The research used data from a study begun in 1960 that recorded teacher personality ratings of 2400 grade school age kids. Forty years later, those same former students did video taped interviews. When the researchers compared the initial personality...
If you think back to when you were a teenager or even younger, you may grimace at things you said, did, and thought. Thank goodness, you might say, Im no longer the same crazy kid I once was. Except that in many ways, youre more or less the same. At...
For leaves that turn red or purplish, a different process occurs. Reddish pigments are manufactured in the leaf as summer ends, created from sugars that are trapped in the leaf by that same cork-like growth of cells. Cool late-summer nights work best...
Bitter orange, which is used in weight loss supplements, has been linked to heart attack and stroke. Another common ingredient, coltsfoot, has been tied to cancer and liver damage. Not all dietary supplements are dangerous. Many are probably harmless...
As the dog days of summer trot into autumn, you might start thinking about one of natures most spectacular showsthe annual fall foliage display that can break out like brilliant slow-motion fireworks in woodlands around the country. Lets face it thou...
Most of us produce more than one version of amylase, and which enzyme varieties you produce are determined by your genes. For example, if you inherited the genetic instructions for enzymes that break down pasta faster than potatoes, pasta will taste...
Dietary supplements are big business. Every year, millions of health conscious consumers spend billions of dollars on ginkgo biloba, noni juice, multivitamins, and other supposedly health boosting substances. But are dietary supplements really good f...
Why do most people like Moms cooking? Although family attachments can account for part of our appreciation, the fact that Moms (or Dads) cooking tastes good to us also has some basis in genetics. As we chew our food, we produce saliva, which contains...
Weve discussed before how waves on the ocean have the ability to reinforce other waves. First the wind starts blowing, producing small waves. Some of these small waves combine with other small waves to form a single, larger wave. This is how you get...
In the first year, remember, the business made one hundred thousand dollars. In the second year profits increased 100 percentthat means second-year profits were two hundred thousand dollars. In the third year profits decreased 75 percentrelative to t...
How to lie with statistics is the title of a little book by Darrell Huff, first published in 1954. Heres an example of the kind of question Huff writes about in the book: A new business makes a very respectable one hundred thousand dollars in profits...
Scientists at MIT have built nanotubes that act like tiny antennas, or funnels, that can concentrate sunlight on a solar cell. Regular solar cells capture only a relatively small portion of the light that hits them, mainly because the materials used...
In a world using up fossil fuels at an ever growing rate, renewable energy sources like solar power are becoming more and more valuable. But solar panels have a problem. A single panel can only capture so much sunlight and produce a limited amount of...
Not only that, but bedbugs can hide for a really long time without any food. The little buggers have been known to hide out for as long as a year without feeding, only to emerge when the time is right. So when you spray with a regular insecticide, yo...
I recently discovered that my house is infested with bedbugs. So I doused my bed and furniture with bug spray, but it didnt work. I ended up having to hire an exterminator to do the job. Why Is It So Hard To Get Rid Of Bedbugs? Good question, and a r...
