Health & Science

A dinosaur for the ages

The mummified remains of a nearly intact hadrosaur is giving researchers a treasure trove of new information about the reptilian beasts that once ruled the Earth. Fragments of the 25-foot-long hadrosaur were first discovered in the Badlands of North Dakota in 1999 by Tyler Lyson, a high school student. Lyson returned to the site in 2004, this time as a graduate student in paleontology, and he and his colleagues went on to excavate what turned out to be a historic discovery: an entire duck-billed hadrosaur so well preserved that its skin texture, ligaments, and tendons are clearly visible. The fleshy pads on its palms indicate that the creature did not permanently walk on all fours, as was previously believed. And from the 10,000-pound animal’s massive backside, packed with muscle tissue, scientists have concluded that it could run at speeds of 30 mph—faster than Tyrannosaurus rex. “It just defies logic that such a remarkable specimen could preserve,” paleontologist Phillip Manning tells The Washington Post. “When you run your hands over this dinosaur’s skin, this is the closest you are going to get to touching a real dinosaur, ever.”

Nature’s cough syrup

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A spoonful of sugar may help the medicine go down, but a spoonful of honey is the medicine, says a new study. Researchers at Pennsylvania State University found that a dose of honey before bed actually works better to calm children’s coughs and help them sleep than a similar dose of honey-flavored cough medicine. Honey apparently works by coating the throat, protecting it from irritation, says study author Dr. Ian Paul. “Many families are going to relate to these findings and say that Grandma was

right,” Paul tells the Associated Press. The fact that this well-known home remedy actually works is especially welcome news, coming in the wake of recent warnings that over-the-counter cough meds can be dangerous for kids.

Why flu prefers winter

It’s long been known that the influenza virus tends to strike in winter, but scientists haven’t been sure why. A new study, though, indicates that the explanation lies in how the virus is transmitted. Microbiologist Peter Palese of New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine exposed guinea pigs to

influenza, varying the temperature and level of humidity. It turned out that the animals were far more likely to get sick under cold, dry conditions. Palese explained that unlike the virus for the common cold, which is usually transmitted by contact with another person or a contaminated surface, influenza is transmitted through the air, in tiny floating particles. When it’s hot and humid, the particles join with water droplets in the air and fall to the ground, Palese found. When the air is cold and dry, though, the virus particles can be easily inhaled. Palese’s findings, flu expert Dr. Jonathan McCullers tells The New York Times, “answer a classic question that we’ve been debating for years.”

How does Santa do it?

Experts have shown just how remarkable Santa Claus’ annual feat of delivering presents to the world’s good boys and girls really is. Sweco, a Swedish engineering firm, calculated that assuming Santa visits 2.5 billion homes every Christmas, he has 34 micro­­seconds per household to get in and out; that’s about a tenth of the time it takes for a housefly’s wing to flap once. To complete his task in 48 hours, Santa’s reindeer must travel at a speed of 3,604 miles per second, the firm’s Anders Larsson tells Agence France-Presse. Another analysis makes Santa’s accomplishment seem even more astounding. It calculates that Santa’s sleigh, weighed down with presents and traveling at supersonic speed, would encounter such massive air resistance that it should burst into flame within 4 milliseconds of takeoff. The scientists could not explain how Santa manages to defy the laws of physics.

The biological roots of anorexia

People with anorexia may have been primed for the disease by the hormones in their mothers’ wombs, says a new study. When researchers from the University of Sussex in Britain and the University of Waterloo in Ontario examined the records of thousands of pairs of Swedish twins, they confirmed that the vast majority of anorexics are women. But they also uncovered a surprise: When male babies shared the womb with their sisters, the boys were just as likely as their female twins to develop the eating disorder later in life. Researchers say that while social influences also play a role, the finding points to some influence in utero—probably hormonal—that puts female babies at higher risk for anorexia in adulthood. The findings could help in the search for new treatments for anorexia, which afflicts about 1 percent of all females. “Any information that points to a biological origin,” psychiatrist Thomas Weigel tells the Los Angeles Times, “is helpful for the future development of medication and other therapies.”