Category Science

December 17, 2024 2 min read Book Review: The Surprising Comeback of Our Least Appreciated Sense The nose knows more than we thought By Dana Dunham edited by Jen Schwartz The Forgotten Sense: The New Science of Smell and the…

THIS ARTICLE IS republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Christmas can be a time of togetherness, fun, and relaxation. Yet, it can also bring unique challenges—particularly for those who may struggle with food anxiety, weight concerns, or…

December 17, 2024 4 min read Delicious Bacon Highlights Food That Enraptures Our Senses but Endangers Our Health Some foods, no matter how simply prepared, contain many substances linked to disease By Lydia Denworth edited by Josh Fischman My love…

Almost no one ever writes about the Parker Solar Probe anymore. Sure, the spacecraft got some attention when it launched.  It is, after all, the fastest-moving object that humans have ever built. At its maximum speed, goosed by the gravitational…

One sunny afternoon in San Diego, three-year-old Aisha played outside while her father sat nearby. Her father wasn’t paying much attention to her, so Aisha took a toy and waved it at him. When he didn’t respond, she redoubled her…

Microbes in our gut can have a profound impact on our health, but research is showing that those surrounding us in our environment—what’s known as the natural environmental microbiome—can have a big impact too. This suggests that we should all…

Rachel Feltman: If I asked you to guess how many animal species are threatened with extinction right now, would you have a number in your head? Is it hundreds, thousands? [CLIP: Theme music] Feltman: Well, according to the International Union…

Betelgeuse! Betelgeuse! Betelgeuse! Did it explode? No? Okay, then. But it seems fair to ask: Why “Betelgeuse”? It’s an odd-seeming name for a star. That’s because it’s a corrupted translation of the Arabic phrase yad al-jawzā’, which roughly translates to…

This year is the centennial of the discovery of human brain waves. Few people know the story of that startling finding, because the true story was suppressed and lost to history. Almost two decades ago I visited the pioneering scientists’…

The orange fur on the underside of Nepenthes pongoides leaves is why the pitcher plant was named after orangutans Alviana Damit A newly described species of pitcher plant, one of the largest and furriest ever found, has been identified on…