Our Milky Way galaxy contains tens of billions of potentially habitable planets, but we have no idea whether we’re alone. For now Earth is the only world known to harbor life, and among all the living things on our planet we assume Homo sapiens is the only species ever to have developed advanced technology.
But maybe that’s assuming too much.
In a mind-bending new paper entitled “The Silurian Hypothesis” — a reference to an ancient race of brainy reptiles featured in the British science fiction show “Doctor Who” — scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the University of Rochester take a critical look at the scientific evidence that ours is the only advanced civilization ever to have existed on our planet.
“Do we really know we were the first technological species on Earth?” asks Adam Frank, a professor of physics and astronomy at Rochester and a co-author of the paper. “We’ve had an industrial society for only about 300 years, but there’s been complex life on land for nearly 400 million years.”
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Monolith on Lifeless Planetbestdesigns / Getty Images/iStockphoto
With summer around the corner, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention experts are warning — beware the bugs!
A new report from the agency reveals that diseases transmitted through the bites of blood-feeding ticks, mosquitoes, and fleas are a “growing public health problem” in the United States.
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Reported cases of what are called vector-borne diseases have more than tripled nationwide, growing from 27,388 cases reported in 2004 to a whopping 96,075 cases reported in 2016, according to the new Vital Signs report published by the CDC on Tuesday.
Mamma Mia! ABBA is getting the band back together.
The Swedish pop group announced Friday on its official Instagram account that an earlier announced avatar plan of the band, dubbed “Abbatars,” helped rekindle the magic.
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“The decision to go ahead with the exciting ABBA avatar tour project had an unexpected consequence,” the statement posted on Instagram says. “We all felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio. So we did.”
Lauca National Park is in the Andes mountains in the far north of Chile.In the northeast are the snow-capped volcanoes Pomerape and Parinacota. Nearby are the vast Chungará Lake and the wetlands of the Cotacotani Lagoon. West of the lagoon is the tiny town of Parinacota, with a 17th-century church. Jurasi Hot Springs are in the far west. The park is rich in wildlife including flamingos, rheas, llamas and alpacas.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is well and appearing on ‘Dancing with the stars’ at 71 (photo below).
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As a six-time NBA Champion, 19-time All-Star, six-time Most Valuable Player and the league’s all-time leading scorer, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is regarded as one of the greatest professional basketball players of all time. He is familiar with the concepts of discipline and overcoming adversity, but not only because of his athletic career.
In 2008, Abdul-Jabbar was diagnosed with Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) after experiencing hot flashes and sweats. He was treated with two targeted therapies — tyrosine kinase inhibitors: Gleevec (imatinib) and Tasigna (nilotinib). Last year, Abdul-Jabbar underwent a quadruple coronary bypass surgery on his 68th birthday but recovered fully. Today, he is a spokesperson for Novartis, the pharmaceutical company that manufactures both drugs that allowed him to survive cancer.
In March 2016, Abdul-Jabbar was asked to speak at the 20th Annual International Congress on Hematologic Malignancies®: Focus on Leukemias, Lymphomas and Myeloma, a meeting of over 125 oncologists and other oncology professionals. At the meeting, Abdul-Jabbar spoke with Heal about surviving CML, his role as an advocate and his advice to patients and survivors.
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, partnered with Lindsay Arnold, begins competition on the live season premiere of “Dancing with the Stars: Athletes” on April 30. ABC/Craig Sjodin
Doris Tyler lay on the examining table as the doctor stuck a long, thin tube into her belly. The doctor pulled back a plunger, and the syringe quickly filled with yellow blobs tinged with pink.
“Look at that beautiful fat coming out. Liquid gold!” one of the clinic’s staff exclaimed in a video of the procedure provided to The Washington Post.
Hidden in that fat were stem cells with the amazing power to heal, the Stem Cell Center of Georgia had told Tyler. The clinic is one of hundreds that have popped up across the country, many offering treatments for conditions from Parkinson’s disease to autism to multiple sclerosis.
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Tyler and her husband, Don, said their son created a GoFundMe page to raise the $8,900 fee for her procedure. (Zack Wittman for The Washington Post)
Comedian Michelle Wolf took the bold route during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday night.
She roasted those in ― and out ― of the room, focusing on President Donald Trump’s questionable wealth, slamming Democrats for not doing anything, and going after Trump administration officials who attended.
Kellyanne Conway, a target of Wolf’s jabs, was expressionless as the comedian suggested journalists stop bringing Conway on their news shows.
“If you don’t give her a platform, she has nowhere to lie,” Wolf said. “It’s like that old saying: If a tree falls in the woods how do we get Kellyanne under that tree?
“I’m not suggesting she gets hurt,” Wolf clarified. “Just stuck.”
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Comedian Michelle Wolf
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When you book a hotel room, you know you’re signing up to stay in a space where hundreds and maybe even thousands of people have stayed before you. It’s not news that previous guests leave germs behind, but you might be surprised to learn where those germs are lurking.
With 14 to 16 rooms to clean in an eight-hour shift, hotel staff don’t usually get much time to clean a room, its linens and appliances from top to bottom ― roughly 30 minutes on average, or less during a busy season. (That’s why it’s important to tip the hotel’s cleaning crew if you’re satisfied with your room’s cleanliness.)
It’s also important to note that unless you have an immune deficiency, the germs you’ll find in your hotel room most likely aren’t dangerous. After all, you’re surrounded by bacteria and viruses everywhere you go, and your chances of getting sick from germs left by other hotel guests are low. Still, it’s important to take precautions and wash your hands regularly.
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Yuji Kotani via Getty Images
There are a few places in your hotel room you might want to clean yourself.
Facebook is an emotional labor machine, and if you want to leave it, you’re going to have to start doing a lot of work
When I was in college, my high school best friend and I had a terrible falling-out. It was entirely because of Facebook.
“I think Allison got engaged?” our mutual friend Kaitlin texted me one day. “I think I saw it on Facebook?”
I denied that it could possibly be true. Surely Allison would have told me if she had — not post about it on the internet. But when I logged on, sure enough — she had announced her engagement to her boyfriend to the whole world without so much as a text message to me.
We had a flaming row shortly thereafter. Were we even friends if she couldn’t make the effort to tell me before she told everyone else? Who Even Does That?
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
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Image from ‘Lauca National Park’
Tyler and her husband, Don, said their son created a GoFundMe page to raise the $8,900 fee for her procedure. (Zack Wittman for The Washington Post)
Comedian Michelle Wolf
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