Science 🧬(@science) 인스타그램 상세 프로필 분석: 팔로워 1,857,836, 참여율 1.85%

In 1991, NASA launched 2,478 baby jellyfish aboard Space Shuttle Columbia to answer a terrifying question about humanity's future in space—and what returned were 60,000 jellyfish that had developed severe space-induced vertigo, permanently unable to navigate Earth's gravity.⁠ ⁠ Lead researcher Dr. Dorothy Spangenberg designed the experiment aboard NASA's first Spacelab Life Sciences (SLS-1) Mission with a profoundly human motivation: if humanity ever colonizes space and children are born beyond Earth, will those humans be able to return home? Jellyfish provided the perfect biological proxy—their calcium sulfate crystal gravity-sensing organs (statoliths) operate on identical principles to the calcium carbonate structures in human inner ears that tell our brains which way is up.⁠ ⁠ 2,478 moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) were launched in bags of artificial seawater aboard Columbia alongside seven human astronauts. Astronauts injected iodine into the bags to trigger strobilation—asexual reproduction—and monitored development closely. After just nine days in orbit, NASA had 60,000 jellyfish in space, reproducing exponentially in microgravity.⁠ ⁠ Upon returning to Earth, six times more space-born jellyfish exhibited pulsing abnormalities compared to Earth-raised controls. While the jellyfish successfully formed calcium sulfate crystals in space, those crystals developed incorrectly—leaving the animals with a severe, permanent case of vertigo that made normal swimming impossible.⁠ ⁠ This revealed that gravity is not merely a comfort—it is a fundamental biological necessity during critical developmental windows that cannot be compensated for afterward.⁠ ​⁠ If children were born and raised in microgravity, their inner ear gravity-sensing structures might develop incorrectly—just like the jellyfish statoliths—leaving space-born humans potentially unable to function normally on Earth, trapped forever in the environment where they were born.

Meet nature's most weather-sensitive primate—a critically endangered monkey so anatomically unlucky that rainstorms turn into sneeze-filled nightmares.⁠ ⁠ The Myanmar snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus strykeri), discovered just 15 years ago in the remote mountains of northern Myanmar, possesses one of evolution's most peculiar design flaws: upturned nostrils that act like tiny rain funnels. When precipitation falls directly into their exposed nasal cavities, the monkeys sneeze so loudly and frequently that local hunters can easily track them during the wet season by following the distinctive sound echoing through the forest.⁠ ⁠ Local Lisu and Law Waw communities have long known these primates by names meaning "monkey with an upturned face"—mey nwoah and myuk na tok te—and report that the animals have developed a remarkable behavioral adaptation to cope with their unfortunate anatomy. During rainstorms, the monkeys sit with their heads tucked face-down between their knees, maintaining this uncomfortable position until the weather clears to prevent water from entering their problematic nostrils.⁠ ⁠ Scientists formally described Rhinopithecus strykeri in 2011 based on specimens obtained from local hunters, making it the first snub-nosed monkey species discovered in Myanmar. However, the species entered the scientific record already critically endangered, with only 260-330 individuals surviving in a tiny range spanning the Myanmar-China border at altitudes between 8,500-10,000 feet.⁠ ⁠ Habitat destruction from Chinese logging operations and hunting pressure threaten to eliminate this unique species before researchers can fully study their remarkable rain-avoidance behavior. The monkeys spend summer months in higher altitude mixed forests, descending to lower elevations in winter—a seasonal migration that makes them particularly vulnerable to human encroachment and habitat fragmentation.

Scientists have finally solved the mystery of why cute animal content dominates the internet—and it's not just about getting likes. A study from Concordia University and ESSEC Business School reveals that sharing videos of cute animals actually strengthens human relationships in ways we never understood before.⁠ ⁠ Researchers Zeynep Arsel and Ghalia Shamayleh discovered that sending animal content creates "digital affective encounters"—moments that trigger genuine positive emotions between people. ⁠ ⁠ The study, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, interviewed animal content creators and consumers to understand this phenomenon. What they found was shocking: people put serious thought into which animal posts they share, using them to recall shared memories and show deep personal knowledge of their friends.⁠ ⁠ The research reveals that animal content acts as a "social lubricant" online, creating what scientists call "digital affective networks"—entire relationship systems built around mood-boosting content. Someone might send a video of baby pandas falling over with the caption "You and me at our first yoga class," instantly connecting past experiences with present laughter.⁠ ⁠ This isn't mindless scrolling—it's sophisticated emotional communication. In a world where social media gets criticized for toxic content, cute animals have become our secret weapon for maintaining genuine human connections across digital spaces.⁠ ⁠ The findings suggest that your daily dose of cat GIFs isn't digital junk food—it's relationship maintenance disguised as entertainment.⁠ ⁠ Source: 10.1093/jcr/ucaf023

According to a new study, people who repeatedly post gym selfies and update their statuses to showcase their recent workouts have psychological issues.⁠ It sounds a little far-fetched, but bear with us here.⁠ ⁠ The study, conducted by the UK's Brunel University, delved into people's apparent motivations for posting gym updates to their social media.⁠ And according to the research, people who post frequently about their workouts display a clear primary motivation - to boast about their looks, or at least about the amount of time invested in physical appearance. And this preoccupation with looks and attractiveness is a narcissistic trait.⁠ ⁠ _____⁠ ⁠ The study explains: 'Narcissists more frequently updated about their achievements, which was motivated by their need for attention and validation from the Facebook community.'⁠ On the one hand, to the lay observer, this does sound plausible. Still, we would like to just post (without any scientific background, naturally) that a woman's self-esteem receives a battering on an almost daily basis, thanks to advertising and some arms of the media, so maybe she's within her rights to need a confidence booster from her friends.⁠ ⁠ Regarding how other people view these frequent gym updates, Dr Tara Marshal muses: "Although our results suggest that narcissists' bragging pays off because they receive more likes and comments to their status updates, it could be that their friends politely offer support while secretly disliking such egotistical displays."⁠ ⁠ _____⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #workout #workingout #psychology #science

The Wow! signal was a strong narrowband radio signal detected on August 15, 1977, by Ohio State University's Big Ear radio telescope in the United States, then used to support the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. The signal appeared to come from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius and bore expected hallmarks of extraterrestrial origin.⁠ ⁠ Astronomer Jerry R. Ehman discovered the anomaly a few days later while reviewing the recorded data. On the computer printout, he circled the reading of the signal's intensity, "6EQUJ5", and wrote the comment "Wow!" beside it, leading to the event's widely used name.⁠ ⁠ _____⁠ ⁠ The entire signal sequence lasted for the full 72-second window during which Big Ear was able to observe it. Despite numerous follow-up searches and hypotheses (including brief consideration of reflections from space debris, interstellar scintillation, and comet hydrogen clouds), the signal has never recurred, and no explanation, terrestrial or otherwise, has been confirmed. ⁠ ⁠ While some researchers have suggested it could represent an extraterrestrial transmission, its single occurrence and lack of replication limit the strength of this interpretation. The Wow! signal has inspired targeted searches, scientific discussion about rare astrophysical phenomena, and references in popular culture.⁠ ⁠ _____⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #radiosignal #history #wow #science #astronomy

A recurring finding is that gazing eyes grab and hold our attention, making us less aware of what else is going on around us (that ‘fading to grey’ that I mentioned earlier). Also, meeting someone’s gaze almost immediately engages a raft of brain processes, as we make sense of the fact that we are dealing with the mind of another person who is currently looking at us. In consequence, we become more conscious of that other person’s agency, that they have a mind and perspective of their own – and, in turn, this makes us more self-conscious.⁠ ⁠ You may have noticed these effects particularly strongly if you’ve ever held the intense gaze of a monkey or ape at a zoo: it is almost impossible not to be overcome by the profound sensation that they are a conscious being judging and scrutinizing you. In fact, even looking at a portrait painting that appears to be making eye contact has been shown to trigger a swathe of brain activity related to social cognition – that is, in regions involved in thinking about ourselves and others.⁠ ⁠ _____⁠ ⁠ Not surprisingly, the drama of realising we are the object of another mind is highly distracting. Consider a recent study by Japanese researchers. Volunteers looked at a video of a face while simultaneously completing a word challenge that involved coming up with verbs to match various nouns (to take an easy example, if they heard the noun ‘milk”, a suitable response would be “drink”). ⁠ ⁠ Crucially, the volunteers struggled much more at the word challenge (but only for the trickier nouns) when the face in the video appeared to be making eye contact with them. The researchers think this effect occurred because eye contact – even with a stranger in a video – is so intense that it drains our cognitive reserves.⁠ ⁠ _____⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #gazing #gaze #science #psychology #biology

A Chinese court ruled that companies cannot terminate employees just to replace them with artificial intelligence systems, as authorities juggle the need to stabilize the domestic labor market with a global race to develop AI technologies.⁠ ⁠ The court decided that a tech firm in eastern China had illegally fired one of its workers after he refused to take a demotion when his job was automated by AI, according to a statement published by the Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court. ⁠ “The termination grounds cited by the company did not fall under negative circumstances such as business downsizing or operational difficulties, nor did they meet the legal condition that made it ‘impossible to continue the employment contract,’” the court said in the article dated April 28.⁠ ⁠ _____⁠ ⁠ Companies cannot unilaterally lay off employees or cut salaries due to technological progress, the court said in a separate statement, citing the same case.⁠ The ruling comes as Chinese companies race to implement AI systems as part of a state-directed push to dominate the new technology. At the same time, planners in the Chinese Communist Party have indicated a willingness to prioritize stability in the labor market as the country reckons with a slowing economy and elevated youth unemployment.⁠ ⁠ The employee at the center of the case, a quality assurance professional at a tech company identified only as Zhou, had been responsible for checking the accuracy of outputs by large language models, according to the filing. When an AI system took over his job, he was demoted and forced to take a 40% pay cut.⁠ When Zhou refused the reassignment, the company terminated him, pointing to reductions in staffing due to AI. The case went to arbitration and then the Chinese court system, which supported a compensation package. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #ai #artificialintelligence #tech #technology #science

🚨 The El Niño that made 2024 the hottest year in recorded history is over. The next one is already forming — with 90% certainty.⁠ ⁠ The World Meteorological Organization, the UN's official climate and weather authority, has formally updated its global forecast, placing an 80% probability on El Niño developing between June and August 2026, with a near-certain chance it persists through at least November. ⁠ ⁠ The driver is already visible in the ocean's depths. Subsurface temperatures in the tropical Pacific are running more than 6°C above average — a vast reservoir of stored heat now migrating upward toward the surface. Simultaneously, the Southern Oscillation Index, the atmospheric pressure signature that acts as El Niño's early fingerprint, has shifted into alignment. Both ocean and atmosphere are pointing in the same direction. ⁠ ⁠ WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo has warned the event will amplify drought and extreme rainfall simultaneously, raise the risk of heatwaves both on land and in the ocean, and strain global food supplies, water systems, and energy grids in parallel. During the northern hemisphere's peak summer months, warming Pacific waters also intensify hurricane formation in the central and eastern Pacific.⁠ ⁠ Forecast models still carry some uncertainty about the event's precise peak strength and timing, though most indicate the event will be at least moderate. ⁠ ⁠ The deeper concern is what comes after. El Niño's temperature amplification typically peaks globally the calendar year following its development — the same lag that pushed 2024 to all-time highs after the 2023–24 event took hold. Meteorologists are already warning that 2027 is shaping up to be the hottest year in recorded history. If this event reaches strong intensity against an already record-breaking global baseline, that projection becomes considerably more plausible. ⁠ ⁠ source: World Meteorological Organization

When one of the largest animals in the ocean takes a nap, it can look pretty weird.⁠ Popular photos have surfaced online showing sperm whales gathered together, seemingly motionless and arranged vertically in the water. The whales, which are roughly the size of school buses, almost always appear to be "standing" and clustered in pods of five or six.⁠ ⁠ French photographer and filmmaker Stephane Granzotto captured this behavior while diving in the Mediterranean, where he was documenting sperm whales for his photo book on the creatures titled Cachalots. In the photo above, submitted to National Geographic's YourShot photography community, he noted that the whales had been napping for an hour.⁠ A study published in 2008 in the journal Current Biology was the first to conclusively document the whale's vertical sleeping position.⁠ ⁠ ______⁠ ⁠ Sleep had previously been observed in some captive cetaceans by monitoring eye movements, but how whales in the wild rested was significantly less understood. Using data-collecting tags suction cupped to 59 sperm whales, researchers from the University of St. Andrews and the University of Tokyo measured the animals' periods of inactivity.⁠ ⁠ The whales were found to spend seven percent of their day in these vertical sleeping positions near the surface of the water, where they napped from 10 to 15 minutes. Researchers suggested at the time that they might be one of the world's least sleep-dependent animals.⁠ Whales in captivity have been found to use only half their brain while sleeping, a behavior scientists think could help them avoid predators, maintain social contact, control breathing, or continue swimming.⁠ ⁠ The study also noted observations from a video shot in northern Chile that showed whales did not wake from their surface naps until a ship approaching with its engines off unintentionally bumped into them. This suggests whales in the wild might enter a full sleep, unlike their captive counterparts.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #science #sciencefacts #spermwhales #whales #marinebiology

Human obstetricians just performed one of fewer than a dozen gorilla C-sections ever recorded — and both mother and baby survived.⁠ ⁠ A western lowland gorilla named Olympia, five days past her due date at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, was delivered via emergency surgery on May 24 after ultrasounds revealed a deteriorating labor threatening the lives of both mother and cub.⁠ ⁠ Veterinarians detected a dangerous combination of decreased amniotic fluid, an incompletely dilated cervix, and an intermittently dropping fetal heart rate — a cascade of complications signaling that labor had stalled with no natural path forward. Olympia was sedated, loaded into a zoo ambulance, and transported to the on-site veterinary hospital, where a human obstetrical team — specialists who typically operate on people — performed the procedure alongside zoo vets. Using a handheld Butterfly Network ultrasound probe, the same device used in human emergency medicine, the surgical team monitored fetal vitals in real time throughout the operation.⁠ ⁠ The baby boy arrived at 1:44 p.m., weighing 5.4 pounds — above the 4-pound average for full-term infant gorillas — and was successfully resuscitated by neonatologist Dr. Andrew Beckstrom. With Olympia still recovering from surgery, another gorilla in the troop, Jamani, has stepped in to nurse and care for the newborn.⁠ ⁠ Zoo officials describe the situation as "very fluid and fragile," and both mother and infant remain under round-the-clock monitoring during the critical recovery window.⁠ ⁠ The birth carries conservation weight far beyond the walls of the zoo. Western lowland gorillas are critically endangered — threatened by habitat destruction, poaching, and disease. This infant, the first gorilla born via C-section in Woodland Park Zoo's 126-year history, represents both a medical milestone and a meaningful addition to a managed breeding program working to hold the species back from the edge.⁠ ⁠ source: Woodland Park Zoo. (2026).

Tobacco is also a member of the nightshade family and eggplant, like tobacco, contains some nicotine (although in a much smaller amount). Eggplant has the highest level of nicotine of any vegetable, but you would still have to eat 20-40 pounds of eggplant to equal the amount of nicotine you would get from one cigarette.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #eggplants #science#vegetable #biology #sciencefacts

A meteor exploded over the northeastern United States with an estimated energy release equivalent to about 300 tons of TNT, according to NASA.⁠ ⁠ The daytime fireball broke apart at around 2:06 p.m. ET on May 30, 2026, over northeastern Massachusetts and southeastern New Hampshire. NASA said it was traveling roughly 75,000 mph when it fragmented about 40 miles above the ground.⁠ ⁠ The blast produced loud booms and shaking across parts of New England, but this was not an earthquake. The USGS identified the disturbance as a sonic boom from a suspected bolide — a bright meteor that explodes in the atmosphere.⁠ ⁠ NASA also said the object was natural, not a satellite or re-entering space debris. Radar data later indicated that fragments likely fell into Cape Cod Bay.⁠ ⁠ A dramatic reminder that even relatively small space rocks can release a shocking amount of energy when they hit Earth’s atmosphere.⁠ ⁠ #BreakingNews