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4 articles from ScienceNOW

Light pollution is drowning the starry night sky faster than thought

The star pattern Western astronomers call Orion has long drawn our eyes to the night skies. Some Ki’che’ Maya people see it as a cosmic hearth. For the Khoisan people of southern Africa, it’s an archer confronting zebras and a lion. Meanwhile the Carib people of South America see a one-legged hunter named Epietembo. But future generations might wonder what all the...

Study links viral infections to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s—with many caveats

A massive data mining study has found numerous associations between common viruses like the flu and devastating neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease). The findings expand on previous research linking individual viruses to neurological diseases. But experts caution that...