Saad Bhamla, an undergraduate in Mumbai, India, has invented a do-it-yourself hearing aid made from inexpensive, easy-to-find parts. “At bulk rates, Bhamla says, it would cost just under $1 to make,” reports Science Magazine. “But anyone with the freely available blueprints and a soldering iron can make their own for not much more — maybe $15 or $20, Bhamla says.” From…
Tag: PLOS One
Ötzi the Iceman’s final days
Scientists have identified ancient mosses in, on and around the 5,300-year-old glacier mummy that add to the story of the final 48 hours before his murder. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/otzi-the-iceman-mummy-ancient-mosses…
Changing Your Diet Can Help Tamp Down Depression and Boost Mood, Study Finds
There’s fresh evidence that eating a healthy diet, one that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables and limits highly processed foods, can help reduce symptoms of depression. NPR reports: A randomized controlled trial published in the journal PLOS ONE finds that symptoms of depression dropped significantly among a group of young adults after they followed a Mediterranean-style pattern of eating for…
Today’s Politics May Be Bad for Your Health
An anonymous reader shares a report: An Iowa man is so bothered by the political climate that his psychologist says he asked for a higher dosage of his anxiety medication. A Chicago woman is so uneasy about politics that she has needed two dental implants to deal with her teeth-grinding habit. And a New York woman says she suffered her first…
Cows Painted Like Zebras Attract Fewer Flies
Slashdot reader ClickOnThis writes: An article on CNN reports results from a team of Japanese researchers who discovered that painting cows to look like zebras makes them less attractive to biting flies. I think they’re a shoo-in for a 2020 Ig Nobel Prize. From the article: “A team of Japanese researchers recruited six cows and gave them each black-and-white stripes, black…
Squirrels Listen To Birds’ Conversations As Signal of Safety
According to a new study published in the journal PLoS ONE, the “chatter” from multiple bird species can be a useful cue to squirrels and other animals that there is no imminent threat in the area. Phys.Org reports: To test this hypothesis, the researchers observed the behavior of 54 wild Eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) in public parks and residential areas…
Insect ‘Apocalypse’ in US Driven by 50x Increase in Toxic Pesticides
America’s agricultural landscape is now 48 times more toxic to honeybees, and likely other insects, than it was 25 years ago, almost entirely due to widespread use of so-called neonicotinoid pesticides, according to a new study published this month in the journal PLOS One. From a report: This enormous rise in toxicity matches the sharp declines in bees, butterflies, and other…
7 things we’ve learned about Earth since the last Earth Day
Source: https://www.vox.com/2019/4/21/18223816/earth-day-2019-climate-change-plastic-extinction…