Science X Newsletter Week 34

Dear Reader ,

Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for week 34:

	New research suggests evolution might favor 'survival of the laziest' If you've got an unemployed, 30-year-old adult child still living in the basement, fear not.
	Core thinking error underlies belief in creationism, conspiracy theories: study It's not uncommon to hear someone espouse the idea that "everything happens for a reason" or that something that happened was "meant to be." Now, researchers reporting in Current Biology on August 20 have found that this kind of teleological thinking is linked to two seemingly unrelated beliefs: creationism, the belief that life on Earth was purposely created by a supernatural agent, and conspiracism, the tendency to explain historical or current events in terms of secret conspiracies or conspiracy theories.
	New scientific study: no safe level of alcohol A new scientific study concludes there is no safe level of drinking alcohol.
	A timescale for the origin and evolution of all of life on Earth A new study led by scientists from the University of Bristol has used a combination of genomic and fossil data to explain the history of life on Earth, from its origin to the present day.
	E-cigarettes can damage DNA The popularity of electronic cigarettes continues to grow worldwide, as many people view them as a safer alternative to smoking. But the long-term effects of e-cigarette usage, commonly called "vaping," are unknown. Today, researchers report that vaping may modify the genetic material, or DNA, in the oral cells of users, which could increase their cancer risk.
	Ice confirmed at the Moon's poles In the darkest and coldest parts of its polar regions, a team of scientists has directly observed definitive evidence of water ice on the Moon's surface. These ice deposits are patchily distributed and could possibly be ancient. At the southern pole, most of the ice is concentrated at lunar craters, while the northern pole's ice is more widely, but sparsely spread.
	Militarization of police fails to enhance safety, may harm police reputation This month marks the four-year anniversary of protests over the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, an incident met with a heavily armed police response that stoked widespread concern.
	Bilingual children who speak native language at home have higher intelligence Children who regularly use their native language at home while growing up in a different country have higher IQs, a new study has shown.
	Researchers achieve multifunctional solid-state quantum memory The team of Li Chengfeng, Zhou Zongquan and others from the CAS Key Lab of Quantum Information developed a multi-degree-of-freedom (DOF) multiplexed solid-state quantum memory, and demonstrated photon pulse operation functions with time and frequency DOFs. The results were published in Nature Communications recently.
	Light from ancient quasars helps confirm quantum entanglement Last year, physicists at MIT, the University of Vienna, and elsewhere provided strong support for quantum entanglement, the seemingly far-out idea that two particles, no matter how distant from each other in space and time, can be inextricably linked, in a way that defies the rules of classical physics.
	Dehydration alters human brain shape and activity, slackens task performance When dehydration strikes, part of the brain can swell, neural signaling can intensify, and doing monotonous tasks can get harder.
	Genetic error led humans to evolve bigger, but more vulnerable, brains Newly-discovered genes that helped supersize human brains along with DNA retrieved from extinct humans, which can still be found in people living today, are expanding scientists' understanding of how our species evolved.
	Move over, Musk: Kalashnikov unveils 'electric supercar' Russian arms maker Kalashnikov on Thursday presented its new electric car inspired by a rare 1970s model, saying the new technology will rival Elon Musk's Tesla.
	New kind of aurora is not an aurora at all Thin ribbons of purple and white light that sometimes appear in the night sky were dubbed a new type of aurora when brought to scientists' attention in 2016. But new research suggests these mysterious streams of light are not an aurora at all but an entirely new celestial phenomenon.
	Research team finds evidence of matter-matter coupling After their recent pioneering experiments to couple light and matter to an extreme degree, Rice University scientists decided to look for a similar effect in matter alone. They didn't expect to find it so soon.
	Researcher helps crack decades-old math problem Spiros Michalakis, manager of outreach and staff researcher at Caltech's Institute for Quantum Information and Matter (IQIM), and Matthew Hastings, a researcher at Microsoft, have solved one of the world's most challenging open problems in the field of mathematical physics. The problem, related to the "quantum Hall effect," was first proposed in 1999 as one of 13 significant unsolved problems to be included on a list maintained by Michael Aizenman, a professor of physics and mathematics at Princeton University and the former president of the International Association of Mathematical Physics.
	Nanotubes change the shape of water First, according to Rice University engineers, get a nanotube hole. Then insert water. If the nanotube is just the right width, the water molecules will align into a square rod.
	Chemists make breakthrough on road to creating a rechargeable lithium-oxygen battery Chemists from the University of Waterloo have successfully resolved two of the most challenging issues surrounding lithium-oxygen batteries, and in the process created a working battery with near 100 per cent coulombic efficiency.
	Scientists find perfectly preserved ancient foal in Siberia Russian scientists have found the carcass of an ancient foal perfectly preserved in the Siberian permafrost.
	Sitting for long hours found to reduce blood flow to the brain A team of researchers with Liverpool John Moores University in the U.K. has found evidence of reduced blood flow to the brain in people who sit for long periods of time. In their paper published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, the group outlines the experiments they carried out with volunteers and what they found.

---

This email is a free service of Science X Network
You received this email because you subscribed to our list.
If you do not wish to receive such emails in the future, please unsubscribe here.
You are subscribed as jmabs1@gmail.com. You may manage your subscription options from your Science X profile