Big Think
Mars may once have housed life. Did it come from Earth?
In all the Universe, only Earth is known to be inhabited. But even among the Milky Way, billions of other ...
Neuroplasticity and epilepsy: Why our ever-adapting brain cells are a blessing and sometimes a curse
Brain plasticity is often touted as a miracle cure, but it does have a dark side. Addiction, for example, occurs ...
Are there evolutionary benefits to celibacy?
Evolution is often perceived as an individual affair: Traits that are helpful to the individual get passed on and eventually ...
Do you sleep through the night? Your brain rhythmically oscillates between awake and asleep up to 100 times a night
Sleep is a complex neurological process characterized by shifting brain patterns, fluids flushing in and out of the skull, and ...
Life on Earth is carbon-based — but on other planets, could life be built out on other chemical building blocks, like silicon?
When we search for life on other planets, what we usually mean is that we are looking for life as ...
Viewpoint: In response to historical misuse of genetics to defend eugenics, some egalitarians call for defunding. Here’s why that’s not the solution
Genetics has been hijacked by eugenicists, white supremacists, and run-of-the-mill bigots as a way to justify inequality for minorities. But ...
Are humans evolving and transforming by hybridizing with technology?
What may seem now to be obvious human traits will become less so as we grow progressively more integrated with ...
Exercise pill of the future? This molecule reduces body fat and regulates appetite in mice — but can it work for humans?
Exercise alters more than 9,800 molecules in your blood, a process that scientists have called a cellular “symphony.” ... But ...
Can the body exist without the brain? Is the human mind nothing more than a parasite?
Take a deep breath. Can you feel your lungs filling with air? Now look at your hand. Can you see ...
Orgasm gap: Why do women have fewer orgasms than men?
There exists a significant “orgasm gap” between heterosexual women and heterosexual men. A 2005 study found that 39% of women ...
If some dinosaurs developed advanced technology wiped out by asteroids, which species could it have been?
Very little remains from the Neanderthals, who lived just a few tens of thousands of years ago. Even very recent, ...
First links shown between climate change and human evolution
Imagine doing a homework assignment that forced you to leave your computer running for half a year. That is what ...
Dysfunction or constructive evolution? Adaptive reasons for minor psychological disorders
Lesleigh Pullman and colleagues recently set out to assess the hypothesis that psychopathy might not be a mental disorder, but ...
Some early hominins beat Homo sapiens out of Africa. Who were they?
Hominins, the branch of our family tree that separated itself from the other great apes, are believed to have ventured ...
What do parrots and humans have in common? Unraveling connection between longevity and brain size
When it comes to lifespan, birds truly stand out. Lifespan tends to increase with an animal’s body size, roughly speaking, ...
Short sleepers: This genetic mutation allows some people to thrive on as little as 4 hours a night
Too many Americans are sleep-deprived. Although the overwhelming majority of adults needs at least seven hours of sleep per night, ...
How nutrients in food impact genes and influence your health
People typically think of food as calories, energy and sustenance. However, the latest evidence suggests that food also “talks” to ...
Did White Europeans evolve separately from the rest of the world? A new book examines the racist allure of this pseudoscientific hypothesis
The model of evolution developed by Charles Darwin increasingly gained traction, bringing about a revolution in scientific thinking. It was now ...
Adult at 18? Citing slow brain development, some neuroscientists say it’s time to question the legal ‘age of adulthood’
You might say that the 18th birthday marks the transition from childhood to adulthood. After all, that’s the age at ...
‘Golden blood’ is incredibly important to medicine — but for the 43 people worldwide known to have it, it poses a unique danger
Golden blood is actually the nickname for Rh-null, the world’s rarest blood type. As Mosaic reported, the type is so rare that ...
The 62-mile-high club: As space tourism launches, NASA urged to explore ‘space sexology’
According to NASA, no humans have ever had sex in space, but with the swift ascent of private space tourism, ...
Viewpoint: What is ‘scientism’ — and why does that worldview fail us?
Over the last 15 years of being a scientist who writes about science in a variety of forums, I have ...
Hominids have existed on earth for two million years. What makes us human?
The distinction between ourselves and other animals is, arguably, artificial. Animals are more like humans than we might think – ...
The singularity: Futurists ponder coming era of technological explosion
Technology has a habit of running away from us. When a breakthrough occurs or a floodgate opens, explosive, exponential growth ...
All animals sleep — and scientists are still struggling to understand why
All animals sleep, even the diminutive roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. Tinkering scientists have tried to genetically engineer the act out of ...
Viewpoint: ‘Fashionable nonsense’ — The deadly impact of ‘kowtowing to academia’s political zeitgeist’ in biomedicine
In August 2018, The Lancet published a curious paper, reminiscent of America’s long-forgotten Prohibition Era. The research came to a ...
Music and the mind: How can Mozart treat epilepsy?
While the claims of intelligence boosting are dubious, one assertion that sounds just as implausible but is absolutely real is ...
Video: What are the benefits — and potential threats — of the CRISPR gene editing revolution?
The idea of gene editing was once a thing of the future — but today, it soon could be saving ...