US hospitalizations for alcoholism have risen 3.5% since 1998 – but the death rate for patients who get treated has fallen by a THIRD Researchers looked at medical insurance claims for hospitalizations for alcohol use disorder between 1998 and 2016 Hospitalizations increased by 3.5% from more than 274,000 in 1998 to more than 284,000 in … Read more
Orphaned chimpanzees are found to face lifelong setbacks, as mothers teach foraging and social skills, study reveals Orphaned male chimps have fewer offspring and are less competitive as adults Chimps stay with mothers until they’re teens but feed themselves by age 4 or 5 Researchers think mothers continue to teach juveniles foraging and social skills … Read more
Effect of sleep on the human brain ‘suddenly changes’ in childhood from learning and memory support to maintenance and repair, study shows US researchers studied brain and sleep data on children aged from 0–15 They found that sleep’s function shift at around the age of two-and-a-half This is an age at which several big brain … Read more
– Sea levels are rising at unprecedented rates, accelerating in recent decades as ice has been melting increasingly fast from Greenland and Antarctica. They are set to rise at an increasing rate and will continue to do so beyond the year 2100 whatever level of emissions cuts are achieved. Sea levels are set to rise … Read more
Shoes that curve up at the toe – known as toe springs – require less muscle work, but they can weaken foot muscles in the long term, biomechanics experts claim. Toe springs, which are a common feature of athletic shoes, keep toes continually elevated above the ground to help the front part of the foot … Read more
Glass tables cause over 2.5 MILLION injuries every year, including abrasions, lacerations and organ damage that requires surgery, study reveals Most involve children under the age seven and young adults in their early 20s Injuries can range from bruises and cuts to puncture wounds and even death The glass isn’t required to be tempered, and … Read more
A Chinese defector’s study claiming that Covid-19 was manufactured in a lab was published by groups founded by former Trump strategist Steve Bannon and a billionaire Beijing exile. The scientific paper, which has not been peer-reviewed, claims the disease was built by merging the genetic material of two bat coronaviruses and that a spike protein … Read more
The RMS Titanic may have only taken the exact fateful course that saw it holed and sunk by an iceberg on April 15, 1912 because a solar flare threw off the vessel’s compass readings, a study has proposed. According to a US-based meteorologist, the liner’s last night sailing the Atlantic was illuminated by the aurora borealis — … Read more
Caffeine lovers are more likely to enjoy their daily cappucino, latte or Americano when there is less noise around them, new research has found. Scientists who exposed people to various levels of noise while they drank their coffee found it was perceived as having less aroma under loud noise. Coffee was more likely to be … Read more
Measuring a person’s heart rate can help spot depression as it beats faster and is less likely to drop at night, study finds Depressed people’s hearts beat an extra 10-15 times per minute on average during daytime, study at Goethe University found Their hearts may have to work harder because their chronic stress or anxiety means … Read more