These Canadian rocks may be the oldest on Earth
The Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt has long been known for its ancient rocks — plains of streaked gray stone on the eastern shore of Hudson Bay in Quebec. But researchers disagree on exactly how old they are.
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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
The Softest Metal On Earth Can Be Cut With A Butter Knife
You could slice through the world's softest metal with a plastic spoon, but you probably wouldn't keep your hand. Cesium looks like warm gold, feels like candle wax, and reacts like a grenade. At room temperature, it's barely holding itself together: Just 83.3°F (28.5°C) is enough to melt it, meaning your skin alone can tip it over the edge. If you're sweating, it's already game over, but temperature is the least of your problems. Cesium belongs to the alkali metal group, a family of elements famous for flipping out in water. The second cesium touches moisture, including the air's humidity, it explodes. It throws off heat, hydrogen gas, and pressure with enough force to shatter glass. That's why you won't find it just sitting in jars: It's sealed in ampoules, floating under mineral oil, or vacuum-packed like a biohazard. Softness is a side effect. Cesium's real personality trait is instability. It doesn't just fail to behave like other metals; it barely qualifies as solid matter. It's a metal that can't be touched, shaped, or left alone. And yet, somehow, it's also one of the most important materials in modern physics. Read more: What's Happening To Earth Right Now Can't Be Explained By Climate Models Softer Than Chalk, Pricier Than Gold, Deadlier Than You Think On the Mohs scale (metric used to rank material hardness), your fingernail scores a 2.5. Cesium, on the other hand, comes in at 0.2. That makes it softer than talc, softer than graphite, softer than anything that's still technically a "solid." It doesn't resist force so much as it disintegrates. Poke it wrong, and it deforms. Heat it slightly, and it collapses. Let it touch water, and it explodes. And yet, it's not cheap: High-purity cesium can sell for over $10 a gram, which puts it in the same or higher price bracket as gold, despite being infinitely more dangerous to transport or store. Unlike gold, cesium is chemically restless. Its outer electron is so loosely bound that it practically begs to be lost. That makes it reactive in the extreme. So why does anyone even bother with it? Because cesium has one thing going for it that no other element can match: it's precise. On the atomic level, its vibration frequency is so consistent that it defines the second. So ... What Exactly Is Cesium Good For? In terms of everyday utility, cesium is close to useless. You can't build with it, mold it, or mix it, and it melts near room temperature. It rusts in open air, and it explodes in water. Yet, we keep refining it, isolating it, and shipping it across oceans to sit in sealed containers that are rarely opened. Most of it goes toward timekeeping — the kind that underpins GPS, financial systems, and scientific labs. But not all of it: Cesium compounds also show up in vacuum tubes, infrared detectors, and oil drilling sensors. Some photoelectric cells use cesium for their light sensitivity. In medicine, radioactive cesium isotopes are used in targeted cancer therapies. The metal itself doesn't go far, but its footprint is wider than most people think. Still, the atom's consistency is what anchors its value. Rubidium clocks are cheaper, but drift more over time. Hydrogen masers are more precise short-term, but harder to maintain. Cesium holds the middle — reliable, predictable, and easy to calibrate. That's all it does. It doesn't scale. It doesn't adapt. It just works -- and keeps working. Enjoyed this article? Sign up to BGR's free newsletter for the latest in tech and entertainment, plus tips and advice you'll actually use. Read the original article on BGR. Solve the daily Crossword
Associated Press
2 hours ago
- Associated Press
Bones of ancient child suggest humans could have interbred with Neanderthals earlier than thought
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Modern humans and Neanderthals were interacting 100,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to researchers who used CT scans and 3D mapping to study the bones of a child they believe was the result of interbreeding between the two distinct groups. The child, described in a recent study published in the peer-reviewed journal L'Anthropologie, was buried in a cave in Israel some 140,000 years ago. Because no ancient DNA was extracted from the fossilized remains, it's impossible to confirm the child's origins, but scientists say microscopic details in the bones indicate the child had traits of both groups. When the bones were first excavated from Skhul Cave in northern Israel in 1931, archaeologists recognized that the child belonged to neither Homo sapiens, who had arrived in the region from Africa, nor Neanderthals, who arrived from Europe. They concluded it was a separate species indigenous to the area. But the new 3D mapping allowed researchers to study small details of the skull that had previously been difficult to see or decipher. Researchers were able to examine distinctive traits such as the construction of the inner ear and the imprint of blood vessels that supplied the brain. By comparing known characteristics of both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, the researchers concluded the child was the result of interbreeding. Previously, the earliest known example of interbreeding between the groups was around 40,000 years ago in central Europe, explained Israel Hershkovitz, the lead researcher of the study and a professor of archaeology and human evolution at Tel Aviv University. A new glimpse into ancient relations The new research helps shed light on when the two groups began interacting and offers clues about their relationships. 'What we're saying now is that there was an extensive relationship between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals that started around 140,000 years ago,' and the two groups 'managed to live side by side with no evidence for hostile encounters,' Hershkovitz said. The interbreeding and shared cultural practices, including burials and tool construction, challenge the notion of Homo sapiens as 'intolerant' to other human groups due to their eventual dominance, Hershkovitz said. Without DNA, it will be impossible to prove that the child was a hybrid human, said Pascal Gagneux, an evolutionary biologist studying human origins at the University of California San Diego who was not involved in the research. Still, he said, the details revealed by the mapping, including the internal structure of some bones and several features, support the hybrid hypothesis. Peering inside an ancient skull Researchers took thousands of isolated scans of the skull and jaw of the child and then created a virtual 3D model of the fossil. The model allowed them to analyze tiny details that are impossible to see on the fossilized bones, including delicate parts inside the skull. Blood vessels, for example, make a small imprint on the inside of a skull. While some of the grooves are visible to the naked eye, the 3D scans allowed researchers to see the blood vessels like 'tributaries of a river,' Hershkovitz said. The patterns are distinct between the two groups, because Neanderthals and Homo sapiens have different brain shapes that require different blood delivery. The virtual mapping created a more accurate reconstruction of the child's skull than could be built from the bones and plaster when the remains were originally excavated. The new reconstruction is much more elongated, which is more typical for Neanderthals, Gagneux said. However, the detailed reconstruction does not answer many of the questions surrounding the discovery, Gagneux said. Were the parents of the child also interbred? Or was one Neanderthal and the other Homo sapien? Why was the child, or anyone else, buried in the cave? Thomas Levy, a professor in cyber-archaeology also at the University of California San Diego, said he was impressed by the study's use of 3D models. The advances in scientific visualization allow more accurate measurements and comparisons of specimens, said Levy, who was not involved in the research. The technology also offers archaeologists a fresh opportunity to review conclusions from objects excavated many years ago. Living in harmony Skhul Cave is one of three caves in the region that represent some of the oldest known intentional burials in the world, dating to more than 100,000 years ago, in the middle of the Paleolithic era. Multiple sets of remains were found at each site, and some are still being painstakingly excavated with tiny drills, which could provide more clues in the future. In ancient times, Israel was a land bridge and point of interaction between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. Because Homo sapiens eventually replaced Neanderthals in the region and across the world, many people speculate that their interactions were violent and hostile, with Homo sapiens eventually responsible for the 'total elimination' of Neanderthals, Hershkovitz said. 'What Skhul is telling us is that Homo sapiens are not a vicious, aggressive creature, but one that managed to live in peace' with other groups, he said. 'Our aggressive behavior, which continues today in our long history, is a recent phenomenon that has cultural roots and not biological roots.'
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Parenting strategies are shifting as neuroscience brings the developing brain into clearer focus
A friend offhandedly told me recently, 'It's so easy to get my daughter to behave after her birthday – there are so many new toys to take away when she's bad!' While there is certainly an appeal to such a powerful parenting hack, the truth is that there's a pretty big downside to parenting with punishments. For about the past two decades, scientists have been discovering more and more about the growing brain. This exploration of neurobiology has led to new types of trauma treatments, a deeper understanding of the nervous system and an appreciation of how environmental and genetic factors interact to shape a child's behavior. As the science has become increasingly actionable, more evidence-based strategies are spilling into parenting and educational programs. Research offers some useful guideposts for how parents and caregivers can change our adult ways to foster healthy child development. It turns out that many old-school parenting and educational approaches based on outdated behavioral models are not effective, nor are they best-practice, particularly for the most vulnerable children. Why old-school methods fall short I don't come to this view lightly. I'm a behavioral scientist and a professor of public health with degrees in mathematics and biostatistics. When my children were little, I read all the parenting books and applied a somewhat academic strategy to my job of parenting. I firmly endorsed conventional recommendations from authors and pediatricians: I dutifully sent my children to their rooms to think about their choices and dug in my heels to enforce consequences. It wasn't until my children reached middle school and high school ages that I began to see what my approach to discipline was costing us. Parents and educators have long espoused principles gleaned from experiments by the 20th-century researcher B.F. Skinner, a behavioral psychologist who studied how rewards and punishments could change the behavior of rats, resulting in the classic carrot and stick, reward and discipline strategies. Simply put, rats that behaved the way the researchers wanted – by pressing a lever – were given a treat, and rats that did not were given a light shock. These midcentury, rat-based experiments shaped a parenting approach that caught on in American culture and quickly became dogma. Generations of parents learned to use rewards such as sticker charts, trinkets or toys, or an extra bedtime story to reinforce the behaviors they hoped to see more of, and to use negative reinforcement such as timeouts and loss of privileges to reduce unwanted behaviors. But beginning in the early 2000s, many high-profile authors began to theorize that these strategies were not only ineffective but also potentially harmful. The neuroscience of child behavior We all have a built-in nervous system response that prepares us for 'fight or flight' when we feel that our safety is threatened. When we sense danger for whatever reason, our heart beats faster, our palms sweat and our focus narrows. In these situations, our prefrontal cortex – the part of the brain responsible for rational decision-making and reasoning – is decommissioned while our body prepares to fend off the threat. It's not until our threat response subsides that we can begin to think more clearly with our prefrontal cortex. This is particularly true for kids. Unlike adults who have usually acquired some ability to regulate their nervous system states, a child has both an immature nervous system and an underdeveloped prefrontal cortex. A child may hit his friend with a toy truck because he's unable to manage the scary feelings of being left out of the kickball game. He likely knows better, but in the face of this threat his survival brain responds with a 'fight' response, and reasoning shuts down as his prefrontal cortex takes awhile to get 'back online.' Because he is not yet able to verbalize his needs, caregivers need to interpret those needs by observing the behavior. After coregulating with a calm adult – essentially syncing up with their nervous system – a young child is able to return to a calm state and then process any learning. Efforts to change a child's behavior in a moment of stress, including by punishments and timeouts, miss an opportunity for developing emotional regulation skills and often prolong the distress. The behaviorist models just don't work very well for children. The growing understanding of children's developing brains makes clear that punishing a child for a temper tantrum or for 'misbehaving' by grabbing a toy from a classmate makes no more sense than lecturing a man in cardiac arrest about eating less sugar. Curiosity is the key to connection Scientists and parenting experts have come a long way toward understanding how brain science can inform child-raising. While researchers may not all agree on the most effective parenting style, there is general agreement that showing curiosity about kids' feelings, behaviors, reactions and choices can help to guide parents' approach during stressful times. Understanding more about why a child didn't complete their math sheet, or why a toddler threw sand at their cousin, can support real learning. Attuning with our children by understanding their nervous system responses helps kids feel a sense of safety, which then allows them to absorb feedback. Children who feel this connection and build these skills are much less likely to throw trucks. For instance, when your child fusses for candy in the checkout line at the grocery store, instead of taking away the afternoon trip to the park, try this instead: Stay grounded. A deep breath and a pause signals to your own nervous system to be calmer, which allows you to coregulate with a fussing child. Be available. Staying close gives your child the support they need to weather the difficult emotion. Validating a child's experience can go a long way toward helping them reset to a more regulated state. Hold a boundary. By not giving in to the candy purchase, you help your child practice how to handle the emotion of anger and disappointment – called 'distress tolerance' – with your support. Reflect on the circumstances. After everyone is calmer, you can talk about that experience and also notice the circumstances. Was your child hungry or tired, or perhaps upset about something from their day? Parenting with the understanding of a child's developing brain is much more effective in shaping children's behavior and paves the way for emotional growth for everyone, as well as stronger parent-child relationships, which are enormously protective. And that definitely feels better than taking away their birthday presents. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Nancy L. Weaver, Saint Louis University Read more: Parents in the US had alarmingly high rates of anxiety and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic – and that has a direct effect on kids How parents can play a key role in the prevention and treatment of teen mental health problems Hey, new parents – go ahead and 'spoil' that baby! Nancy L. Weaver, PhD, MPH is the Founder and CEO of Support Over Silence, LLC and a Professor of Public Health at Saint Louis University. She has received funding from the NIH and the CDC among other agencies. Solve the daily Crossword
