Astronomers have discovered the largest rocky planet yet, and its existence has profound implications for our understanding of the early universe and the potential for extraterrestrial life. Kepler-10c, which was spotted by NASA’s Kepler space telescope, has a diameter of roughly 18,000 miles—more than twice that of Earth —prompting scientists to create a new class of planets, dubbed “mega-Earths.”The body’s […]
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Almost one-fifth of world’s food lost to waste and over-eating, a study suggests. The world population consumes around 10 per cent more food than it needs, while almost nine per cent of food lost to waste or left to spoil, researchers say. Efforts to reduce the billions of tonnes lost could improve global food security — ensuring everyone has access […]
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As an evolutionary strategy, the evolutionary roots of monogamy have long puzzled scientists: When a male pairs off for life with one female, he limits how many offspring he can produce, thus reducing his chances to pass on his genes. Few species are monogamous, yet 5 percent of mammal species are, including wolves and beavers—and about a quarter of primates. […]
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Reykjavik, Iceland Porn ban: Iceland is considering installing Internet filters to block Icelanders from viewing porn. If that ban goes ahead as expected this spring, the country will be the first Western democracy to attempt to censor the Internet. Iceland already forbids the creation and distribution of print pornography, and in the past few months a national consensus has emerged […]
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(1) The Albany, New York, company Vireo Health told reporters it would soon offer the world’s first certified Kosher marijuana, announcing that the Orthodox Union of New York had authenticated it as having met Jewish dietary laws (e.g., grown with insect-free plants). (Other Kosher-validating officials complained that the approval should apply only to marijuana that is eaten, not smoked.) […]
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■ A police station in northern France is storing so much seized marijuana that officers are getting high off the fumes. “The odor is really strong” said one officer. “After a day, you are stoned.” About 88 pounds of weed has piled up at the Roubaix station because of a strike at the agency that is supposed to dispose of […]
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Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have found that antibiotic resistance has risen to dangerous levels. If drastic action is not taken soon it will become a bigger killer than cancer by the year 2050. The report shows that at least 2 million people in the US are infected each year with germs that are resistant […]
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In a controversial move that has caused a massive public backlash, the city of Montreal will go ahead with their plans to dump over 2 billion gallons (8 billion liters) of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River — Montreal’s primary drinking water supply — in mid-October. While the Quebec Environment Minister David Heurtel has stated that the sewage dump […]
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Could obesity be treated as a form of drug addiction? A new study suggests that some overweight people may be addicted to eating in the same way that, say, a cocaine addict craves another hit of his favorite drug. Researchers at Yale University gave a small group of young women questionnaires to determine their levels of food addiction. Then they […]
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Firstborn kids truly do have a tendency to be more astute than their kin, another study has found. The reason is not biological, as a few specialists have suspected, but instead the way folks treat children, contingent upon conception order. The study compared the IQs of 240,000 Norwegian men and found that the normal IQ of firstborn children was 2 […]
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