Clenching one’s fist can boost memory, U.S. researchers claimed in a recent study.Ruth Propper, an associated professor of psychology at Montclair State University, said that clenching fists while memorizing could improve recall later.Propper and her colleagues conducted research in which they divided 50 right-handed participants into five groups and asked them to remember as many words as they could after scanning a list of 72 words. The first group clenched their right hand while memorizing an

PARIS (AFP) ― The roving coralgrouper, a predator fish of the tropical reef, uses sign language to advise fellow hunters of hiding prey, according to a study published on Tuesday.It is the first time that a fish has been known to make “referential gestures,” or specific signs that alert a partner to an object of mutual interest, it said.Reporting in the journal Nature Communications, a trio of biologists at Switzerland’s University of Neuchatel and Cambridge University in England studied how the

The brain size of extinct “hobbits” is bigger than previously thought, suggesting a new theory for identifying its ancestors, scientists suggested. An 18,000-year-old fossil of a “Homo floresiensis” was first unearthed on an Indonesian island. The species was dubbed “hobbit” because of its height of less than 1 meter. Scientists had mixed views upon its origins. Some claimed that it was a unique branch of the Homo erectus or Homo habilis, some of the earliest ancestors of modern humans. The othe

A variety of deformed animals, including one-meter-long giant rats, are emerging in Korea, a local broadcaster claimed.SBS said it will take a look at how abnormal animals have appeared recently due to climate change in its current affairs show Hyeonjang 21 (At the Scene 21). A recent report by Korea Meteorological Administration indicated that climate in Korea is rapidly changing. According to the report, by 2100 summers will be six months long, and winters will be merely two months, a change w

Libya has released a South Korean man two months after he was detained for allegedly being involved in Christian missionary work in the Libyan city of Benghazi, a Seoul official said Friday. The man, who is only identified by his surname Lee, was arrested on Feb. 10, along with three other foreign nationals, on suspicion of being a Christian missionary and distributing books about Christianity."Lee was released on April 11," the foreign ministry official said on the condition of anonymity. South

Jupiter’s moon Europa might be rich in energy sources necessary for life, a new discovery by U.S. researchers indicated.Researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and California Institute of Technology said there is an ample amount of hydrogen peroxide on the ice-covered moon, citing the results of an infrared observation of Europa.According to the researchers, the oxidants on the surface can potentially mix with Europa’s presumed subsurface water sources, providing chemical elements and

PARIS (AFP) ― Scientists on a quest for an antibody-based AIDS vaccine said Wednesday they found promising clues in the uncommonly “robust” natural immune response of a patient in Africa. Studying blood samples over a three-year period after the person was infected, researchers were witness to a microscopic battle between the virus and antibodies ― both evolving as they sought to gain the upper hand.For the first time, scientists were able to follow the full chain of events leading to the patien