Your Brain Prefers Happy Endings. That’s Not Always Smart
When the researchers compared the scans of participants, they found that those who most often…
Education
How the ‘Diabolical’ Beetle Survives Being Run Over by a Car
The field of entomology is built on the humble pin: Biologists venture into grasslands and…
What Even Is Friction, Anyway?
We can’t escape the fact that we live in a world governed by friction. There’s…
Can Placebos Work—Even When Patients Know They’re Fake?
For that reason, Tor Wager, a professor of neuroscience at Dartmouth College and a co-author…
It’s Time to Talk About Covid-19 and Surfaces Again
“In my opinion, the chance of transmission through inanimate surfaces is very small, and only…
Babies May Be Drinking Millions of Microplastic Particles a Day
The team also found that the higher the temperature in their preparations, the more particles…
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Is About to Touch an Asteroid
Once Bennu has its sample, it will return to an orbit around the asteroid so…
The New Science of Wildfire Prediction
Back in 2018, a research ecologist for the US Fire Service found himself suddenly on…
Computer Scientists Break the ‘Traveling Salesperson’ Record
When Nathan Klein started graduate school two years ago, his advisers proposed a modest plan:…
Want Some Eco-Friendly Tips? A New Study Says No, You Don’t
This story originally appeared on Grist and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Need…