GoogleTrends: October 2015

Saturday, October 31, 2015

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Vampires, Zombies & Werewolves, Oh My! The Origins of Halloween Monsters

Love them or fear them, the spooky creatures that haunt your Halloween nightmares have complicated histories. From the 15th century vampire myths of Serbia to the werewolf tales of ancient Rome, here are the origin stories of your favorite Halloween monsters. Vampire legends were popular long before Edward Cullen won the hearts of "Twilight" fans.

Science of the Paranormal: Can You Trust Your Own Mind?

Of all the paranormal phenomena that surround Halloween, the haunted house may be the last to inspire real fear. After checking that none of the medical gas bottles were leaking, he sat back at his desk, only to see a gray figure emerge in the corner of his vision.

Goblin Sharks and 'Skeletorus': 6 Scary Beasts to Haunt Your Halloween

Some sport extra-long fangs, while others perform ghoulish acts. Some roam the deep sea, while others haunt the land. But if there's one thing all of the animals listed here have in common, it's this: They are ready for Halloween 365 days of the year. Here are 10 creepy critters to contemplate as you bob for apples, carve pumpkins and eat copious amounts of candy.

Low-Fat Diets Are Not Better for Weight Loss

Low-fat diets are unlikely to result in greater weight loss than higher-fat diets that have the same amount of calories, a new study finds. The scientists found no difference in people's average weight loss when comparing low-fat and higher-fat diets. Reducing fat only led to greater weight loss when compared to not following any type of diet.

Women's Risk of Early Death Linked to Reproductive Milestones

Some factors related to a woman's reproductive health — such as the age at which she had her first period or the age at which she gave birth to her first child — may be related to her risk of dying early, a new study suggests. Still, "further studies are needed to confirm these findings and to identify the mechanisms that may link reproductive factors with risk of death," Merritt told Live Science.

People with Type 2 Diabetes Fall into 3 Distinct Groups, Study Finds

Type 2 diabetes doesn't affect every person who has it in exactly the same way, but now, a new study shows that people with Type 2 diabetes can be divided into a few distinct groups. The scientists found that there are actually three groups of people with Type 2 diabetes, each with a different set of problems associated with the disease. The findings show "there are statistically meaningful differences between patients," said Joel Dudley, the leader of the study and the director of biomedical informatics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

Halloween Asteroid Flies By Earth Today: Watch It Live Online

A huge asteroid the size of the football stadium has a close encounter with Earth today (Oct. 31) and you can watch the space rock safely fly by online this Halloween. NASA scientists have dubbed asteroid a cosmic "Great Pumpkin" to celebrate the spooky holiday flyby. The asteroid poses no threat of hitting Earth, but it does give astronomers a tantalizing chance to ping the space rock with radar to learn more about what it's like.

Boo! Halloween Asteroid Looks Just Like a Creepy Skull

NASA has called it a "Great Pumpkin." Others have called it "spooky." But this image of a huge asteroid making a Halloween flyby of Earth today looks so much like a skull, it's scary. The radar image of the stadium-sized asteroid 2015 TB145 was captured on Friday, Halloween eve (Oct. 30), by scientists using the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. This radar view - while fitting for today's Halloween asteroid flyby - is actually just one of several images of 2015 TB145 that show it rotating in space, with pitted surface scarred by time. The National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center overseeing Arecibo released the skull-shaped view, as well as another image showing a series of views of the asteroid over time.

Halloween in Space: A Vampire Astronaut and Nightmare in Orbit

You might masquerade as an astronaut for Halloween, but what about when astronauts dress up? In search of eerie holiday cheer, Space.com caught up with retired astronaut Clayton Anderson to hear about his dedication to Halloween garb. "It was Halloween," Anderson recounted.

Always 'Z' Prepared: When Zombies Attack, Look for a Scout

The upcoming horror-comedy film "Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse," opening today (Oct. 30), provides a seemingly unlikely answer: the kid on your block with a sash full of badges. "I was never a Boy Scout, but it's actually a terrific guide for survival," said Mat Mogk, founder of the Zombie Research Society (ZRS), which promotes studies relevant to the (hypothetical) zombie threat. Zombie societies and fictional Scouts aside, some very sober experts have taken the idea of zombie survival at least semiseriously.

Fall Back? Why Daylight Saving Time Is So Confusing

There is mixed research on whether daylight saving time causes an uptick in car accidents as a result of groggy drivers. More objective measures of timekeeping go way back: Ancient Egyptians divided the day into 12 hour-long segments, and used both astronomy and devices called water clocks to track the hours. Other ancient timekeeping methods included sundials and candle clocks, which worked like water clocks except by melting wax rather than by dripping water.

Aftermath of Gargantuan Landslide Captured in Space Image

A huge chunk of rock and ice slid down the flanks of Canada's Mount Steele on Oct. 11, at a dizzying speed — one estimate suggests a whopping 123 mph (nearly 200 km/h). The aftermath of the gargantuan landslide — about 50 million tons (45 million metric tons) tumbled down the mountain — was captured in a stunning satellite image, released last week by NASA's Earth Observatory. The fifth tallest mountain in Canada, Mount Steele is a major peak in the Saint Elias Mountains, towering over part of the southwestern Yukon Territory.

Scared to Death: Can You Really Die of Fright?

There's no question about it, the answer is yes, said Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. This response likely benefited early humans when they faced a menacing beast or aggressor, giving them the necessary adrenaline to either fight the attacker or flee the scene, Glatter said. The rush of adrenaline is an involuntary response controlled by the autonomic nervous system.

Fitful Sleep Is Worse Than Staying Awake

It's the first question anyone asks when someone has a new baby: Are you getting enough sleep? Several nights of interrupted sleep may be tougher to deal with than getting less sleep, new research suggests. "When your sleep is disrupted throughout the night, you don't have the opportunity to progress through the sleep stages to get the amount of slow-wave sleep that is key to the feeling of restoration," study lead author Patrick Finan, a professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, said in a statement.

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Friday, October 30, 2015

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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Freak Waaaay Out This Halloween with the Scariest Space Movies

No Halloween season is complete without a few scary movies, so here are Space.com's recommendations for the most frightening flicks with a cosmic twist. In film, science fiction and horror have gone hand in hand since either genre was born. [Please note that these movies are not suitable for all viewers, and many of them contain disturbing images.

Dawn Probe Heads to Superclose Orbit of Dwarf Planet Ceres

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has begun the long journey to its final orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres. The probe should begin collecting data and capturing photos from the new orbit in mid-December, NASA officials said. Dawn has been getting closer and closer to Ceres since arriving at the dwarf planet this past March.

Scientists: Warming ocean factor in collapse of cod fishery

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The rapid warming of waters off New England is a key factor in the collapse of the region's cod fishery, and changes to the species' management are needed to save one of America's oldest industries, according to a report published Thursday in Science magazine.

Scientists announce progress toward better battery to power cars

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists have created a battery whose technology in principle could power electric cars and other energy-hungry devices far better than current lithium-ion batteries, but it remains years away from commercial use. Researchers at the University of Cambridge on Thursday announced the creation of a laboratory demonstration model of a lithium-oxygen battery that overcomes many of the barriers that have held back the development of this technology. Clare Grey, a Cambridge professor of materials chemistry who led the research, called it "a step towards a practical battery, albeit with many hurdles ahead." The researchers said it could be more than a decade before a practical lithium-oxygen battery is ready, in part because the battery's ability to charge and discharge is too low.

Scientific Prizes Bring Needed Attention to Mental Health Research

Dr. Herbert Pardes is executive vice chairman of the board of trustees at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and president of the Scientific Council of the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation — and last year was the first to win the prize that now bears his name. Pardes contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. This fall, scientists around the world will trade lab coats for tuxes and ball gowns for the annual "award season" announcements of the Nobel Prize, the MacArthur Foundation fellowships, the Lasker Awards, and the star-studded and televised Breakthrough Prize awards.

The More Severe-Burn Patients Eat, the Faster They Heal (Op-Ed)

Dr. Larry Jones, director of the Comprehensive Burn Center at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, contributed this column to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Patients with severe burns, understandably, suffer from substantially diminished appetites because they're in a considerable amount of pain and are often sedated, as a result. Despite these challenges, when burn patients are admitted to the Comprehensive Burn Center at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, we make nutrition a priority, often beginning a feeding tube within 6 hours.

Facing Organ Donor Shortage, Patients Forced to Get Creative

Dr. Todd Pesavento is medical director of kidney and pancreas transplantation and interim executive director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Every 10 minutes, another name goes on the list of Americans waiting for an organ transplant. Most of those patients will have to wait months or even years before finding a donor organ, and unfortunately, some never will.

Fossil unearthed in Spain sheds light on ape evolution

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The well-preserved partial skull and skeleton of a gibbon-like creature that lived 11.6 million years ago in Spain is shedding new light on the evolutionary history of modern apes.Scientists on Thursday announced the discovery in Catalonia of fossil remains of a small, fruit-eating female ape that lived in a warm, wet forested region teeming with animals including elephant relatives, rhinos and saber-toothed predators.They gave the ape, weighing 9-11 pounds (4-5 kg), the scientific name Pliobates cataloniae and the nickname "Laia. ...

Large asteroid set to shoot by Earth on Halloween

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - A large asteroid that scientists only discovered this month will make a relatively close approach to Earth on Saturday, astronomers say, providing one of the best opportunities in years to gather data about a passing space rock. The asteroid, estimated to be about 1,300 feet (400 meters) in diameter, will shoot past the planet at 22 miles (35 km) per second at around 1 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Halloween afternoon. Known as 2015 TB145, it will come within about 300,000 miles (480,000 km) of Earth, farther away than the moon but relatively close by cosmic measures.

Halloween Asteroid Flyby: Here's What We Know About 2015 TB145

As a big asteroid flies by at a close but safe distance from Earth on Saturday (Oct. 31), astronomers will likely get a better radar view of the surface than ever before. Asteroid 2015 TB145 — discovered earlier this month, on Oct. 10 — will fly by slightly outside the moon's orbit. TB145 will fly by at 300,000 miles (480,000 kilometers) from Earth, but poses no threat to our planet.

NASA Probe Flies Through Saturn Moon Enceladus' Plume

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has made its deepest dive yet through the plume emanating from the south pole of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus.

Party Like It's 2500 B.C.: Stonehenge Builders Hosted Barbecues

The ancient builders of Stonehenge may have hosted massive barbecue cookouts where thousands of revelers feasted on meat, new research suggests. Archaeologists at the Neolithic settlement of Durrington Walls in modern-day southern England, where the builders of Stonehenge likely lived, found evidence that the village hosted open-air meat-roasting parties 4,500 years ago, with animals likely walking to the site for slaughter from regions far and wide. At the time, thousands of ancient pilgrims may have flocked to the site of Stonehenge to honor their dead, while heading back after hours to party and grill at Durrington Walls, the study authors speculated.

Tiny Bird Fossil Solves Big Mystery About Life After Dinosaurs

The newfound skeleton dates back to about 62.5 million to 62 million years ago, making it the oldest known modern bird specimen in North America to live after the dinosaur-killing mass extinction, the researchers said. "Birds were explosively diversifying right after the end of the Cretaceous, right after the big mass extinction," said study co-author Tom Williamson, curator of paleontology at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. "Maybe a dozen or less lineages of birds survived," said study co-author Daniel Ksepka, curator of science at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Little Cousin: Human, Ape Ancestor Had 'Goggle Eyes'

The fossil of a small primate with "goggle" eyes that strode atop tree branches, snagging snacks of fruit, suggests the last common ancestor of all apes might have been less like humans' closest living relatives than often thought, researchers say. This discovery could shed light on what the last common ancestor of all apes and humans might have been like, scientists added. For instance, the newfound species was a small-bodied ape that would have weighed about 8.8 to 11 lbs. (4 to 5 kilograms), making it similar in size to the smallest living gibbons.

Swim for the Earth: 3D-Printed Bikini Scrubs Water Pollution

Engineers from the University of California, Riverside, teamed up with designers from Eray Carbajo, an architecture and design firm based in New York City, to design a bikini that can absorb contaminants from water while a person swims. Sponge is a new material that engineers at UC Riverside started developing four years ago. "This is a supermaterial that is not harmful to the environment and [is] very cost-effective to produce," Mihri Ozkan, a member of the research team and an electrical engineering professor at UC Riverside's Bourns College of Engineering, told UCR Today, the school's online news publication.

'Be the Astronaut' and 'Journey to Space' in New Museum Exhibits

In Los Angeles, the California Science Center has debuted "Journey to Space," a hands-on, climb-aboard experience at what it takes to live and work off the Earth. And in Texas, Space Center Houston recently opened "Be the Astronaut," a multimedia exhibit that takes visitors on trips to the moon, Mars, asteroids, Jupiter and beyond. From exploring the International Space Station to landing on multiple worlds, these new, separate attractionsfeature authentic artifacts, replica space hardware and interactive displays to entertain and educate children and the general public about the physics, science and technology needed to support human space exploration, both now and in the future.

Halloween Fireballs Will Blaze in the Sky Through November

During the next couple of weeks, there is a fairly good chance that Earth will encounter a swarm of unusually large space particles, capable of generating some eye-catching fireball meteors. The Taurid meteors, sometimes called "Halloween fireballs,"(fireballs are extremely bright meteors) create one of this year's longest meteor showers, with at least a couple of shooting stars per hour from Oct. 20 to Nov. 30. Meteors — popularly known as "shooting stars" — are produced when debris enters and burns up in Earth's atmosphere.

Allied Navies Destroy Mock Ballistic Missile in Practice Test

How many navies does it take to shoot down one ballistic missile? On Oct. 20, naval armed forces from nine different nations teamed up to shoot down a mock ballistic missile high above Earth's atmosphere. The fiery interception was part of a demonstration by the Maritime Theater Missile Defense (MTMD) Forum, an organization established in 1999 to promote cooperation among allied navies and to facilitate the coordination of sea-based defense systems.

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