|  Can Apple's 'Night Shift' Really Help You Sleep Better?  | A new iPhone feature called "Night Shift" automatically adjusts the screen's colors to warmer hues after sunset, on the premise that this change could help people sleep better. Night Shift is now available as part of Apple's latest mobile operating system update, iOS 9.3, which was released Monday (March 21). The feature uses the iPhone or iPad's clock and geolocation services to determine when sunset is happening in your area, and then automatically adjusts the screen's colors to redder, or warmer, colors, Apple says.
| Read More » After Zika Infection, People Should Wait Months to Conceive Children, CDC Says People who have been infected with Zika virus should wait at least several months before they attempt to conceive a child, according to new recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Women who are diagnosed with Zika or who experience symptoms of the disease after possible exposure to Zika should wait at least eight weeks after their symptoms started before trying to become pregnant, the CDC said. For men, the recommended wait is much longer: Those who have been infected with Zika or who have symptoms of it should wait at least six months before attempting to conceive a child, the agency said. Read More » Ancient Mini Weapons Likely Made to Please Gods  | Bows, arrows, daggers and battle-axes made of bronze found in Arabia may have been offerings to a deity of war, researchers said. These artifacts are the first miniature, imitation weapons that archaeologists have found in prehistoric Arabia, and might shed light on the practices of the mysterious peoples who created the artifacts, scientists added. This new cache of artifacts dates to the Iron Age, which lasted from about 900 B.C. to 600 B.C. The collection was uncovered in the Sultanate of Oman, a country on the coast of the Arabian Peninsula, near the town of Adam, which is located at the frontier between Oman's desert and oasis regions.
| Read More » Amazing Blind Cavefish Walks Up Rocks and Waterfalls  | When the first water-dwelling creature wriggled up onto land about 400 million years ago, it took the first steps down an evolutionary path that would eventually lead to a diverse range of tetrapods — animals with backbones and four limbs — that navigate the world in a number of ways.
| Read More » Eating More 'Healthy Fats' May Lower Diabetes Risk Replacing some of the meat and cheese in your diet with vegetable oils or nuts could help slow the progression of diabetes in some people, according to a small new study. People with "prediabetes" have levels of blood sugar, or glucose, that are higher than normal but not high enough to warrant being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. In 2012, 86 million Americans age 20 and older had prediabetes, and 29.1 million had diabetes, with the vast majority of the cases being type 2, according to the American Diabetes Association. Read More » WWII-Era Bell from Sunken Japanese Submarine Recovered  | A bronze bell from a sunken World War II-era Japanese submarine was recently recovered off the coast of Oahu, in Hawaii. The bell was retrieved from the underwater remains of the I-400, an Imperial Japanese Navy mega submarine that was captured and intentionally sunk by U.S. forces in 1946. The massive vessel was one of the Japanese Navy's Sen Toku-class submarines.
| Read More » Affordable Hypersonic Jets Could Be High-Flying Reality by 2023  | Hypersonic aircraft and weapons that can fly more than five times the speed of sound may seem like a futuristic fantasy, but defense giant Lockheed Martin says it is committed to making these ultrafast innovations a reality. In fact, Lockheed Martin is doubling down on hypersonic aerospace technologies, Lockheed officials said recently at the company's Media Day. "Lockheed Martin continues to invest in propulsion technologies and advanced materials needed for hypersonic speeds," Marillyn A. Hewson, Lockheed Martin president and CEO, said in a statement on March 15.
| Read More » New Ultrathin Solar Cells Are Light Enough to Sit on a Soap Bubble  | Scientists have created the thinnest, lightest solar power cells yet — so lightweight that they can be draped on top of a soap bubble without popping it. Solar cells, technically known as photovoltaic cells, directly convert energy from light into electricity. The new solar cells are as small as 1.3 microns thick.
| Read More » Alaska Volcano Erupts, Spewing Ash 20,000 Feet into the Air  | A snow- and ice-covered volcano located in Alaska's Aleutian Islands erupted Sunday (March 27), spewing a cloud of ash about 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) into the sky, the Alaska Volcano Observatory reported. The area also had elevated seismic activity at 3:53 p.m. local time, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). In response, the Alaska Volcano Observatory raised the volcano alert level to "warning," and the aviation color code to "red," meaning that an eruption is imminent or underway and putting high levels of ash into the atmosphere.
| Read More » Season of Birth Genetically Linked to Allergy Risk People born in the fall and winter seem to have an increased risk of certain allergic diseases such as asthma, studies have shown, and now scientists may have found one reason why. In a new study of people in England, researchers found that certain markers on the DNA are linked to the seasons in which people are born, and these markers also seem to mediate people's risk of allergic diseases. The results suggest that some environmental factor that varies from one season to another may also drive the changes in these markers, the researchers said. Read More » Aloha, You Old Bat: Extinct Critter Doubles Hawaii's Land Mammal Species  | Hawaii just doubled the number of known land mammal species that are native to the islands, thanks to the discovery of a number of fossils representing a tiny bat named Synemporion keana. Found in 13 cave sites over five islands — Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Maui and Hawaii —the fossils described in a new study represent at least 110 individuals and reveal a bat that was notably different from the only other land mammal species that is endemic to Hawaii — the Hawaiian hoary bat. Many of S. keana's bones were found in the same locations as hoary bat fossils, suggesting to scientists that the bats shared habitats.
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