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Researchers looked at pairs of identical twins where one of each set was straight The homosexual twin tended to have a more 'male' hand with differing fingers Essex University scientists said the differences may be determined in the womb _____________________________________________________________________ The length of a person's fingers could provide a clue to their sexuality, with women whose ring fingers are longer than their index digits more likely to be lesbian, a study has suggested. Researchers at Essex University looked at sets of identical twins where one of the siblings was heterosexual. They found that the homosexual twin tended to have a...

Add beer to chocolate, coffee, and wine as some of life’s little pleasures that global warming will make scarcer and costlier, scientists say. Increasing bouts of extreme heat waves and drought will hurt production of barley, a key beer ingredient, in the future. Losses of barley yield can be as much as 17 percent, an international group of researchers estimated. That means beer prices on average would double, even adjusting for inflation, according to the study in Monday’s journal Nature Plants . In countries like Ireland, where cost of a brew is already high, prices could triple. The findings come...

It is now possible to tell the story of mankind's presence and evolution on the planet by analyzing trends in soil and sediment accumulation of fecal sterols, chemical compounds which are crucial in human physiology. Scientists at Ca' Foscari University of Venice and the Institute for the Dynamics of Environmental Processes of the National Research Council (CNR-IDPA) have identified and dated traces of sterols within the sediments of two New Zealand lakes, thus proving the presence of the Maori people who, starting from around 1280, colonized the two oceanic islands and cleared them of forests in just a few decades...

ST. LOUIS — We often see studies that tell us not only is light or moderate drinking not harmful to our health, in some cases, it’s actually good for us. But new research out of Washington University’s School of Medicine suggests that daily glass of wine may not be such a good idea after all. Instead, it actually raises your risk of dying sooner. According to the study of more than 400,000 American adults, light drinkers — regardless of age — are 20 percent more likely to suffer a premature death. “It used to seem like having one or two...

Amid the golden hills near Point Reyes, California, in the sunlit main hall of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Christiana Figueres, the architect of the Paris climate agreement, is explaining how Buddhism saved her life. Her talk is part of a daylong gathering of activists, yoga instructors, Buddhist practitioners, and meditation enthusiasts all intent on bringing more mindfulness and loving kindness to their approach to climate activism. Timed to coincide with the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco hosted by Governor Jerry Brown, Saturday's retreat is about an hour's drive from the city - and a world away. The...

For the first time, the American Academy of Pediatrics published a policy statement that calls for gender-affirming health care for all transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) youth. The policy, which was posted online Monday and will be published in the next issue of the journal “Pediatrics,” is aimed at pediatricians who “are focused on promoting the health and positive development of youth that identify as TGD while eliminating discrimination and stigma.” Noting that the field is “rapidly changing,” the AAP said in a statement that its new policy aims to address the disproportionate health risks faced by trans youth, like “high...

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said that if the world doesn't change course by 2020, we run the risk of runaway climate change. Mr Guterres said he was alarmed by the paralysis of world leaders on what he called the "defining issue" of our time. He wants heads of government to come to New York for a special climate conference next September. The call comes amid growing concerns over the slow pace of UN negotiations. Mr Guterres painted a grim picture of the impacts of climate change that he says have been felt all over the world this year,...

Environmentalists have held protests around the world demanding stepped up measures against climate change, ahead of a summit in California next week. Politicians, business leaders and celebrities will attend the Global Climate Action Summit, whose sponsors include the UN, Facebook and Google. Thousands protested in Paris, days after France's environment minister quit over perceived policy failures. The demonstrations have been organised by the group 350.org. In all, more than 900 protests were held in 95 countries, the group said. On Friday, Pacific island nations declared climate change to be the "single biggest threat" they face. The protests began on Saturday...

2018 was the joint hottest summer on record for the UK as a whole, and the hottest ever for England, the Met Office has announced. It said highs for summer 2018 were tied with those of 1976, 2003 and 2006 for being the highest since records began in 1910. England's average temperatures narrowly beat those seen in 1976, they added. The heatwave saw soaring temperatures across much of the UK throughout June and July. Dry, sweltering conditions for weeks on end gave way to a more average August, said the Met Office. To the nearest 0.1C, all four years -...

Psychologists are in the midst of an ongoing, difficult reckoning. Many believe that their field is experiencing a “reproducibility crisis,” because they’ve tried and failed to repeat experiments done by their peers. Even classic results—the stuff of textbooks and TED talks—have proven surprisingly hard to replicate, perhaps because they’re the results of poor methods and statistical tomfoolery. These problems have spawned a community of researchers dedicated to improving the practices of their field and forging a more reliable way of doing science. These attempts at reform have met resistance. Critics have argued that the so-called crisis is nothing of the...

The Left Coast is burning. Oregon is fighting 13 wildfires encompassing 185,000 acres. California is battling 19 fires, including tornados of fire called "fire whirls," which have gobbled up 577,000 acres and left eight dead. A good progressive who never lets a crisis go to waste, Governor Jerry Brown told Californians, “With climate change, some scientists are saying that Southern California is literally burning up.” He warned that man-made global warming created a “new normal,” and that “more serious predictions of warming and fires to occur later in the century, 2040 or 2050, [are] now occurring in real time.” A...

A new report issued by the Environmental Working Group calculates the carbon footprint of meats, cheeses, and a smattering of other foods. The results are good news for those who avoid red meat as well as vegans. They are not good news for vegetarian cheese lovers like this blogger. Special shout-out to those of you who eat baby sheep: You suck! Lamb is the single most carbon-intensive meat, .. (beef 2nd) Cheese comes out ahead of pork, farmed salmon, chicken and canned tuna. .. What it means, in practical terms: -Eating one less burger a week, is like driving 320...

A supermassive black hole has been found at the center of a tiny galaxy, a rare find. What makes the discovery even more unique is that it has been located in an ultracompact dwarf galaxy, stunning researchers. The findings, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, note that the galaxy Fornax UCD3 is part of a set called ultracompact dwarfs (UCDs), a very rare set of galaxies. "We have discovered a supermassive black hole in the center of Fornax UCD3," said the study's lead author, Anton Afanasiev, in a statement. "The black hole mass is 3.5 million...

“We think we may have found the answer. Increased circulation in the Southern Ocean allowed carbon dioxide to leak into the atmosphere, working to warm the planet,” said Princeton University’s Professor Daniel Sigman, co-author of the study. For years, researchers have known that growth and sinking of phytoplankton pumps carbon dioxide deep into the ocean, a process often referred to as the ‘biological pump.’ “The biological pump is driven mostly by the low latitude ocean but is undone closer to the poles, where carbon dioxide is vented back to the atmosphere by the rapid exposure of deep waters to the...

Washington (AFP) - A few years ago, two researchers took the 50 most-used ingredients in a cook book and studied how many had been linked with a cancer risk or benefit, based on a variety of studies published in scientific journals. The result? Forty out of 50, including salt, flour, parsley and sugar. "Is everything we eat associated with cancer?" the researchers wondered in a 2013 article based on their findings. Their investigation touched on a known but persistent problem in the research world: too few studies have large enough samples to support generalized conclusions. But pressure on researchers, competition...

There’s a ‘type’ when it comes to climate change denial it turns out – and it’s a pretty simple one: old, white and racist. Researchers found that American voters with the highest levels of racial resentment were far more likely to dispute the idea of man-made climate change. Researcher Salil Benegal at DePauw University analysed data from American National Election Studies – and found that Republicans with high racial resentment scores were 84% likely to disagree with man-made climate change. Previous Pew research has shown that climate change deniers tend to be old and white. The scores were measured on...

Canada’s climate is getting hotter and wetter and it may have an impact on your mental health. That’s what experts are warning as Canada’s climate continues to shift dramatically, causing severe flooding in many parts of the country, and even droughts and fires in parts of the Prairies and the West Coast. It’s extreme weather events like those experienced in the 2016 wildfires in Fort McMurray and the 2013 floods in Toronto that can trigger mental-health disorders such as anxiety and depression, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). And while some may believe these events are few and far...

Ask a typical person concerned about global warming if they think Congress will enact a bipartisan solution to climate change, and the response is likely to be a derisive laugh. For millions of Americans who watch cable news shows or read the papers, such cynicism is easy to come by. Democrats and Republicans can barely get together on keeping the government from shutting down. How in the world could they ever come together on an issue as politically divisive as climate change? But in the past decade, the findings and predictions of climate scientists have been validated by real-world evidence:...

Women retain and carry living DNA from every man with whom they have sexual intercourse, according to a new study by the University of Seattle and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The study, which discovered the startling information by accident, was originally trying to determine if women who have been pregnant with a son might be more predisposed to certain neurological diseases that occur more frequently in males. But as the scientists picked apart the female brain, the study began to veer wildly off course. As it turns out, the female brain is even more mysterious than we previously...

... The offspring of partying adolescents, specifically those who used THC, may be at increased risk for mental illness and addiction as a result of changes to the epigenome — even if those children are years away from being conceived. The epigenome is a record of molecular imprints of potent experiences, including cannabis exposure, that lead to persistent changes in gene expression and behavior, even across generations. Though the critical studies are only now beginning, many neuroscientists prophesize a social version of Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” in which we learn we’ve burdened our heirs only generations hence.