Tessa Koumoundouros

1 day ago | sciencealert.com | Tessa Koumoundouros

A drug used to relieve the debilitating symptoms of menopause may also be reducing the risk of invasive breast cancer, a new clinical trial by Northwestern University suggests. Almost 60,000 women a year are diagnosed with a contained form of breast cancer that can indicate a higher risk of developing invasive tumors later in life.

3 days ago | sciencealert.com | Tessa Koumoundouros

From towering coastal redwoods to dinosaur-era Wollemi pines and firs that make the perfect Christmas trees, even our most revered woody plants are in grave danger. But the loss of these species isn't just a blow to local forests – it threatens entire ecosystems, research shows. In 2021, the State of the World's Trees report revealed a startling finding: one-third of all tree species are on the brink of extinction, totaling around 17,500 endangered tree species.

3 days ago | sciencealert.com | Tessa Koumoundouros

Most of us can relate to feeling uncomfortable when someone scrapes their nails down a chalkboard. For those suffering the condition misophonia, sounds like slurping, snoring, breathing, and chewing and draw an equally stressful response. A study published in 2023 by researchers in the Netherlands suggests the condition shares genes with mood disorders such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD.

6 days ago | yahoo.com | Tessa Koumoundouros

Massive Megatherium sloths once stood as large as Asian elephants, ripping foliage off treetops with prehensile tongues like today's giraffes. "They looked like grizzly bears but five times larger," says paleontologist Rachel Narducci from the Florida Museum of Natural History. Megatherium were among a dazzling assortment of more than a hundred different sloth species that once roamed the Americas. Their ancient DNA now tells the likely story of why only six sloth species remain.

1 week ago | sciencealert.com | Tessa Koumoundouros

Earth's magnetic field dramatically flipped roughly 41,000 years ago. We can now experience this epic upheaval, thanks to a clever interpretation of information collected by the European Space Agency's Swarm satellite mission. Combining the satellite data with evidence of magnetic field line movements on Earth, geoscientists mapped the Laschamps event and represented it using natural noises like the creaking of wood and the crashing of colliding rocks.