Scientific American
Video: Antarctica research shows how isolation changes the brain
As humans grapple with pandemic-induced isolation, science is starting to offer insight into what may be happening in our brains when ...
Only 67% of schools teach evolution is ‘settled science’ although teaching creationism in schools is on the wane
American teachers have not always been afforded the luxury of teaching evolution forthrightly. John Thomas Scopes, for example, was famously ...
Can you really exercise your brain?
Who wouldn’t want a better memory? After all, our recollections are fragile and can be impaired by diseases, injuries, mental ...
Why we lie and the challenge of being honest
We lie when we think we can get away with it. We lie more in groups, especially if we see other ...
‘Complicated, messy and random’: Synthesizing old and new perspectives on human evolution
Darwin made astute observations about our kind and predictions about our ancient past based on the information that was available ...
IF – intermittent fasting: How and why it works
IF comes in three main flavors: alternate-day fasting, when people alternate between feast days (eating normally or a little extra) and ...
Horse antibody therapies to contain COVID under development in Latin America
Borrowing from decades of experience in producing snake antivenoms, scientists, veterinarians and technicians at a scientific and technical institute in ...
COVID spurs fears of surge in suicides
The rate of suicide—the second leading cause of death in the U.S. among people ages 10 to 34 and the ...
Health monitors you can draw on your skin with electronic pen and ink
Wearable sensor technology, which helps doctors check a variety of health indicators, has in recent years advanced from bulky devices ...
COVID stay-at-home orders have ramped up anorexia, bulimia and binge-eating
Recent research indicates that pandemic-related stay-at-home orders have ramped up anorexia, bulimia and binge-eating disorder symptoms. A study published last ...
9 COVID conspiracy theories and myths debunked
Even with widely available evidence to the contrary, beliefs are hard to change. Here are some of the most insidious ...
Cancer testing breakthrough: Experimental blood test can detect disease up to four years before symptoms appear
By using a blood test, [an] international team was able to diagnose cancer long before symptoms appeared in nearly all the ...
Fewer infants test positive for the coronavirus. Understanding why could help all of us
The initial data suggest that infants make up a small fraction of people who have tested positive for COVID-19. A ...
Back to normal by Christmas? By spring? COVID-19 eludes timelines
Many prominent business and political leaders downplayed the pandemic in its early stages. As a result, most business owners and ordinary citizens initially perceived ...
World War II Jewish Warsaw ghetto in provides blueprint for how US might contain coronavirus
A paper published on [July 24] in Science Advances reports on a sophisticated mathematical analysis that shows how personal hygiene, quarantines, social distancing and ...
Pangalactic intelligence: Here’s a guess about how many aliens in the universe
[I]n excess of four billion years ago, practically as soon as our planet had sufficiently cooled from its fiery formation, ...
Infographic: Power of evolution? How oak trees came to dominate North American forests
Over the course of some 56 million years, oaks, which all belong to the genus Quercus, evolved from a single undifferentiated ...
What brain wiring has to do with cognitive differences in humans and other animals
A persistent question about [brain] connectomes has to do with what, if anything, distinctive wiring patterns have to do with ...
Viewpoint: Telescoping coronavirus vaccine testing and approval timelines exposes all of us to unnecessary dangers
We all hope for a rapid end to the pandemic and an effective vaccine would be a surefire solution. But ...
Human hibernation? Brain ‘snooze button’ could help astronauts survive long-term space travel
The mechanisms that control torpor and other hypothermic states—in which body temperatures drop below 37 degrees Celsius—are largely unknown. Two ...
Brain stimulation could help you get stronger, faster
[Halo Neuroscience CEO Brett Wingeier] said that they make a headset which stimulates your brain to help you get better, ...
How ancient fish fins gave rise to modern human hands
In 1859 Charles Darwin remarked… in On the Origin of Species: “What can be more curious than that the hand ...
Infographic: How COVID-19 invades the body, step by step
The newest coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has created a far deadlier pandemic in part because once it infects a person it can ...
Why do some scents trigger powerful memories?
Anecdotally, many of us have had experiences where a certain smell—perhaps chlorine, fresh baked cookies, or the salty beach air—floods ...
Are there benefits to exercising while sick?
According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), for the majority of fitness enthusiasts engaged in 30-60 minutes of ...
Mindfulness relieves labor pain, improves postnatal recovery
Research has shown that even under extreme circumstances, like during childbirth, we can (and should) practice mindfulness. Of course, it ...
Symphony of scents: Why do flowers smell different from rotting fish?
In the deep recesses of the nose are millions of sensory neurons that, along with our eyes and ears, help ...