Homeopathic medicine, colon cleanses, juice fasts: Of all the unproven health remedies, one of the weirdest may be taking colloidal silver. People drink the silver solution in an attempt to keep infections at bay, but those who drink too much turn a disturbing shade of blue-gray, a condition known as argyria.<br><br> Now, researchers have figured out why too much of the shiny drink can leave someone looking like the Tin Man. The same chemical process that develops black-and-white photographs also pigments the skin, according to an October 9 study in ACS Nano. "It’s the first conceptual model giving the whole picture of how one develops this condition," said study co-author Robert Hurt, a researcher at Brown University, in a press release. <br><br> [Full Story: <a href=http://www.livescience.com/24325-why-people-who-drink-silver-turn-blue.html>Why People Who Drink Silver Turn Blue</a>]
The giant stone statues in Polynesia's Easter Island may have just been "walked" out of quarry, according to a controversial new theory on how the monolithic human figures were transported to every corner of the island. <br><br> In a piece of experimental archaeology, a team of local and U.S. researchers showed that the massive statues, known as moai, can be moved from side to side by a small number of people, just as one might move a fridge.<br><br> [Full Story: <a href=http://www.livescience.com/24312-easter-island-statues-walked.html>Easter Island Statues May Have 'Walked'</a>]
Members of the Flat Earth Society claim to believe the Earth is flat. Walking around on the planet's surface, it looks and feels flat, so they deem all evidence to the contrary, such as satellite photos of Earth as a sphere, to be fabrications of a "round Earth conspiracy" orchestrated by NASA and other government agencies.<br><br> The belief that the Earth is flat has been described as the ultimate conspiracy theory. According to the Flat Earth Society's leadership, its ranks have grown by 200 people (mostly Americans and Britons) per year since 2009. Judging by the exhaustive effort flat-earthers have invested in fleshing out the theory on their website, as well as the staunch defenses of their views they offer in media interviews and on Twitter, it would seem that these people genuinely believe the Earth is flat.<br><br> [Full Story: <a href=http://www.livescience.com/24310-flat-earth-belief.html>Are Flat-Earthers Being Serious?</a>]
Despite the ability to walk upright, early relatives of humanity represented by the famed "Lucy" fossil likely spent much of their time in trees, remaining very active climbers, researchers say.<br><br> Humans are unique among living primates in that walking bipedally — on two feet — is humans' chief mode of locomotion. This upright posture freed their hands up for using tools, one of the key factors behind humans' domination of the planet.<br><br> [Full Story: <a href=http://www.livescience.com/24297-early-human-lucy-swung-from-trees.html>Early Human 'Lucy' Swung from the Trees</a>]
Researchers who reported that a potentially ancient Buddha statue is carved from a meteorite said they are not surprised that an expert in Buddhist history believes the statue to be a fake.<br><br> "Honestly, that is what we expected," said Elmar Buchner, who along with his colleague reported on the statue in September in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science. "We heard so many opinions from so many experts in art history and experts for Buddhism on the origins and the age of the statue prior to and after the publication."<br><br> [Full Story: <a href=http://www.livescience.com/24280-buddha-statue-fake-from-space.html>Buddha Statue: Possibly Fake, Still From Space</a>]
Maybe the "camel-ccino" will be the drink that finally leads America to stray from the cow's udder.<br><br> The Dubai café chain Cafe2Go has begun to make its lattes and cappuccinos with camel's milk, an old Bedouin staple that's booming in the United Arab Emirates' modern food scene, Reuters reported.<br><br> But any baristas looking to import the craze stateside would have to contend with strict regulations from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and more than that, they would have to overcome America's apparent reluctance to embrace non-cow milks. <br><br> [Full Story: <a href=http://www.livescience.com/24242-why-only-cow-milk.html>Why Don't We Drink Milk from Animals Other Than Cows?</a>]
Some people may actually see sounds, say researchers who found this odd ability is possible when the parts of the brain devoted to vision are small.<br><br> These findings points to a clever strategy the brain might use when vision is unreliable, investigators added.<br><br> Scientists took a closer look at the sound-induced flash illusion. When a single flash is followed by two bleeps, people sometimes also see two illusory consecutive flashes. <br><br> [Full Story: <a href=http://www.livescience.com/24191-why-some-people-see-sound.html>Why Some People See Sound</a>]
Identifying your home or street from a Google Earth image may be tough enough, but what about your cosmic address? Turns out, fewer than 50 percent of adults ages 37 to 40 know that humans live in the spiral Milky Way galaxy.<br><br> That's according to a new report of more than 4,000 American adults who make up the core of Generation X.<br><br> [Full Story: <a href=http://www.livescience.com/24198-americans-milky-way-galaxy.html>Spaced Out: Majority of Gen X Can't Identify Home Galaxy</a>]
Dung beetles can use balls of poo much like air-conditioning units to cool themselves, researchers say.<br><br> Dung beetles roll up nutritious balls of excrement up to 50 times heavier than their own bodies to feed their young. They roll the balls walking backward, with their heads near the ground. The ancient Egyptians envisioned that the sun was rolled around the sky in much the same way, making the dung (or scarab) beetle an important symbol in ancient Egyptian religion.<br><br> [Full Story: <a href=http://www.livescience.com/24176-dung-beetles-keep-cool-balls.html>That's Hot! Beetles Dance on Poop Balls to Keep Cool</a>]
Move over, Moby Dick. Scientists have found a white whale capable of imitating human speech.<br><br> These findings, the first to show that whales can mimic the voices of humans, suggest that researchers might want to analyze other whales for similar abilities.<br><br> [Full Story: <a href=http://www.livescience.com/24166-beluga-whale-mimics-human-voice.html>Male Beluga Whale Mimics Human Voice</a>]
