Latest news with #UniversityofNorthCarolinaat
The Star
02-07-2025
- Science
- The Star
Australian moth uses the night sky as a guiding compass
When temperatures rise, the nocturnal moths fly 1,000km to cool down in caves by the Australian Alps. — AJAY NARENDRA/AP An Australian moth uses the night sky as a guiding compass during its yearly migration, according to a new study. When temperatures heat up, nocturnal Bogong moths fly about 620 miles (1,000km) to cool down in caves by the Australian Alps. They later return home to breed and die. Birds routinely navigate by starlight, but the moths are the first known invertebrates, or creatures without a backbone, to find their way across such long distances using the stars. Scientists have long wondered how the moths travel to a place they've never been. A previous study hinted that Earth's magnetic field might help steer them in the right direction, along with some kind of visual landmark as a guide. Since stars appear in predictable patterns each night, scientists suspected they might help lead the way. They placed moths in a flight simulator that mimicked the night sky above them and blocked out the Earth's magnetic field, noting where they flew. Then they scrambled the stars and saw how the moths reacted. When the stars were as they should be, the moths flapped in the right direction. But when the stars were in random places, the moths were disoriented. Their brain cells also got excited in response to specific orientations of the night sky. The findings were published recently in the journal Nature. The mountainous landscape near caves where Australian Bogong moths go to cool down and rest at the Ramshead Range of the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales.— ERIC WARRANT/AP Sky as guide It 'was a very clean, impressive demonstration that the moths really are using a view of the night sky to guide their movements,' said Kenneth Lohmann, who studies animal navigation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was not involved with the new research. Researchers don't know what features of the night sky the moths use to find their way. It could be a stripe of light from the Milky Way, a colourful nebula or something else entirely. Whatever it is, the insects seem to rely on that along with Earth's magnetic field to make their journey. Other animals harness the stars as a guide. Birds take celestial cues as they soar through the skies and dung beetles roll their remains short distances while using the Milky Way to stay on course. It's an impressive feat for Bogong moths whose brains are smaller than size of a grain of rice to rely on the night sky for their odyssey, said study author David Dreyer with Lund University in Sweden. 'It's remarkable that an animal with such a tiny brain can actually do this,' Dreyer said. – AP
18-06-2025
- Science
This Australian moth uses the stars as a compass to travel hundreds of miles
NEW YORK -- An Australian moth follows the stars during its yearly migration, using the night sky as a guiding compass, according to a new study. When temperatures heat up, nocturnal Bogong moths fly about 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) to cool down in caves by the Australian Alps. They later return home to breed and die. Birds routinely navigate by starlight, but the moths are the first known invertebrates, or creatures without a backbone, to find their way across such long distances using the stars. Scientists have long wondered how the moths travel to a place they've never been. A previous study hinted that Earth's magnetic field might help steer them in the right direction, along with some kind of visual landmark as a guide. Since stars appear in predictable patterns each night, scientists suspected they might help lead the way. They placed moths in a flight simulator that mimicked the night sky above them and blocked out the Earth's magnetic field, noting where they flew. Then they scrambled the stars and saw how the moths reacted. When the stars were as they should be, the moths flapped in the right direction. But when the stars were in random places, the moths were disoriented. Their brain cells also got excited in response to specific orientations of the night sky. The findings were published Wednesday in the journal Nature. It 'was a very clean, impressive demonstration that the moths really are using a view of the night sky to guide their movements,' said Kenneth Lohmann, who studies animal navigation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was not involved with the new research. Researchers don't know what features of the night sky the moths use to find their way. It could be a stripe of light from the Milky Way, a colorful nebula or something else entirely. Whatever it is, the insects seem to rely on that along with Earth's magnetic field to make their journey. Other animals harness the stars as a guide. Birds take celestial cues as they soar through the skies and dung beetles roll their remains short distances while using the Milky Way to stay on course. It's an impressive feat for Bogong moths whose brains are smaller than size of a grain of rice to rely on the night sky for their odyssey, said study author David Dreyer with Lund University in Sweden. 'It's remarkable that an animal with such a tiny brain can actually do this,' Dreyer said. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Greensboro woman helps prevent ACL injuries in female athletes
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — A kinesiology professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro has invented a device to help women who play sports know if they're at greater risk for an ACL injury and ultimately prevent it. Dr. Sandra Shultz is the director of UNC Greensboro's Center for Women's Health and Wellness. She also serves as co-director of the Applied Neuromechanics Research Laboratory. She has spent much of her career exploring ways to prevent ACL injuries among female athletes. 'Before I became a faculty member, I was a clinician for 12 years. I'm a certified athletic trainer and I worked at UCLA as the associate director of athletic training and rehabilitation, and I treated a lot of ACL injuries. In fact, in one year, we had eight female athletes with an ACL injury, and it was almost epidemic, Shultz said. She says knee laxity has been one of the most consistently identified risk factors for ACL injury. In basic terms, too much laxity makes it harder to keep the knee stable during certain athletic movements. Shultz wanted to know what exactly was putting women at a greater risk. 'My research really over the last 25 years has focused on understanding why females have greater laxity than males and what implications that has for injury, specifically ACL injury,' she said. 'I really started looking at hormones and that effect because we know what's different in men and women… and really looked at how that affected laxity and saw that impact that hormones do impact laxity across the menstrual cycle.' Focusing on prevention, Shultz and her colleague Dr. Randy Schmitz, an equal co-inventor, created the GMetric3D Knee Joint Laxity Testing Apparatus. 'We wanted to develop this device that would allow us to screen for those who have greater than average laxity with the goal of identifying those who might be at risk and developing prevention strategies to mitigate that risk before injury occurs,' she said. They've spent more than five years making adjustments to improve the device. 'We would place them in the device and a key feature of it is really stabilizing the thigh so that it doesn't move, so that we're just manipulating the lower leg so we get a good accurate measure of joint displacement and then the machine or the device will actually move the knee in three planes of motion,' Shultz said. Shultz explained that other laxity devices did not work in this way. 'Most laxity devices in the past only measured… if you were to measure the movement of the lower leg on the upper leg or tibia on the femur, that's measuring anterior knee laxity or the movement of the tibia forward. This device also measures side to side and rotational laxity,' she said. The GMetric3D could have huge benefits especially because Shultz says there really isn't anything like this available in the United States. However, that could change in the near future. The team, including James Coppock and Sam Seyedin, just received a patent from the US government – a major step toward the goal of commercialization and getting it to clinicians. 'I've always enjoyed creating, and so to take something like this and move it forward and then to receive this recognition that other people see value in it is rewarding and very exciting for us,' Shultz. Shultz appreciates the support from Innovate UNCG in the process of applying for the patent. She says the next step is to secure grant funding to work with an industry partner to take the prototype to the next level for commercialization. Shultz says the patent is significant because potential industry partners are generally more willing to invest when the intellectual property is protected. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Wanda Sykes Has 1 Hilarious Theory About Bill Belichick's Cringey Couples Photo
Wanda Sykes thinks a certain mermaid fell for a ploy, hook, line and sinker. On Thursday's episode of 'Today with Jenna & Friends' the comedian and co-host Jenna Bush Hager wasted no time jumping right in to discuss University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill head football coach Bill Belichick, 73, and his 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson's seemingly strange romance. After unpacking the pair's odd dynamic during a CBS News interview over the weekend — in which Hudson seemed weirdly controlling — Bush Hager was eager to analyze photos of the couple posted to Hudson's Instagram grid. The 'Pootie Tang' alum seemed particularly creeped out by one cringey photo the two shot together on the beach. The photo, which is part of a slideshow post, features the former NFL coach dressed as a fisherman holding a rod while Hudson dons a mermaid costume and lies awkwardly in the sand, belly up. 'What is this?' Sykes said with an air of disbelief before getting seriously concerned for Belichick's well-being. 'Coach, look, if there's a problem, send me one of your Super Bowl rings,' Sykes said, giving the former New England Patriot an out if he felt his life was in danger. 'Ship me one of your rings, and Jenna and I will come get you!' 'Is he OK? What's happening?' the comedian mused elsewhere in the segment. After Bush Hager and Sykes joked around about how the photos gave them secondhand embarrassment, the comedian's shock had subsided enough that she shared a theory on how they came to be. Bush Hager was under the assumption that Hudson forced the photoshoot on Belichick — and Sykes agreed, but she had a caveat. 'Just think about it,' Sykes began. 'Do you really want to have a conversation with a 24 year old?' She continued, 'I mean, I'm 61! And if someone 24 starts talking to me, I'm like, 'Oh God, make it stop. Please make it stop!' You know what? … I would go, 'You know, yeah! Let's go dress up like a mermaid' just so I can shut you up. If this will stop you from talking, give me the fishing rod. As long as I don't have to have a conversation.' The couple has received an onslaught of attention since Belichick's interview with CBS News. During the segment, Belichick was asked how the couple met, and before he could answer, Hudson piped up from off camera and said sternly, 'We're not talking about this,' essentially shutting the question down. The bizarre moment quickly went viral, prompting Hudson to do some seemingly sketchy damage control on social media, which backfired. This spurred Belichick to defend Hudson in a statement sent to HuffPost on Wednesday. In the statement, Belichick said he was told that the CBS interview would focus solely on his new book, 'The Art of Winning ― Lessons from My Life in Football,' and he was 'surprised when unrelated topics were introduced.' 'After this occurred several times, Jordon, with whom I share both a personal and professional relationship, stepped in to reiterate that point to help refocus the discussion,' he wrote. Belichick emphasized that Hudson was 'not deflecting any specific question or topic' but was 'simply doing her job.' 'Some of the clips make it appear as though we were avoiding the question of how we met,' Belichick said. 'But we have been open about the fact that Jordon and I met on a flight to Palm Beach in 2021.' The couple's story that they met on a flight is one that Sykes certainly was not buying on 'Today' Wednesday. 'I think it's public knowledge how they met,' Bush Hager said. 'They met on an airplane. What's so bad about that?' 'Right… Yeah, on an airplane,' Sykes said sarcastically while side-eyeing the backstage staff and audience suspiciously — and receiving a ton of laughter in response. Check out Sykes' and Bush Hager's full conversation on the topic above!
CBS News
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Bill Belichick responds after CBS interview generated scrutiny of relationship with Jordon Hudson
Former Patriots coach Bill Belichick says his recent interview on "CBS Sunday Morning" created "a false narrative" about his relationship with his girlfriend, 24-year-old Jordon Hudson. Belichick, 73, who is now head coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, sat down with CBS News' Tony Dokoupil ahead of the release of his new book, "The Art of Winning," but many commenters online focused on the glimpses of his relationship with Hudson. In a statement released Wednesday, Belichick said, "Prior to this interview, I clearly communicated with my publicist at Simon & Schuster that any promotional interviews I participated in would agree to focus solely on the contents of the book." "Unfortunately, that expectation was not honored during the interview. I was surprised when unrelated topics were introduced, and I repeatedly expressed to the reporter, Tony Dokoupil, and the producers that I preferred to keep the conversation centered on the book," the statement continued. "After this occurred several times, Jordon, with whom I share both a personal and professional relationship, stepped in to reiterate that point to help refocus the discussion." A CBS News spokesperson responded: "When we agreed to speak with Mr. Belichick, it was for a wide-ranging interview. There were no preconditions or limitations to this conversation. This was confirmed repeatedly with his publisher before the interview took place and after it was completed." Belichick's statement comes after portions of the interview posted to social media generated scrutiny of his relationship. Out of the eight-minute segment that aired on "Sunday Morning," Belichick and Dokoupil discussed Hudson, whom the football legend described in his upcoming book as his "creative muse," for about one minute and 30 seconds. Dokoupil said in the recorded voiceover that Hudson was a "constant presence" during the interview. He asked Belichick, "You have Jordon right over there. Everybody in the world seems to be following this relationship. They've got an opinion about your private life. It's got nothing to do with them, but they're invested in it. How do you deal with that?" "I've never been too worried about what everybody else thinks," Belichick replied. "Just try to do what I feel like is best for me and what's right." When Belichick was asked how the two of them met, Hudson spoke up: "Not talking about this." In his statement Wednesday, Belichick defended Hudson. "She was not deflecting any specific question or topic but simply doing her job to ensure the interview stayed on track. Some of the clips make it appear as though we were avoiding the question of how we met, but we have been open about the fact that Jordon and I met on a flight to Palm Beach in 2021," he said. "The final eight-minute segment does not reflect the productive 35-minute conversation we had, which covered a wide range of topics related to my career. Instead, it presents selectively edited clips and stills from just a few minutes of the interview to suggest a false narrative — that Jordon was attempting to control the conversation — which is simply not true." In a separate statement released Tuesday, Belichick's literary agent, InkWell Management, said the segments resulted in "a raft of hostile social media posts about his personal life." "Bill has written an authoritative and entertaining book about success that should be judged by its contents, not by the clicks generated by the segment," InkWell Management said. Belichick's book "The Art of Winning" is scheduled for release May 6.
