In Tulsa, Oklahoma, over the last 30 years, the number of cliff swallows killed by moving vehicles has drastically decreased. That change can't be accounted for by alterations in traffic patterns or swallow populations, say scientists. Instead, they think it's tied to the fact that the birds' wingspan is also decreasing. This adaptation — whether selected for by vehicular birdicide and/or other factors — helps swallows be more nimble in the air at high speeds, making it easier for them to avoid oncoming traffic. (EDIT: Sorry guys, I made an error here. Some of the researchers were from Tulsa, but study actually happened in Nebraska. Evolution takes place throughout the plains states.)
Evolution happens. Even in Oklahoma.
Social media breaks make you "happier and less anxious"
Would it surprise you to learn that taking time off social media, even for just a week, results in "significant improvements in well-being, depression and anxiety?" [via] We randomly allocated 154 participants (mean age of 29.6 years) to either stop using SM (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok) for 1 week or continue to use SM… READ THE REST
Study: games and video-watching correlate with kids getting smarter, social media a wash
On the impact of digital media on childhood intelligence, games and watching videos were consistent with cognitive benefits. Socializing digitally, however, had no consistent effect. Here we estimated the effect of each three types of screen time (Watching TV and online videos, Socializing via social media, text, and video chat, and Gaming) on intelligence after… READ THE REST
This may be a piece of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs
Last month, we learned that researchers excavating North Dakota's Tanis fossil site found an incredibly well-preserved leg of a dinosaur. The creature—and others at the site—were likely killed by the impact of the 12 kilometer-wide Chicxulub asteroid that crashed into the Gulf of Mexico 66 million years ago and eradicated 80% of Earth's animals. Turns… READ THE REST
Teach yourself how to play guitar with the Jamstik trainer
We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. Has learning how to play the guitar been on your bucket list? Learning how to play guitar should be simple, fun, and accessible, but with the average guitar costing $600 — lessons not included, you might… READ THE REST
Make room for important and large files with Prism Drive cloud storage
We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. With most of our daily activities happening online, no one will ever complain about having too much storage space. On the contrary, it's frustrating when you run out of storage or have… READ THE REST
This 13-in-1 media hub brings your favorite content to the big screen
We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. We're sure our parents had a wild time back in the day without modern media, and to some degree, we wish we could be a little less plugged in. But then we… READ THE REST
