An old tree lives in front of the house of Reddit user SeanCole2. But unlike any other tree, this tree, for some reason, produces leaves with various colors. A reddit user commented that the tree is a red maple and likely suffers from chlorosis, and is lacking in iron or manganese.

Well, what do you think?

(Image Credit: u/ SeanCole2/ Reddit)

What’s in our blood, and why do mosquitoes love it? Why is it tasty for them? A team of scientists led by Leslie Vosshall genetically modified mosquitoes in order for them to identify “which neurons fire when a mosquito tastes blood.”

“This is definitely a technical tour de force,” says neuroscientist Chris Potter of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who studies mosquito repellents. Identifying the specific taste neurons associated with blood might be something “we could use against the mosquito,” he says.

How can this knowledge be used against mosquitoes, you ask?

One possibility might sound like science fiction, Vosshall says, but there is precedent. “I just gave my dogs their monthly flea and tick medication, which is oral,” she says. Perhaps something similar could eventually be done for mosquitoes – a drug that humans could take before going to a mosquito-infested area that would interfere with mosquito’s taste for blood.

So what characteristics does our blood have? How does it taste like to mosquitoes?

Answers over at Neuroscience News.

(Image Credit: CDC/ Wikimedia Commons)

We adults build unconscious bias as we decide and make choices in our daily lives. However, it seems that this phenomenon happens to babies, too, according to a new study published in the journal Psychological Science. The moment a child picks up a toy from a room full of different toys, bias is formed, and he just decided that he doesn’t like the other toys that he didn’t choose.

"The act of making a choice changes how we feel about our options," said co-author Alex Silver, a former Johns Hopkins undergraduate who's now a graduate student in cognitive psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. "Even infants who are really just at the start of making choices for themselves have this bias."

[...]

People assume they choose things that they like. But research suggests that's sometimes backwards: We like things because we choose them. And, we dislike things that we don't choose.

"I chose this, so I must like it. I didn't choose this other thing, so it must not be so good. Adults make these inferences unconsciously," said co-author Lisa Feigenson, a Johns Hopkins cognitive scientist specializing in child development. "We justify our choice after the fact."

More details about this study over at Science Daily.

(Image Credit: thedanw/ Pixabay)

This might look like a computer-generated photo of the Milky Way over a strange planet, but this actually is a real photo taken from the Pinnacles in Nambung National Park, Australia.

In the background, just past the end of the central Pinnacle, is a bright crescent Moon. The eerie glow around the Moon is mostly zodiacal light, sunlight reflected by dust grains orbiting between the planets in the Solar System… The featured 29-panel panorama was taken and composed in 2015 September after detailed planning that involved the Moon, the rock spires, and their corresponding shadows. Even so, the strong zodiacal light was a pleasant surprise.

Awesome.

(Image Credit: Michael Goh)

Home to over 49,000 people, Pripyat was once a thriving city, full of schools, gyms, playgrounds, malls, and cafés. But over 30 years ago, tragedy struck, and Pripyat became a ghost city.

The disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which took place near the city of Pripyat in the Ukrainian SSR, was one of the worst of its kind in history, causing 132 people to be diagnosed with acute radiation sickness.

Pripyat was completely evacuated within two days of the disaster, and the surrounding 4,000 square miles of the power plant have been abandoned ever since.

The city was also home to the Pripyat Music School.

The school had several practice rooms, and a big auditorium with a grand piano. Most of the rooms are now completely empty, providing an eerie landscape where only two lonely instruments remain.

All photos were taken by photographer André Joosse, who visited the Zone several times to document the abandoned villages, the city of Pripyat and the Nuclear Power Plant Site. Have a look at his website for more photos.

Check out some of the photos of the Pripyat Music School over at Classic FM.

(Image Credit: Andre Joosse, urbex.nl/ Classic FM)

Remains of a large temple, which was possibly built in the end of the 8th century, have been unearthed by archaeologists in Norway. The temple is said to have been a “god house” — a place where people worshipped and gave sacrifices to the Old Norse gods (like Thor and Odin) during the midsummer and midwinter solstices.

This is the first Old Norse temple found in the country, said archaeologist Søren Diinhoff of the University Museum of Bergen.

"This is the first time we've found one of these very special, very beautiful buildings," Diinhoff told Live Science. "We know them from Sweden and we know them from Denmark. … This shows that they also existed in Norway."

The Norse began building these large "god houses," as they're called, in the sixth century. The god houses were much more complex than the simple sites, often outdoors, that the people previously used to worship the Old Norse gods.

But how did archaeologists find out that this was a god house? The answer is over at Live Science.

(Image Credit: University Museum of Bergen/ Live Science)

Tinnitus affects millions of people around the globe. A person having this condition hears a ringing noise in his ears. It is stated that this condition can cause difficulty focusing, as well as anxiety and fatigue, which could lead in a reduced quality of life.

For years, scientists have been looking for ways to alleviate the ringing sound heard by people with tinnitus…

but to date, no drug or medical device has been shown to reliably improve this condition.

Just recently, scientists have discovered a method which could be an effective way to provide relief to those with tinnitus. The method involves combining sounds with zaps to the tongue.

According to study co-author Hubert Lim, an associate professor of biomedical engineering and otolaryngology at the University of Minnesota, this treatment targets a subset of brain cells that are firing abnormally. Through studies in both humans and animals, Lim’s team and others previously reported that electrically stimulating touch-sensitive neurons in the tongue or face can activate neurons in the auditory system. Pairing these zaps with sounds appears to rewire brain circuits associated with tinnitus.

Learn more about this over at Scientific American.

(Image Credit: Anemone123/ Pixabay)

Electric cars are becoming popular lately because they are better for the environment compared to gas-powered cars. But a team from Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands decided to take the concept of environment-friendly cars to the next level — by creating an electric car that’s mostly made out of recycled waste.

“With this car, we want to show that waste is a valuable material, even in complex applications like a car,” team member Matthijs van Wijk said in a statement.

The car, nicknamed “Luca,” features an electric powertrain, with two electric motors allowing it to reach a top speed of 90 kmh (56 mph).

Now that’s cool.

Learn more details about this car over at Eindhoven University of Technology.

Via Futurism

(Image Credit: Bart van Overbeeke/ Futurism)

Jack Hoopes is a veterinary radiation specialist at Dartmouth College, who spends a lot of time with dying dogs. For decades, he has been spending his time trying many methods to treat canine cancers, as these experimental therapies could lead to the development of human treatments.

Recently, many of Hoopes’ furry patients have come to him with a relatively common oral cancer that will almost certainly kill them within a few months if left untreated. Even if the cancer goes into remission after radiation treatment, there’s a very high chance it will soon re-emerge.

But Hoopes has a new experimental therapy for these dogs, a new cancer therapy based on a common plant virus.

After receiving the viral therapy, several of the dogs had their tumors disappear entirely and lived into old age without recurring cancer. Given that around 85 percent of dogs with oral cancer will develop a new tumor within a year of radiation therapy, the results were striking. The treatment, Hoopes felt, had the potential to be a breakthrough that could save lives, both human and canine.

“If a treatment works in dog cancer, it has a very good chance of working, at some level, in human patients,” says Hoopes.

More details about this over at Ars Technica.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: Thomas Splettstoesser/ Wikimedia Commons)

With pancakes filled with strawberries and a mountain of whipped cream, this cute dog knows that it is in front of a yummy masterpiece. Just look at his reaction.

I just wonder if he was able to finish it all up.

Image via Important Animal Images on Facebook

You might not believe it, but our brain remembers where you put your junk food easier than where you put your healthy snacks. The question is, why is this the case?

This is what some scientists call 'optimal foraging theory', and it suggests our spatial memory, or our 'cognitive maps', have evolved to prioritise the most calorically rewarding snacks.

For our hunter-gatherer ancestors, who never knew when their next meal would come, these mental 'drop pins' would likely have come in handy. For the modern person rummaging through their kitchen, new research suggests it can sometimes be a curse.

By testing the spatial memory of 512 participants, scientists found out that our brain is “implicitly biased toward high-calorie foods.”

When put through a maze of food items, participants were more likely to remember the locations of chocolate brownies and potato chips than healthy foods like apples and tomatoes.

More details about this study over at ScienceAlert.

Yikes.

(Image Credit: Fotorech/ Pixabay)

Dr. Stone is an anime series about a man named Senku who plans to rebuild civilization from scratch after all of humanity turned to stone for 3,700 years. One of the great things about the series is that it is scientifically accurate. One can learn many things from the series, such as why we smoke food, and how to make stuff like wires and light bulbs. But the “invention” that piqued the curiosity of many is the Senku Cola.

Does it taste good?

Find out on this video by CHEFPK.

(Image Credit: CHEFPK/ YouTube)

With Starlink’s plan to provide near-global internet service through the use of tens of thousands of communications satellites, optical astronomers are worried that these satellites will block their view of the cosmos. But it’s not just optical astronomers who are worried; radio astronomers are, too.

The 197 radio astronomy dishes of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in South Africa will sit within a radio-quiet zone the size of Pennsylvania where even a cellphone is forbidden, to preserve the array’s views of the heavens. Yet that precaution won’t save the telescope, due to be completed in the late 2020s, from what may soon be overhead: tens of thousands of communications satellites beaming down radio signals straight from the heavens. “The sky will be full of these things,” says SKA Director General Phil Diamond.

This week, SKA released an analysis of the impact that Starlink and other constellations would have on the array. It finds they would interfere with one of the radio channels SKA plans to use, hampering searches for organic molecules in space as well as water molecules used as a key marker in cosmology.

Details about this over at Science Magazine.

What are your thoughts about this one?

(Image Credit: ESA-SCIENCE-OFFICE/ Science Magazine)

With these gloves, you might no longer need a shovel when you plant in your backyard. Unlike other garden gloves, these come with detachable fingertip claws, which are great for breaking up dirt. The gloves have other uses, too, such as for self-defense, or as part of a monster costume.

You can find a whole bunch of these weird but useful gloves over on Amazon.

Cool!

(Image Credit: Amazon/ Technabob)

High-touch surfaces are places that need to be disinfected regularly in order to avoid the spread of diseases. It has become common practice lately that you sanitize your hands immediately after touching high-touch surfaces, such as elevator buttons.

This elevator offers you another way to interact with elevator buttons: instead of having to press the buttons with your fingers, you can choose to press using your feet. Unlike regular elevators, this elevator has giant buttons that you can easily access using your feet.

I wonder where this elevator is.

(Image Credit: u/PlasticRuester/ Reddit)