Daycares in Finland Built a ‘Forest’, And It Changed Kids’ Immune Systems

It’s known as the ‘biodiversity hypothesis’. The thought is that environments with lots of living things positively impact our natural immunity. In Finland, researchers took it to the next stage, experiment and testing — they redeveloped daycare playgrounds to include natural green space. Then they sent the kids out to play and tested their markers

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Road infrastructure is expensive, self-driving cars will demand more of it

For most in Minot, the idea of a self-driving car is pretty far off. For the companies chasing the opportunity, the technology is much closer than most realize. For a community like ours, this shift has big implications. And the common assumption is that when it arrives, self-driving cars will reduce traffic and congestion. But

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World’s Most Intense Laser Is About to Get a Totally Insane Upgrade

This is not a Minot story. But because the movies Star Wars and Real Genius are a part of our cultural heritage, the fact that they are approaching full realization is worth momentary call out. Check out this article from Science Alert on a really big laser that’s set to go full Death Star. Sort

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Depression treatment discovered in natural but illegal source

Depression is a disease that becomes ingrained as the neurons in our brains fire and connect in repeated but unfortunate patterns. Successful treatments have been shown to break those patterns and one source that’s so far effective at helping ‘reset’ the brain — psilocybin — the active ingredient in illegal mushrooms.

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10 Farming Myths to Think About on Your Next Grocery Run

It’s true, here in North Dakota we’re closer to our food production here than most parts of the country, but that doesn’t mean some misperceptions about dinner gets from the farm to the table aren’t out there. This quick article from Science Alerts calls out the common myths about modern agriculture and food production and

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The Arctic Is Turning Green; Scientists Finally Know Why

Researchers have noticed the color of the arctic slowly changing. Specifically, the ice was taking on a greener color. Now, there’s evidence that suggests the cause is a thinning of the ice that’s letting more light through and subsequently producing blooms of microscopic marine plants. The down side: the green color absorbs more heat, which thins the

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Neuroscientists have successfully removed specific phobias from people’s brains

Are you afraid of heights, or maybe spiders? If so, there may be hope on the horizon, especially for those among us whose fear has negative impacts on their lives. Scientists at Cambridge University have found a way to rewire the brain’s reaction to fear stimuli without the person having to consciously experience it.

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21 of the best photos of the supermoon from around the world

The moon has been really super the last few days, and it’s brought out scores of photographers looking for that one remarkable shot. Here’s a collection of the better ones as collected by Business Insider writer Dave Mosher via Science Alert.

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Scientists have recreated an ancient mead from 2,500 years ago

What do you get when you team an archeologist who discovers an ancient burial plot with a cauldron of booze with a group of scientific-minded brewers? A modern take on ancient mead recipe. But be careful if you get a taste, the alcohol content was higher than the average domestic beer.

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Scientists have found a mysterious boiling river straight out of Amazonian legend

Chalk this story up as one of those natural curiosities that’s fun to learn about. And don’t give the ‘scientists’ all the credit. We’ve known about the river for years, but it’s only recently we’ve begun to understand why it boils.

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Scientists report “unprecedented” success using T-cells to treat late stage Cancer

T-cells are our body’s natural protectors against viruses and foreign cells, but cancer often grows too quickly and overwhelms them. In immunotherapy, T-cells are reprogrammed act aggressively towards the cancer cells, and the early clinical trials show promise for late-stage patients.

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Getting Active in Nature is Great for Your Health

The theory is new and far from proven, but research indicates that exposure to biodiversity like forests and oceans is good for us. And it may not simply be the perception of getting away from things, there may be actual physical factors in the environment contrubting.

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This simple tip to learn maths equations actually works

Got a kid who’s learning math in school? One simple tip has been shown to make the process easier, and may facilitate learning and retention in other subjects too. When students trace over numbers and figures with their finger, they perform better.

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49 years ago: Apollo 1 Astronauts Sacrifice Lives for Exploration of Space

Next month will mark the 49th anniversary of the Apollo 1 tragedy in which the lives of three astronauts were lost. It was a pivotal moment for the space program and one from which many valuable lessons were learned. Get the story from Fionna McDonald writing at Science Alert.

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Scientists are developing road surfaces that can de-ice themselves

  Scientists in Turkey are working on what is best described as a salt-infused road surface that has proven effective in reducing the formation of ice on the surface.

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Alcohol Makes Food Smell Better

  Science has now confirmed what many already intuitively knew — or perhaps I should have written aromatically. It turns out that alcohol makes food smell better, which in turns makes you hungrier.

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