We still haven't met the Flintstones.

In noisy environments, keeping your eyes open—not closed—might be the secret to hearing better. Many people instinctively shut their eyes when trying to pick out a faint sound. The common belief is that blocking out visual input helps the brain focus, making it easier to hear subtle noises. But that idea does not always hold [...]

Oxygen has been the most important gas in our search for life among the cosmos thus far. On Earth, we have it in abundance because it is produced by biological synthesis. But that might not be the case on other planets, so even if we do find a very clear high oxygen signal in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, it might not be a clear indication that life exists there. A new paper, available in pre-print on arXiv, from Margaret Turcotte Seavey and a team of researchers from institutions like the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Johns Hopkins University, adds some additional context to what else might be going on in those atmospheres. In particular, they note that if there’s even a little bit of water vapor, it can make a big difference in whether a lifeless rock looks like a living, thriving world.

“These are the first robots to set foot outdoors after evolving inside of a computer,” said one of the researchers.

The American Cancer Society estimates that over 55,000 people will die from colorectal cancer in the U.S. this year. Of those, 7% will be under 50.