Science
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Forget aesthetics, the reason to look after our skin should be health
Dr Jeremy Burgess/Science Photo Library Our skin isn’t just our biggest organ, it is also the one we are most familiar with. We look at it constantly, touch it, wash it, inspect it. And yet, when we think about looking after it, our minds often jump to aesthetics. We are inundated with ads for lotions and potions that promise to…
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Plastic chemicals linked to hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide
Plastic food packaging can expose people to chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA) Shutterstock/Trong Nguyen Hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of cases of heart disease worldwide may be linked to chemicals in common plastic products, suggesting that more stringent regulations on such toxins could benefit public health. Maureen Cropper at the University of Maryland and her colleagues assessed…
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The ancient board games we finally know how to play – thanks to AI
In the 1970s, in a grave in a Bronze Age cemetery in Shahr-i Sokhta, Iran, an incredible object was unearthed next to a human skull: the oldest complete board game ever discovered. Around 4500 years old, it consists of a board with 20 circular spaces created from the coils of a carved snake, four dice and 27 geometric pieces. The…
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When, and where, did the covid-19 pandemic really begin?
People carrying out disinfection work at a market in Wuhan, where covid-19 is thought to have originated, in March 2020 An Yuan/China News Service via Getty Images Five years ago, the covid-19 pandemic was getting under way – but we didn’t know it yet. So, what exactly happened? Many scientists are convinced that it began with infected animals at a…
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Older people may have better immunity against bird flu virus
The H5N1 bird flu virus has caused sporadic cases in humans Luca Bruno/Associated Press/Alamy If the H5N1 bird flu virus sparks a pandemic, older people may have better immunity than younger people because of past exposure to closely related viruses. In previous clusters of H5N1 cases, older people were less likely to catch the virus than younger individuals, so scientists…
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We may have solved the mystery of what froze Earth’s inner core
How did Earth’s inner core freeze solid? Rost9/Shutterstock A high concentration of carbon within Earth’s inner core could explain a long-standing mystery about how the deepest part of our planet froze solid – a process that kick-started the magnetic field protecting life on the surface. Earth’s inner core presents a paradox for geophysicists: it first formed as a massive liquid…
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How a single gopher restored a landscape devastated by a volcano
The northern pocket gopher (Thomomys talpoides) brings unexpected ecosystem benefits All Canada Photos/Alamy Two years after Mount St Helens erupted in 1980, a team of researchers helicoptered in a gopher to the ash-covered landscape. Decades later, the activity of that single gopher burrowing for a single day may have helped the decimated ecosystem regrow by boosting the diversity of soil…
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The complete guide to cooking oils and how they affect your health
Whether you are roasting a chicken in the oven, browning onions in a frying pan or choosing a spread for your toast, oils are at the heart of our culinary activity. We have a dizzying array of choice. From sunflower to flaxseed, avocado to coconut, around 30 varieties of oil are now used for cooking. Your decision on which to…
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Quantum 'Schrödinger's cat' survives for a stunning 23 minutes
A typically fragile quantum superposition has been made to last exceptionally long, and could eventually be used as a probe for discovering new physics Source link
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What to expect at the COP16 biodiversity summit
Countries are convening in Colombia to agree on wide-ranging targets to stem biodiversity loss and make a plan to pay for it Source link
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