Intermittent fasting, and fasting in general, has been a popular fad health gimmick, but the science isn't on its side. Instead, proponents believe mice are little people so if mice weaned on starvation diets lived longer, people would also.
Few people have heard of the groundcherry because during legacy days of agriculture, when foods had to be optimized for various regions as easily as possible, it fared poorly compared to other farming crops due to undesirable characteristics, like falling on the ground and needing weeds.Though people who sell the organic process think a limited monoculture past is worth paying a premium for, the future may belong to the groundcherry and other orphan crops, thanks to biotechnology and the gene editing tool CRISPR, the successor to legacy organic processes like Mutagenesis and transgenic options like Genetically Modified Organisms.
Dog owners think dogs are exceptionally intelligent - a whole television show was made about a dog named Lassie who got humans out of all kinds of fantastic situations - while cat owners believe the same about their pets.But are dogs smarter than other animals or pets? Not really, according to a review of over 300 papers which compared the brain power of dogs with other domestic animals, other social hunters and other carnivorans (which includes dogs, wolves, bears, lions, hyenas, and more).
On occasion there are renewed claims that even moderate alcohol consumption might "cause" breast cancer. As science advances so do claims about new ways to suggest harm. An example is recent claims about epigenetic alterations and lifestyle behaviors. Yet there are flaws in such a simplistic approach to correlating one lifestyle option out of hundreds, like modest alcohol consumption, and breast cancer, which comprises 21 subtypes with each subtype displaying its own unique pathological signature.
Once upon a time, non-fat milk (the cream removed) was only used for fattening pigs. It was clearly a technological process to remove the cream but it is not considered "unnatural" - in 2012, the Obama administration even told schools to start serving it as a healthier alternative to regular milk. Meanwhile, the same administration delayed a salmon because it had a gene from a similar salmon that would allow it to grow all year 'round. The second technology was "unnatural."
The transition from ape-like shuffling to upright walking (bipedalism) as we do has long fascinated scientists. Why did it happen? When? The second question is a little closer to being solved. An analysis of 3.6 million year old hominin footprints in Tanzania suggests our ancestors evolved the hallmark trait of extended leg, human-like bipedalism substantially earlier than previously thought. Many millions of years before humans. Like the chicken and the egg, there is a clear science answer about which came first even if philosophers are baffled.
Researchers at Carnege-Mellon University have found a way to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) schemes to transfer content from one video to the style of another. So they can make a daffodil bloom like the way a hibiscus bloom does or make clouds that are crossing the sky rapidly on a windy day be slowed to give the appearance of calmer weather during movie shoots.
There is a vicious cycle of vanity on social media, according to new results. College-age women who viewed positive feedback on Instagram selfies then experienced greater body dissatisfaction - because they put more focus on appearance and in the end fueled body dissatisfaction among viewers.
A new photoelectrode can harvest 85 percent of visible light in a 30 nanometers-thin semiconductor layer between gold layers, converting light energy 11 times more efficiently than previous methods, another step on the road to turning solar power from an expensive subsidized sideshow into the default energy of the future.
The famous paradox 'which came first, the chicken or the egg?' was created by philosophers to discuss cause and effect. Since chickens lay eggs, and eggs produce chickens...you get the idea.
A new paper declares that whole grains can help prevent type 2 diabetes but a quick glance at the methodology will show you why you need to be skeptical. It doesn't matter if it’s rye, oats, wheat, wheatberries, bulgur, or couscous, any whole grain will do. Which is like declaring that any pasta can reduce type 2 diabetes, which will also be true - if in either case the calories are reduced.Type 2 diabetes, which unlike Type 1 does not involve an inability to produce insulin but rather involves insulin production being overworked, is overwhelmingly related to obesity. That is why unlike Type 1 it is more of an adult disease. To prevent it requires more than using a type of food, it involves consuming less of all foods.
Though sexual assault and dating violence in the academic and cultural world focuses most heavily on men, among teens there are more Asia Argento's than Twitter recognizes.In recent findings, 5.8 percent of boys and 4.2 percent of girls said they had experienced dating violence in the past year. The good news is that dating violence among teens has declined overall, from 6 percent of teens reporting dating violence in 2003 down to 5 percent in 2013.
A fully 3D printed array of light receptors on a hemispherical surface is the first significant step toward creating a "bionic eye."The project began with a hemispherical glass dome to show how they could overcome the challenge of printing electronics on a curved surface. Using a custom-built 3D printer, they started with a base ink of silver particles. The dispensed ink stayed in place and dried uniformly instead of running down the curved surface. The researchers then used semiconducting polymer materials to print photodiodes, which convert light into electricity. The entire process took about an hour.
