Slow, lazy, stupid? It’s time to update your impression of the crocodilians. These animals are up to amazing things that we’re only beginning to observe and recognize.
Faced with uncertainty and unpredictability, your brain’s on its way to anxiety.
Woman image via www.shutterstock.com.
Modern life can feel defined by low-level anxiety swirling through society. Continual reports about terrorism and war. A struggle to stay on top of family finances and hold onto jobs. An onslaught of news…
Some US bridges are currently living out their twilight years.
Bob Jagendorf
There are about 600,000 bridges in the United States, and about one in four is classified as functionally obsolete or structurally deficient. This doesn’t mean they’re in danger of imminent collapse; they…
When all your appliances are internet-enabled, whose hands are holding the remote control?
Hands image via www.shutterstock.com.
An ever-increasing number of our consumer electronics is internet-connected. We’re living at the dawn of the age of the Internet of Things. Appliances ranging from light switches and door locks, to cars…
Emergencies can happen at the zoo. Staff train to be prepared.
Yuriko Nakao/Reuters
You need only look at the papers or television news to see the reports. Infectious disease outbreaks, weather emergencies and disasters both natural and man-made. They’re all not just threats to human…
Opioid addicts now being armed with overdose antidote.
Gretchen Ertl/Reuters
Many first responders’ – even some university police officers – are carrying a new tool in their first-aid kits. It’s naloxone, the opioid overdose antidote drug, and today it’s more widely available than…
Matthew McConaughey
embodies the heroic scientist in Interstellar.
Paramount
Declan Fahy, American University School of Communication
Interstellar’s protagonists spend a significant portion of the movie’s 169-minute running time giving mini-lectures – sometimes with props and a little whiteboard – on theoretical physics. The characters…
Race is one way we categorize ourselves among in-groups and out-groups.
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Race-related demonstrations, Title IX disputes, affirmative action court cases, same-sex marriage bans. These issues made headlines in all spheres of the media this year. However, thoughtful articles on…
I’ll have a clean cage with a side of fertility issues.
Mouse image via www.shutterstock.com
Mice possess a notable talent: they are excellent at making more mice. Their ability to reproduce at a breakneck pace is one reason they are often used as experimental research subjects. Thus, when Dr…
Nutritious meal inside? Maybe, maybe not.
Lunchbox image via www.shutterstock.com.
Ravenous students, busy parents, nutrition professionals and school officials all have their own ideas about what belongs on the school lunch table. Plenty of criticism centers on the unhealthiness of…
The author posing with a fully-functional model of the Curiosity rover on Earth, not Mars.
“All systems go!” I said cautiously with a long sigh of relief. I had approved plans for the first soil analysis that would give humankind clues to the past and future habitability of Mars. One small word…
Square away your personal philosophy now; proof of life beyond earth is coming.
Stargazing image via www.shutterstock.com
Astronomers have found thousands of exoplanets and the hunt is on for life beyond Earth. Once biological neighbors are identified, our planet’s philosophies and religions will need to adapt.
A green anole, clinging to a palm frond with nicely silhouetted toepads.
Yoel Stuart
Invasive species colonize and spread widely in places where they are not normally found. Invasives often affect native species by eating them, out-competing them and introducing unfamiliar parasites and…
You might not be getting a great deal….
Online shopping image via www.shutterstock.com.
People have a mental model of shopping that is based on experiences from brick-and-mortar stores. We intuitively understand how this process works: all available products are displayed around the store…
World record holder – but for how long?
Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters
This fall Dennis Kimetto set a new world record in the marathon, clocking 2:02:57 at Berlin. He is the first man to run those 26.2 miles in under 2:03 and his time sparked speculation about when the two-hour…
It’s not all bad news for older brains.
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For years, conventional wisdom held that growing older tends to be bad news for brains. Past behavioral data largely pointed to loss in cognitive – that is, thinking – abilities with age, including poorer…
Zoos provide succor for species having a tough time of it in the wild.
B. A. Minteer
Today, many zoos promote the protection of biodiversity as a significant part of their mission. As conservation “arks” for endangered species and, increasingly, as leaders in field conservation projects…
Many people around the world, in certain locations, have asked, “where is global warming?” This is because they have experienced very cold wintry conditions and weird weather that they do not associate…
Icy times for mom-to-be meant bad news for baby-on-board.
Shaun Best/Reuters
In January 1998 five days of freezing rain collapsed the electrical grid of the Canadian province of Québec. The storm left more than 3 million people without electricity for anywhere from a few hours…
A great butterfly fish enjoys the reef view off Waialae, Hawaii.
Steve Palumbi
Reef historian Iain McCalman, in Sydney, and reef scientist Stephen Palumbi, in California, are monitoring reef degradation from opposite sides of the planet. They compared notes. Iain McCalman: A recent…
Coral reef ecosystem off Palmyra Atoll part of newly expanded Marine National Monument.
Jim Maragos/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
This fall, President Obama signed a proclamation that created the biggest marine reserve in the world. By extending the protective boundaries around Wake Island, Jarvis Island and Johnston Atoll from 50…
Friendly or flirting? Science says you stink at telling the difference.
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One of nature’s most spectacular events occurs every autumn, when the leaves of hardwood trees burst into brilliant color before falling to the ground. These autumnal displays in the eastern United States…
How much more glacial melting can the planet stand?
NASA
Industrial civilization must become technologically, economically, politically, and morally sustainable to hold the earth’s temperature below 2°C (3.6°F) higher than its preindustrial average. The problem…