I knew the CIA had a lot of secrets but for over 50 years, they kept the Soviet Army's 1948 "Manual for the cook instructor of the ground troops in peacetime" hidden from the public.

Originally published in January of 1948, the translation appears to be dated some eight years later in February of 1956. The reason for the belated translation is unclear, as the cover sheet likely containing some explanation has been withheld in full.

The manual itself outlines the duties of the titular “cook instructor,” from more general considerations such as “make sure people find your food tasty”...to the surprisingly detailed definition of what constitutes tasty food.

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Since we have destroyed much of earth's resources to the point where we probably wouldn't have enough to support the needs of the growing seven billion world population, the European Space Agency turns toward the moon for resources.

This week, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced a deal with ArianeGroup, parent company of launch provider Arianespace, to study and prep a possible 2025 moon mission.

The goal: mine the lunar surface for resources. They have also recruited former Google Lunar X Prize competitor PTScientists to provide the lander for the mission.

Whether it would be successful is one thing but the fact that we would now go to the moon and suck it up dry is just going too far, in my opinion.

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Researchers say that they might have found the underlying cause of Alzheimer's disease and consequently, how to prevent it. It might sound far-fetched but they say it has something to do with gum disease.

We may finally have found the long-elusive cause of Alzheimer’s disease: Porphyromonas gingivalis, the key bacteria in chronic gum disease.

That’s bad, as gum disease affects around a third of all people. But the good news is that a drug that blocks the main toxins of P. gingivalis is entering major clinical trials this year, and research published today shows it might stop and even reverse Alzheimer’s. There could even be a vaccine.

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In an era full of rising tensions between countries and the breakdown of international diplomacy, we can no longer neglect that something like a nuclear war might occur with even a small, inaccurate decision made by the big players in global politics. But there has been a question regarding the US nuclear triad, and that is, is it still worth it?

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Though the women's movement has made great strides in various fields, the gender pay gap still exists. It will take much more time and effort before it could be closed totally, but for the meantime, researchers say that when wages between men and women are disclosed, the pay gap decreases.

However, we have just conducted the first empirical study on the impact of mandatory wage transparency. That study’s results suggest that disclosing disparities in gender pay does in fact narrow the gender wage gap.

Our research examined wage statistics of Danish companies before and after the introduction of the country’s 2006 Act on Gender Specific Pay Statistics. That legislation requires companies with more than 35 employees to report on gender pay gaps.

Our results showed that from 2003 to 2008, the gender pay gap at mandatory reporting firms shrank 7%, from 18.9% to 17.5%, while the gap at control firms stayed steady at 18.9%.

This could be a healthy trade-off. Yes, though it benefits some, this also impacts how pay increases are given out as a whole.

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Twitter user Dr. Karl posed this question and experts from The Conversation have given us answers as to why rain can actually be more beneficial in watering plants.

Nitrogen makes up about 78% of the atmosphere but plants cannot access it directly from the sky as it takes too much energy to turn it into a form they can actually use. Instead, plants can get their nitrogen from other sources, in processes scientists broadly refer to as nitrogen fixation.

Plants can also get their nitrogen from high-energy processes in the atmosphere, like solar radiation and lightning, which is where summer storms come in.

The enormous heat and pressure that lightning generates provides enough energy to break down and convert atmospheric nitrogen into a number of reactive nitrogen species. When mixed with oxygen and water in the atmosphere the resulting rainfall will contain greater levels of nitrates and ammonium.

There is no doubt that natural processes are a lot better at supplying us all with the necessary nutrients that we all need. Of course, there are also other factors that come into play, but generally, what nature gives us would be the best source for what we need.

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There's nothing nicer than to lie on a hammock and be gently swayed by the wind as you drift off to slumber. Not only is it relaxing, it also helps improve sleep and memory, a study shows.

"Having a good night's sleep means falling asleep rapidly and then staying asleep during the whole night," says Laurence Bayer of the University of Geneva, Switzerland.

"Our volunteers--even if they were all good sleepers--fell asleep more rapidly when rocked and had longer periods of deeper sleep associated with fewer arousals during the night. We thus show that rocking is good for sleep."

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Isolated cases of rare diseases are no longer isolated. We begin to understand now that previously undiagnosed diseases share common experiences with many people around the world and with the help of new technologies in genetics and medicine, we can now look into what causes these rare diseases and find a way to treat them.

When Christy Collins’ daughter was born, the doctors were baffled. The baby’s body was larger on one side than the other, and her skin was covered with unusual birthmarks. The girl had low muscle tone and fluid in her lungs, and her legs felt doughy to the touch. But why? Medical experts could not say.

Just a few decades ago, children with seemingly undiagnosable conditions—children like her little girl—received a catchall label of “multiple disabilities” without further investigation. But things have changed.

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Human beings have always set out to expand the limits of our knowledge and experience of the world. We want to challenge ourselves and see how far we can go, and we want to discover things that are beyond the normal reach. And so, almost 60 years ago, two men set out to be the first people to dive toward the deepest point of the ocean.

On 23 January 1960, two men clambered aboard the Trieste for its attempt to dive into the Challenger Deep of the Mariana Trench: marine specialist Lieutenant Don Walsh of the US Navy; and oceanographer Jacques Piccard, son of the vehicle’s inventor.

This is the story of Trieste.

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Being able to travel long distances at high speeds is something that we only see in sci-fi movies. It's just impossible to have something that could surpass the speed of light. But a scientist has thought of a way to get around the limitations.

This not-entirely-impossible warp drive is the brainchild of Miguel Alcubierre, a theoretical physicist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

According to Einstein’s special theory of relativity, nothing can go faster than light. Given the vast distances between stars, even the fastest possible vessel would still take way too long to get anywhere useful to humans.

But Alcubierre found a catch: nothing in relativity suggests that spacetime cannot contract or stretch faster than light. If spacetime around the ship bends in a certain way, the craft can be swiftly propelled and, in theory, travel a vast distance in little time.

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I have always disliked goodbyes, whether it be a TV show or movie, a friend who is going away, or even this star in the last moments of its life, the thought of not seeing someone or something again makes me feel a flurry of emotions, from sadness and pain to hope.

On Tuesday, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) released a new image of a star called ESO 577-24. Once a red giant, it is now an extremely hot dwarf star surrounded by a planetary nebula — a stunning cloud of glowing gas that will slowly expand and grow dimmer as the star dies.

(Image credit: ESO)

For a lot of people struggling with depression, just getting out of bed could be a cumbersome task. On their low days, nothing just seems to make any sense in the world and they would rather stay cooped up inside. But research now shows that engaging in physical activities could help them reduce risk for depression.

Now a team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators has used a novel research method to strongly support physical activity as a preventive measure for depression. Their report is being published online in JAMA Psychiatry.

"Using genetic data, we found evidence that higher levels of physical activity may causally reduce risk for depression," says Karmel Choi, Ph.D., of the Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit in the MGH Center for Genomic Medicine, lead author of the report.

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Ever wanted to become a telepath like Professor X and have superhuman mental powers? Well, researchers from the MIT Lincoln Lab have found a way to become just a little bit like him.

Researchers have demonstrated that a laser can transmit an audible message to a person without any type of receiver equipment. The ability to send highly targeted audio signals over the air could be used to communicate across noisy rooms or warn individuals of a dangerous situation such as an active shooter.

“Our system can be used from some distance away to beam information directly to someone's ear,” said research team leader Charles M. Wynn. “It is the first system that uses lasers that are fully safe for the eyes and skin to localize an audible signal to a particular person in any setting.”

Okay, so it's not exactly the same thing but it's still a pretty cool thing.

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Taking medication isn't really too taxing of a task, right? You just pop one in your mouth and wash it down with some water, and you're done. Although, they don't always take effect right away so you would still have to deal with your headache or allergies for some more time before getting relief.

But, what if the drugs we take have the capability to get to the problem right away and alleviate our condition in one or two minutes tops? That would be awesome. Actually, some scientists are doing research to do that through microrobots.

One day we may be able to ingest tiny robots that deliver drugs directly to diseased tissue, thanks to research being carried out at EPFL and ETH Zurich.

The group of scientists – led by Selman Sakar at EPFL and Bradley Nelson at ETH Zurich – drew inspiration from bacteria to design smart, biocompatible microrobots that are highly flexible.

Because these devices are able to swim through fluids and modify their shape when needed, they can pass through narrow blood vessels and intricate systems without compromising on speed or maneuverability.

(Image credit: EPFL/ETH Zurich)

Multiple sclerosis is not necessarily a contagious disease but it is a deadly one. It causes the breakdown of nerves in the body which later results in patients going through a lengthy period of suffering, ending in a tragic death. But how does one even get MS and where did it begin?

There is certainly a genetic component at work: The risk of developing MS is 1 in 1,000 in the general population; it rises to about 1 in 4 in identical twins in which one twin is affected.

Even so, genes don't explain it all. MS occurs more frequently at higher latitudes, suggesting that vitamin D deficiency might play a role in disease risk (the vitamin's production in the body is dependent on sun exposure). Smoking also increases risk for the disease, as does obesity.

And while the tale of the Faroe Islands is disputed – large scale retroactive epidemiological studies are notoriously hard to pull off – it is for the most part accepted that microbes play some role in MS given that dozens of microbes, including the Epstein-Barr virus, have been tied to MS.

Yet more than 30 years of research suggests that risk factors in MS ultimately converge on the crux of its pathology: a misguided immune attack on myelin.

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