MI weekly selection #36
Current safe sugar levels may not be so safe
Female mice fed a diet with 25% added sugars died at twice the normal rate, while males were less likely to reproduce. That amount of sugar is considered a safe level for human consumption. “Added sugar consumed at concentrations currently considered safe exerts dramatic impacts on mammalian health,” the study says. “Many researchers have already made calls for reevaluation of these safe levels of consumption.”
Los Angeles Times / Science Now
Pulsar helps measure black hole’s magnetic field
Astronomers have found that the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy has a strong magnetic field by analyzing a rare neutron star orbiting it. Dutch scientists are using the star, a rare type of pulsar called a magnetar, as a probe to help them learn more about black holes and to test once again Einstein’s theory of relativity.
Rock carvings found in Nevada could be the oldest on the North American continent
Petroglyphs found etched in limestone boulders near Nevada’s Winnemucca Lake are believed to be the oldest in North America, according to a study by researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder. Radiocarbon tests date the rock carvings to between 10,500 and 14,800 years ago.
Collapse of ancient Greece linked to centuries-long drought
The effects of a 300-year drought may have led to the decline of ancient Greece, as well as other Mediterranean cultures, a study in PLoS One suggests.
Unraveling the knotty problem of information storage
Physicists have tied tiny magnetic vortices into knots in an effort to improve the way computer information is carried. The knotted vortices, called skyrmions, could bring more stability to information storage.