Study: Cadaver arms suggest human fists evolved for punching, too
Salt Lake City (UPI) Oct 22, 2015 -
Most researchers agree the human hand evolved for tool creation and manipulation, but some scientists say violence played a role too.
To test the hypothesis that human fists are uniquely designed for fist fighting, researchers at the University of Utah tested the mechanics of punching using human cadaver arms.
After rigging the arms with fishing wire and guitar tuning tabs to con ...
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Revamped DNA analysis kit gets US nod
San Francisco (AFP) Oct 21, 2015 -
Two years after personal genetics startup 23andMe was ordered by US authorities to stop selling its DNA test kits, a revamped product has gained market approval, the company said Wednesday.
The California-based firm announced the launch of its new "Personal Genome Service," which will test for mutations that could lead to disease.
"We've worked with the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) ...
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Will climate change make the world lazier?
Berkeley, Calif. (UPI) Oct 23, 2015 -
Sometimes it's just too hot to do anything, let alone work. If climate change continues, that might be the case more often.
Researchers think rising temperatures could diminish global economic productivity - not because people will stop working altogether, but because productivity slows down when the mercury rises.
In a new study published in Nature, scientists from Stanford and ...
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El Nino to cause 80% rise in East Africans needing aid: UN
Nairobi (AFP) Oct 23, 2015 -
Heavy floods and drought sparked by the El Nino weather phenomenon in East Africa in coming weeks could see the number of people needing aid soar by over 80 percent, the UN warned Friday.
El Nino is sparked by a warming in sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific, setting off changing weather patterns across the world, and can cause unusually heavy rains in some areas, and drought ...
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Climate pact: The rocky road to Paris... and beyond
Bonn (AFP) Oct 23, 2015 -
Diplomats crafting a global pact to defuse climate change are under no illusion that the quest will end in Paris in December.
If anything, the latest haggle to prepare for the vaunted UN summit, now just weeks away, has strengthened awareness that reining in carbon emissions is a very long-term problem indeed.
The key, say negotiators, is to enshrine measures in the accord so that, for m ...
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Indonesia readies warships for haze evacuation
Jakarta (AFP) Oct 24, 2015 -
Indonesia has put warships on standby to evacuate people affected by acrid haze from forest fires which has killed at least 10 and caused respiratory illnesses in half a million, officials said Saturday.
For nearly two months, thousands of fires caused by slash-and-burn farming in Indonesia have choked vast expanses of Southeast Asia, forcing schools to close and scores of flights and some i ...
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Hurricane flattens Mexico homes, but major disaster averted
Chamela, Mexico (AFP) Oct 24, 2015 -
Patricia flattened dozens of homes on Mexico's Pacific coast, but authorities said Saturday the record-breaking hurricane largely spared the country and weakened into a remnant low as it moved north.
The modest homes of 40 families in the fishing village of Chamela were blown away by Patricia's powerful winds after it made landfall as a Category Five monster in Jalisco state late Friday.
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