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Close the blinds, draw the curtains and turn off all the lights before bed. Exposure to even moderate ambient lighting during nighttime sleep, compared to sleeping in a dimly lit room, harms your cardiovascular function during sleep and increases your insulin resistance the following morning, reports a new study. "The results demonstrate that a single night of exposure to moderate room lighting during sleep can impair glucose and cardiovascular regulation, which are risk factors for heart disease, diabetes and metabolic syndrome," said Dr. Phyllis Zee. "It's important for people to avoid or minimize the amount of light exposure during sleep."...

PARIS (AFP) – Astronomers may have underestimated the tally of galaxies in some parts of the Universe by as much as 90 percent, according to a study reported on Wednesday in Nature, the weekly British science journal. Surveys of the cosmos are based on a signature of ultraviolet light that turns out to be a poor indicator of what's out there, its authors say. In the case of very distant, old galaxies, the telltale light may not reach Earth as it is blocked by interstellar clouds of dust and gas -- and, as a result, these galaxies are missed by...

Earth at Night Credit: C. Mayhew & R. Simmon (NASA/GSFC), NOAA/ NGDC, DMSP Digital Archive Explanation: This is what the Earth looks like at night. Can you find your favorite country or city? Surprisingly, city lights make this task quite possible. Human-made lights highlight particularly developed or populated areas of the Earth's surface, including the seaboards of Europe, the eastern United States, and Japan. Many large cities are located near rivers or oceans so that they can exchange goods cheaply by boat. Particularly dark areas include the central parts of South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. The above image is...

Story Number: NNS030724-08 Release Date: 7/24/2003 3:43:00 PM ARCO, Idaho (NNS) -- Folks passing through this rural Idaho town of mountains and sagebrush have stopped for months simply to ask: What on earth is a submarine sail doing in the middle of the desert? After more than two years of preparations, the explanation came when the tall sail, or conning tower, of USS Hawkbill (SSN 666) was officially dedicated to Arco during its “Atomic Days” celebration July 19. On hand were some two dozen Reservists from the Pocatello Naval Reserve Center, many of whom spent the last year and a...