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A new study using brain imaging has discovered that burning the candle at both ends could send us into premature aging.

Brain shrinkage is a normal part of the aging process but the study, which was led by Dr. June Lo, a researcher with Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore, indicated that these changes were exacerbated with every hour of sleep lost per night.

Dr. Lo and her team examined data from the sleep patterns of 66 Chinese adults who were all over 55 years of age. Prior to taking part in the research project, the subjects had all undergone magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to measure brain volume in specific areas and had taken tests to assess their cognitive skills.
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Plans to build a new road in Iceland were halted recently when campaigners warned that it would disturb elves living in its path.

Construction work had to be stopped until a solution could be found.

" It’s not every day in Iceland that we divert roads for elves. It’s just in this case we were warned that elves were living in some of the rocks in the path of the road – well, we have to respect that belief,"
explained Petur Matthiasson of the Icelandic Highways department.
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A recent study could help scientists predict impending floods months before they occur.

The study states that a pair of NASA satellites, known collectively as GRACE, have detected variations in gravitational pull from saturated river basins that appear to be accurate indicators of flooding.

The report, which was published in Nature Geoscience on July 6th, was conducted by hydrologist J.T. Reager and colleagues from the University of California. The team analyzed data which showed that, as river basins absorb water, GRACE recorded a stronger gravitational pull in the region, suggesting that waterlogged ground is more liable to flooding when assaulted by heavy rain or melting ice.
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