies far removed from the relatively egalitarian norms of Homo sapiens.

That realization complicates any tidy story of linear progress toward modern human sociality. Instead, early hominins display a “greater diversity of evolutionary pressures … than we had previously appreciated,” Gordon noted.

By illuminating the powerful interplay between sexual selection, ecological stress, and body size, the study invites paleoanthropologists to re-examine other fossil species with Gordon’s statistical toolkit.

As new fragments emerge from African sediments, researchers can now ask sharper questions: Were big males always best? Did female body size shrink in response to environmental crunches? How and when did the more balanced human pattern evolve?

Size reveals ancient human roles

For now the message is clear: three million years ago, being male in an Australopithecus troop meant being massive. Being female meant staying small, perhaps to stretch scarce calories farther during pregnancy and lactation.

And for scientists today, these size differences between the sexes serve as a crucial proxy for the behaviors and conflicts that shaped our remote ancestors long before the genus Homo took its first steps.

The study is published in the American Journal of Biological Anthropology.

—–

Like what you read? Subscribe to our newsletter for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates. 

Check us out on EarthSnap, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

—–