From formulating new cancer drugs to testing dietary supplements, mice and rats play a critical role in developing new medical wonders. In fact, 95% of all lab animals are mice and rats, according to the Foundation for Biomedical Research (FBR). Scientists and researchers rely on mice and rats for several reasons. One is convenience: rodents are small, easily housed and… Read more →
Many of us rely on a morning coffee cup or an afternoon jolt of caffeine to help us get through the day. But caffeine doesn’t keep you awake, much more. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system which affects your body in many ways. The nutritional value of caffeine on its own is not present. This is tasteless,… Read more →
More than is known is unknown. It’s because we know how much dark energy it affects the expansion of the Universe. It’s a complete mystery, besides that. It is a major mystery, however. It turns out to be about 68% dark energy in the universe. One reason for dark energy is that it is a space property. Albert Einstein realized… Read more →
A white hole is a strange cosmic entity that glows brightly and emits stuff rather than disappearing. To put it another way, it’s the polar opposite of a black hole. Unlike black holes, however, there is no agreement on whether white holes exist or how they develop. Einstein’s theory of gravity predicts them, and they’re most commonly cited in the… Read more →
Before a man’s sperm can fertilize a woman’s egg, the head of the sperm must attach to the outside of the egg. Once attached, the sperm pushes through the outer layer to the inside of the egg (cytoplasm), where fertilization takes place. Sometimes the sperm cannot penetrate the outer layer, for a variety of reasons. The egg’s outer layer may… Read more →
White dwarfs are dead stars. A single white dwarf contains roughly the mass of our sun in a volume no bigger than our planet. Our sun will become a white dwarf someday. White dwarfs are the hot, dense remnants of long-dead stars. They are the stellar cores left behind after a star has exhausted its fuel supply and blown its… Read more →
There are two basic types of sleep: rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-REM sleep (which has three different stages). Each is linked to specific brain waves and neuronal activity. You cycle through all stages of non-REM and REM sleep several times during a typical night, with increasingly longer, deeper REM periods occurring toward morning. Stage 1 non-REM sleep is… Read more →
It may seem a little embarrassing: you wake up and your pillow is drenched in slobber. After you wipe the spit at the corners of your mouth, you might wonder: Why do we drool in our sleep? The body normally produces more than 1 liter of saliva per day. It is produced by salivary glands and is usually swallowed and… Read more →
A monorail is a rail-based transportation system based on a single rail, which acts as its sole support and its guideway. The term is also used variously to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles travelling on such a beam or track. Monorails have been around since the 1800s, but only really came to public attention in the… Read more →
A mammogram is an x-ray picture of the breast. It can be used to check for breast cancer in women who have no signs or symptoms of the disease. It can also be used if you have a lump or other sign of breast cancer. Screening mammography is the type of mammogram that checks you when you have no symptoms.… Read more →
