Science 2.0
Is There A 27 Million Year Cycle For Mass Extinction Or Just Coincidence?
A pattern in nature or just coincidence?
Probably coincidence, since 27 million years give or take is a fantastic range of time but journalists and professional doomsday prophets are making something of it the way they do Mayan calendars and Biblical numerology. When it comes to real concepts of time, 66 million, 26 million, and 27.5 million don't have much in common.
Yet the paper does link them as non-random events, using the bane of informed food and chemical acceptance of science - statistical analyses.
Forget Mrs. Claus, What About Santa Herself?
Can Christmas be about gender? Apparently so, if the paucity of female Santas is anything to go by. There have, in fact, been cases of Australian women donning the secular red and white Santa attire as far back as 1930 — and there is no reason why we couldn’t have more female Santas today.
In 1935, Queensland’s Daily Mercury reported on aviator Nancy Bird Walton, “The Angel of the Outback”, piloting a female Santa Claus into the north-western corner of New South Wales.
Either Negative Reviews Boost Sales Or They Won't Stop Good Products
A flawless product does not exist, people are suspicious if they see no bad reviews, and using game theory, the researchers analyzed how negative reviews affect sales. The model had two sets of participants: sellers, who know the true quality of the products they are selling and can selectively publish reviews about it, and buyers, who do not know a product's quality and can be categorized as either 'naïve' or 'rational'.
COVID-19 - Things Are Starting To Get Better
The pool was not small, it was data from over 77,000 participants. That's actually good news, and it may mean a return to normalcy, because if even being trapped in a home with someone has only a minor risk for those not at respiratory distress risk from flu or anything else, casual public contact means nearly none.
The Geminid Meteor Shower Is As Strong As Ever
COVID-19: Mask Protections And Modifications Ranked - And 3M Wins
Masks are primarily intended to keep us from spreading germs - a surgeon does not wear a mask because she is worried about her patient giving her a disease, she is wearing it to make the other person safer.
Next Week, You'll See Something In The Sky No Human Has Seen Since March 4, 1226
While we orbit the sun each year, Jupiter needs 12 and Saturn 30, which means every 20 years or so Jupiter laps Saturn, and on December 21st, 2020, the two planets will be just a tenth of a degree apart, less than the diameter of the moon. The two largest planets in our solar system will look to some like a double planet from science fiction.
Alternative Medicine Is Ruining The Future Of 155 Threatened Species - Yet Helps No One
Charles Darwin Was Right On Why Insects Are Losing The Ability To Fly, Finds New Paper
Less Than 2% Of OB-GYNs Take The 8-Hour Course Needed To Prescribe This Opioid Life Saver
Buprenorphine is a "partial-agonist" which soothes the brain's cravings for opioids by partially activating opiate receptors, and binding to them tightly, decreasing the risk of fatal overdoses.
Obtaining an X-waiver requires training, but it's only eight hours for physicians and 24 hours for nurse-practitioners and physician assistants.
If You Drink And It's Friday, You're More Likely To Believe You've Seen A UFO
If intelligent aliens visit the Earth, it would be one of the most profound events in human history.
Surveys show that nearly half of Americans believe that aliens have visited the Earth, either in the ancient past or recently. That percentage has been increasing. Belief in alien visitation is greater than belief that Bigfoot is a real creature, but less than belief that places can be haunted by spirits.
Could We See LHC Neutrinos In IceCube? The Answer, As Always, Is Five Sigma
The LHC is...
Melatonin May Boost Memory But Here's Why You Shouldn't Go Buy Supplements
Large Multicenter Trial: Omega-3 Supplements Have No Benefit For Patients At Cardiac Risk, But Do Have Some Harm
Healthcare Workers 7X As Likely To Get Severe COVID-19
It's obvious that that those working in healthcare roles are at heightened risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 and therefore COVID-19, but it has not been clear what the risks might be compared to those working in other sectors.
The Mental Health Of COVID-19: Steep Rise In Depressive Symptoms Among Elementary School Kids
Social distancing and school closures are thought to have badly affected children's mental health but there has been little hard evidence to substantiate it, largely because of a lack of good baseline data for the same children collected before the first lockdowns in March. There was no reason. Everyone believed this would be three weeks, not a year or more as President-Elect Joe Biden is saying he intends to implement.
The Mathematics Of Cancer
In our daily life, we unfortunately have become used to seeing images of tumors and melanomas. You may have noticed that they’re are not entirely symmetric. This asymmetry is useful to doctors in their diagnoses, but why are they asymmetric?
Pandemic Meetings May Be Eliminating Balance - And Have Productivity Repercussions
Mystery Monoliths: How To Build A Better Conspiracy
The three recent appearances (and two subsequent removals) of “monoliths” in Romania, Utah and California are intriguing examples of what can capture the public’s imagination.
These constructions are metallic-looking structures about three or four metres tall, with a simple geometric design and reflective surface.