This is because the shorter the wavelengths of light, the better it scatters off of air and water particles. Blue Light So blue light, which has very short wavelengths, is much more likely to scatter than the longer wavelengths, like red light. This...
Medical school is a bear. Med students have to endure long hours, little sleep, and tons of pressure. And, getting stuck by needles. According to one study, med students on track to become surgeons get stuck often. Of the nearly 700 med school gradua...
What do brain damaged patients, adults saying tongue twisters and all children have in common? Theyre more likely to make speech errors than an adult who is speaking under normal circumstances. A common type of speech error in children occurs when on...
Cognitive psychologists believe that our language construction is a result of a two-step word retrieval process. The first step is the search for a words meaning, and the second step is the search for the actual sound of a word. Different speech erro...
So does this mean that drinking lots of coffee or tea or even soft drinks will prevent you from getting Alzheimers? Could reversing memory loss caused by Alzheimers be as simple as drinking more coffee? That remains to be seen. But at least one previ...
Its well known that caffeine has dozens of health benefits. Coffee, for example, is rich in antioxidants: molecules believed to protect against heart disease, cancer, and other diseases. Caffeine is also a mood booster and useful for treating headach...
And the direction the crystals are pointing makes a difference to the speed seismic waves travel through the rock: a wave traveling parallel to the crystalsin other words, along the length of the toothpickmoves faster than a wave traveling in the oth...
The ground may feel solid, but far beneath our feet, extremely hot rock at extremely high pressure is flowing like slow, underground rivers. No one has ever seen that far into the earth, but we see the results of that movement in every earthquake and...
Other studies have backed this up. A Harvard study found a relationship between early-childhood music lessons and enhanced verbal skills and reasoning. The study also found that learning an instrument can help dyslexic children overcome their reading...
Rainbows are one of natures most ephemeral beauties, but theres a related phenomenon thats even more ghostly. These are the pale white, rainbow-like arches that are sometimes seen on foggy days or in dense fog banks. Whats responsible for these so-ca...
Some single-celled organisms dont make a shell from calcium material. They extract silicates from the ocean instead, and secrete a shell of solid glass. The giant loggerhead sponge secretes glass too, producing crystals that resemble fiberglass. Abou...
This extra jostling pushes the atoms farther apart, causing the whole substance to slightly increase in size. If the substance cools off, its atoms stop pushing against each other so vigorously. This makes the substance shrink again. This connection...
They tell us how to dress in the morning and when to stop roasting a turkey. When we catch a cold, they tell us how sick we are. Thermometers are an everyday part of our lives, something we usually take for granted. Temperature affects human beings,...
Hold your hand out and try to keep it perfectly still. After a moment, it will probably begin to shake. Hold that same hand out just before you give a major presentation to your new boss, and youll notice that those normal small tremors increase subs...
Some viruses, including HIV, which is responsible for AIDS, evolve even faster than bacteria. Unlike bacteria (as well as plants and animals), which carry their genetic information in the form of DNA, these viruses carry their genetic information in...
