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How quickly does the climate recover?
It took the climate 20,000 to 50,000 years to stabilize after the rise in global temperatures of five to eight degrees Celsius 56 million years ago. Climate change today is causing temperatures to rise and is also increasing the likelihood of storms, heavy rain, and flooding — the recent flood disaster in the Ahr valley…
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Higher olive oil intake associated with lower risk of CVD mortality
Consuming more than 7 grams (>1/2 tablespoon) of olive oil per day is associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality, cancer mortality, neurodegenerative disease mortality and respiratory disease mortality, according to a new study. The study found that replacing about 10 grams/day of margarine, butter, mayonnaise and dairy fat with the equivalent amount of…
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Secret of the famous Pazyryk carpet: Fermented wool is the answer
Why are the red, yellow, and blue colors used in the world’s oldest knotted-pile carpet still so vivid and bright, even after almost two and a half thousand years? Researchers have now been able to uncover the secrets behind the so-called Pazyryk carpet using high-resolution x-ray fluorescence microscopy. The Pazyryk carpet is the world’s oldest…
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Variations in climate conditions affect reproductive success of Antarctic krill, study finds
Climate conditions play a significant role in the reproductive success of mature female Antarctic krill and are a factor in fluctuations of the population that occur every five to seven years. Environmental factors, including large-scale climate patterns that affect availability of food, influence the females’ overall health during the spawning season. While those climate patterns…
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Children to bear the burden of negative health effects from climate change
The grim effects that climate change will have on pediatric health outcomes was the focus of a recent article. Pacheco, an associate professor of pediatrics at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, along with professors from Johns Hopkins Medicine and the George Washington University, authored a series of articles that detail how increased temperatures due to…
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Ancient feces shows people in present-day Austria drank beer and ate blue cheese up to 2,700 years ago
Human feces don’t usually stick around for long — and certainly not for thousands of years. But exceptions to this general rule are found in a few places in the world, including prehistoric salt mines of the Austrian UNESCO World Heritage area Hallstatt-Dachstein/Salzkammergut. Now, researchers who’ve studied ancient fecal samples (or paleofeces) from these mines…
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Researchers trace geologic origins of Gulf of Mexico ‘super basin’ success
The Gulf of Mexico holds huge untapped offshore oil deposits that could help power the U.S. for decades. According to researchers, the basin’s vast oil and gas reserves are the result of a remarkable geologic past. Only a fraction of the oil has been extracted and much remains buried beneath ancient salt layers, just recently…
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Designer protein patches boost cell signaling
A new class of protein material that interacts with living cells without being absorbed by them can influence cell signaling, a new study shows. The material does this by binding and sequestering cell surface receptors. The discovery could have far-reaching implications for stem cell research and enable the development of new materials designed to modulate…
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Slow and regular earthquakes interact near Istanbul
Earthquakes typically last only a few seconds, although sometimes the shifts in the subsurface occur in slow motion. Understanding these ‘slow quakes’, known as ‘slow slip events’, and their interplay with the short — sometimes violent — tremors is critically important to define the seismic hazard and subsequent risk. A suspicious calm in the ‘seismic…
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Three years of monitoring of Oregon’s gray whales shows changes in health
Three years of ‘health check-ups’ on Oregon’s summer resident gray whales shows a compelling relationship between whales’ overall body condition and changing ocean conditions that likely limited availability of prey for the mammals. Researchers from the Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Laboratory at OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute used drones to monitor 171 whales off the…