In The News

In The News

Great moments in pedantry: Double Stuff Oreos not actually double stuffed 

In fact, the Double Stuf Oreos tested by a high school math class in Queensbury, N.Y. contained only 1.86x the amount of stuff that was in a regular Oreo. A Nabisco spokeswoman, responding to the scandal, says the measurements must have been inaccurate.

Domestication changes animal behavior 

A domesticated ferret has more in common with a domesticated dog, behavior wise, than with its own wild cousins. At The Thoughtful Animal, Jason Goldman writes about research that shows how domestication changes animals' social cognitive skill set, leading to creatures that are more likely to respond to very human social cues like eye contact and pointing. 

Art at the intersection of archaeology and space geekery 

Ancient Egyptians made some really nice jewelry out of meteorites.

China says it will stop harvesting organs from prisoners 

More than half of China's donated organs come from executed prisoners. The Chinese government now says it will begin phasing out that practice, starting in November. All new organ donors must volunteer. Of course, there's good reason to be skeptical of this announcement. As Smithsonian points out, the practice has already been illegal since 2006 with not much done to change it. Meanwhile, a harrowing 2011 investigative report by Ethan Gutmann in the Weekly Standard revealed a system that leaves plenty of room for "volunteer" loopholes.

See a star explode with your bare eyes 

Now, to temper this awesome news with a bit of harsh reality: Nova Delphini is not a supernova and it's not going to be as bright an object as you're probably imagining. Discover's Corey Powell has instructions for how to spot it (it probably won't be super obvious, especially if you're in a city) and galleries of photos, just in case you can't see it yourself.