Science Alert
98.6°F: American body temperatures have been dropping for 200 years. Why?
Early last year, researchers in the United States combed Civil War veteran records and national health surveys and found temperatures ...
There are 7,000 spoken languages — and almost all share certain structural elements. Could that be driven by genetics?
There are around 7,000 human languages that we know of worldwide, and while they're all unique, they're also more similar ...
How a blobby, brainless, bright yellow slime mold is redefining our understanding of human cognition
This slime mold species has thrived, more or less unchanged, for a billion years in its damp, decaying habitats. And, ...
How tall will your children be? Here are the nature versus nurture factors
We often consider our height as being unchangeable, determined by our genetic make-up from when we were conceived. After all, ...
Is Emotional Intelligence a real and measurable quality?
Emotional intelligence, the ability to regulate and perceive emotions, is the subject of much debate amongst scientists and the public ...
Dunbar’s number: Is the human brain’s capacity for friends really limited to 150?
It's called Dunbar's number: an influential and oft-repeated theory suggesting the average person can only maintain about 150 stable social ...
Video: What the lungs of newborns look like when they take their first breaths
[U]sing a delicate sensor-belt wrapped around the chests of full-term newborns moments after their delivery, a team of researchers from ...
Video: Developing embryos show an immune response
Incredible new research has shown that long before the development of organs or specialized immune cells, this simple protective layer, ...
Are we headed toward developing a super-intelligent AI…that could spin out of control?
The idea of artificial intelligence overthrowing humankind has been talked about for many decades, and scientists have just delivered their ...
Could Alzheimer’s actually be three different diseases?
Postmortem, RNA sequencing has revealed three major molecular subtypes of [Alzheimer’s] disease, each of which presents differently in the brain ...
People with certain DNA sequences are much likelier to get severe COVID. Is that you?
A new study of thousands of COVID-19 patients has revealed eight genetic sequences that are more common in people who ...
Does being born first help in life? Yes, but just a little bit
An analysis of a longitudinal study that tracked 3,763 Americans across 50 years found no evidence that birth order is linked to the ...
New tool allows researchers to map complexity and intensity of dreams
Before the twenty-first century, we used to think dreams only occurred during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, but more recent ...
Gynandromorph: Spectacular bird found with male plumage on one side and female on the other
Split down the middle, with one side flaunting yellow 'wing pits', and the other side rocking a pink underwing, researchers ...
Have humans hit an evolutionary wall? Top scientists offer their views
Our Stone Age ancestors who were faster runners avoided being trampled by mammoths and were more likely to have children ...
Freud was right – dreams are a distorted continuation of reality
Whereas ancient civilisations may have interpreted dreams as having supernatural or spiritual origins, in modern society, we're more likely to ...
Russia birthplace of 500-year Black Death plague, genetic analysis suggests
The Black Death was only the beginning. Countless millions perished in this terrible early wave – an estimated 60 percent of Europe ...
Just one head injury could ‘tangle’ proteins in the brain, leading to Alzheimer’s
A single serious knock to the skull could be all it takes to develop the nerve damage thought to be ...
New cancer-fighting strategy: Coaxing breast cancer cells to turn into harmless fat cells
Researchers have been able to coax human breast cancer cells to turn into fat cells in a new proof-of-concept study ...
Attracted to men and women? Our sexual orientation can undergo ‘extensive’ changes as we age, and more so in women, study says
The vocabulary we currently use to describe sexual orientation is hopelessly inadequate, with labels like 'gay', 'straight' and 'bi' falling ...
Three’s company? BrainNet successfully connects trio’s brains and thoughts
Neuroscientists have successfully hooked up a three-way brain connection to allow three people to share their thoughts – and in ...
DNA analysis shows ‘everyone had been wrong’ about mysterious Siberian unicorn
It didn't look much like the dainty unicorns of myth and legend, but the extinct unicorn of Siberia is even ...
Newly discovered ‘micro-organ’ could lead to innovative vaccines
Researchers have identified a brand new 'micro-organ' inside the immune system of mice and humans – the first discovery of ...
7 ways CRISPR gene editing is changing the world
Here are a few ways researchers are already using [CRISPR] to make the world a better place; 1. Produce transplant ...