+
upworthy

discovery

Science

Researchers nail down scientific 'biomarker' for SIDS and it could be a lifesaver

This discovery is groundbreaking for parents, doctors and scientists worldwide.

Photo by Picsea on Unsplash

Scientist identify a marker for babies at risk of SIDS.

Worrying over a sleeping baby comes with the territory of being a new parent. There are so many rules about safe sleep that it can be hard for parents to keep it all straight. Never let the baby sleep on their tummies. Don’t put soft things in the crib. That crib bumper is super cute but you can’t keep it on there when the baby comes. Don’t ever co-sleep. Never cover a baby with a blanket. The list of infant sleep rules designed to avoid Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, is endless.

SIDS is described as an unexplained death of an infant under the age of 1 year old. There is no determined cause and no warning signs, which is what makes it so terribly tragic when it happens. The worry over a sleeping baby stays with some parents far longer than it should. I recall my own mother coming to check in on me as a teenager, and I sometimes do the same to my own children, even though they’re well over the age of being at risk for SIDS. The fact that there is no cause, no explanation, no warning and nothing to reassure parents that their children will fare just fine means worrying about a sleeping child becomes second nature to most parents. It’s just what you do.

Keep ReadingShow less
More

Sriracha and 30 other things you love you didn't know were made by refugees.

The Made by Refugee campaign updates products in an important way.

Did you know that Sriracha was the creation of a Vietnamese refugee named David Tran? Neither did art students Jillian Young and Kien Quan.

The Miami Ad School students were reading up on the refugee crisis and how refugees have so often been treated as unwelcome through history when they came to a realization: Refugees have probably contributed a lot to society in ways many of us don't even know about.

After stumbling upon the fascinating refugee history of Sriracha, they set out to find other refugee-created products that exist in the world around us.

Keep ReadingShow less

You may not have heard of the Ig Nobel Prizes, but they're basically the best thing about science.

They're a parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given out once a year. But these awards don't go to the kinds of studies that'll get anyone a meeting with the president or cure space fever. Instead, the prizes are given out to some of the weirdest, strangest, and just plain funniest academic achievements of the past year.

There are prizes in 10 different categories. Here are this year's winners:

Keep ReadingShow less