In a study, it was revealed that middle-aged participants who did poorly on the balance test were three times more likely to die earlier than their peers who performed well. The balance test asks people to balance on one leg twice, first with their eyes open and then with eyes closed; the shorter they lasted, the higher their chance of an early death. This is because balancing is a good indication of brain health, and balancing without sight is incredibly taxing on the brain. Read full article here
Science
‘Ghostly’ neutrinos provide new path to study protons
In groundbreaking research, an international collaboration of scientists from the University of Rochester have used a beam of neutrinos to measure the size and shape of the protons that make up the nuclei of atoms. This feat, once thought impossible, provides scientists with a new way of looking at the small components of an atom’s nucleus and opens up a wealth of new information about the structure of an atom’s nucleus and the dynamics of the forces that affect neutrino interactions. The researchers solved the challenge of harnessing neutrinos in large numbers by using a neutrino detector containing a target of both hydrogen and carbon atoms, and over nine years of data collection at Fermilab’s accelerator. Read full article here