understand | Common News Update

Dec272018 by adminNo Comments

Tree rings help researchers understand drought intolerance

Science

Dec. 26 (UPI) -- Tree rings are giving scientists answers for how fire suppression has increased forest density and reduced their tolerances for droughts and wildfires, a study says. Researchers at Oregon State University and Utah State University analyzed 2,800 hectares of mixed-conifer forest in central Oregon. Some of the ponderosa pines have inhabited the study area since before 1910 -- that's around the time when putting out forest fires became federal law. "We wanted to document the trajectory of sensitivity to drought stress in response to progressively increasing fire deficits, and the threshold level of stand occupancy where decreasing resistance and resilience to drought stress, bark beetles and wildfire set in," Christopher Still, a researcher at OSU College of Forestry and stu...

Jun202018 by adminNo Comments

Most people still don't understand a thing about their credit score, and it's costing them big time

Finance

Credit scores greatly impact a consumer's financial moves — and how much they'll pay along the way — yet many don't even know how the rating works. Around 40 percent believe, incorrectly, that age and marital status play a role in their three-digit score, according to the Consumer Federation of America's credit card survey, which included interviews with some 1,000 people from May 31 to June 3 of this year. Only around 20 percent of people fully realize how a low credit score can bring on heftier interest-rate charges. Specifically, that borrowers with a low score can pay about $ 5,000 more on a $ 20,000, 60-mont...

Jun102018 by adminNo Comments

Bees understand nothing; first insect to comprehend zero

Science

June 8 (UPI) -- Bees understand numerical zero, new research shows, making them the first insect to showcase their comprehension of the mathematical subject. Scientists in France began their research by training bees to sip sugar water from a series of platforms paired with images. The images featured different numbers of dots. Researchers used the setup to teach the bees inequality relationships, the concepts of "less than" and "greater than." Drinking platforms paired with images of larger numbers of dots featured a bitter quinine solution, while the platform outfitted with images of smaller numbers of dots featured the simple syrup. Tests showed the bees were able to learn to approach whichever platform showcased the image with fewest number of dots. In other words, the bees learned t...

Apr242018 by adminNo Comments

Hubble telescope has helped scientists better understand the cosmos

Science

April 20 (UPI) -- Today, astronomers know the age and size of the universe with greater certainty and precision than they did 28 years ago -- and it's all thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope."When I was a grad student 30 years ago, we were arguing about the size and scale of the universe," NASA scientist Dr. Jeff Hayes told UPI.Hayes has said those arguments featured estimates differing by a factor of two."Today, thanks to Hubbles' observations, we are down to a couple of percent," he said.Hubble was designed to measure the size and age of the universe, as well as the rate of its expansion, and it succeeded in doing just that. According to Hayes, this was Hubble's biggest breakthrough.Hubble was launched on April 19, 1990. The telescope celebrated its 28th anniversary, or birthday, on Thu...

Sep172017 by adminNo Comments

Study finds wolves understand cause and effect better than dogs

Science

Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Scientists from the Wolf Science Center of the Vetmeduni Vienna have shown that wolves understand the connection between cause and effect better than dogs.The study, published today in Scientific Reports, found that domesticated dogs could not make the connection between cause and effect when tested with an object that contained food made noise when shaken, but wolves could.Researchers tested whether wolves and dogs can make use of communicative cues, such as direct eye contact and pointing gestures to choose a correct object, and if the animals had to rely on behavioral cues where they were only shown the location of a hidden food through the researcher's behavior without making eye contact with the animals.The animals were also tested to make inferences about the locati...