Although animals can’t talk, they have other ways of communicating. One is through pheromones, odorous chemical signals that members of a species can detect among themselves. Ecologists and zoologists have found these smelling signals in everything from insects to cephalopods to lizards to mice, and usually, they’re used to alert potential mates that it’s a good time to reproduce.
No one likes going to the dentist, but some people really hate it.
At what point does the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down become counterproductive?
Komodo dragons, the world’s largest lizards, are not animals you’d want to meet in a dark alleyway—or anywhere else, for that matter. They grow up to 10 feet long, and, although they have weaker jaws than house cats, they kill whatever they’re going to eat by biting them with sharp teeth that inject venom that stops blood from clotting. Additionally, though, these bites contaminate prey with whatever other potentially harmful bacteria are in the dragon’s mouth.
On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, owned by BP, exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition to killing 11 crew members, it unleashed about 3.19 million barrels of oil a mile below the ocean surface over the course of 87 days before the leak could be contained.
Back in January, Harvard physicists Isaac Silvera and Ranga Dias published a paper (paywall) in which they said they had solved an 80-year-old problem: They had found a way to take hydrogen, a chemical that is normally a gas, and turn it into a reflective, possibly superconducting, metal.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg wants to make sure she can defend civil liberties as long as physically possible.
You may not have heard of Bisphenol-A, but you’ve probably heard of it’s abbreviation—BPA—because of products advertising its absence, like BPA-free water bottles, baby bottles, and tupperware.
Our largest organ—our skin—is crawling with bacteria, as well as fungi, viruses, and even tiny mites. For the most part, this is a good thing: Benign skin-dwelling microorganisms outcompete potentially harmful ones for food (read: oil from our pores and dead skin cells), some of them also produce chemicals that can kill harmful bacteria.
The professionals who win eating contests have nothing on the talents of Tarrare, a Frenchman in the 18th century.
The US opioid epidemic, which now kills 91 people per day, began with good intentions based on misinformation: Doctors in the mid-1990s started prescribing opioid painkillers more freely to help suffering patients after drug companies falsely advertised them as safe to use for chronic pain. In reality, though, drugs like Vicodin and OxyContin are highly addictive, and often lead patients to use heroin, a cheaper, illegal form of opiate that can be bought on the street. Any type of opioid can be lethal when taken in a high enough dose.
Boston, Massachusetts, US
Here on Earth, we don’t really think about our waste because it’s (usually) out of sight and out of mind. But in space, managing waste is a little trickier. NASA engineers have come up with spaceship toilets that use suction (the waste is later released from the ship and catches on fire in our atmosphere, shooting-star style), and when astronauts go on missions where they have to be in their spacesuits between eight and 12 hours, they use adult diapers.
In most cases, autism can’t be diagnosed until children are two years old, but sometimes signs of the condition appear earlier. Usually, babies that have otherwise progressed normally will start showing subtle changes in behavior: difficulty focusing or speaking with others, or trouble pointing at objects. The trouble is, it’s hard to definitively say whether these patterns are reason for concern. Because doctors can’t confirm a diagnosis before a child is 24 months old, parents may be left feeling anxious without answers.
It’s early days of 2017 still, but already it’s become apparent that this year science will play a larger role in public discourse than it has in the past, at least in the US. The scientific community has found itself at odds with the new White House administration in countless ways, and is gearing up for a fight that will take place in labs and hacker spaces, in the halls of civic buildings, and in streets nationwide.
Pajau “PJ” Vangay has gotten really good at talking about poop in front of strangers.
Sorry, cephalopod enthusiasts. For a second year in a row, there will be no Octo-Sex event at the Seattle Aquarium.
Every Sunday, I go out for my weekly long run, usually between 10 and 20 miles. And without fail, there’s a moment, usually about halfway through, when I feel panic creep in. I start to think about how far I’ve gone already, and how tired I am, and how much farther I have to go.
The humble bee has a lot of responsibility. In addition to producing millions of hundreds of millions of pounds honey every year, they’re also one of the many species of pollinators that help plants reproduce.
The human body is home to some potent chemicals. Contained within a sack the size of your hands tucked just under your diaphragm, your stomach acid helps break down your food so your small intestine can pull out the nutrients from it. It’s so corrosive that without a thick lining of protective mucus, it would burn through your stomach walls.
A fear of flying is usually about the fear of crashing. Fortunately, plane crashes don’t happen very often: chances of dying in one are roughly 1 in 11 million (compared to 1 in 5,000 while driving).
Of the roughly 926,000 doctors practicing in the US, about a fifth studied internationally. And by at least one measure, these doctors outperform their American-educated colleagues.
Right now, the list of things Americans can agree on wouldn’t fill up a post-it note.
Precise gene editing, the stuff of science fiction, has been a reality since 2015. That was when CRISPR-Cas9 came in full force to the scientific field after decades of research. The technology allows scientists to go in and essentially nip and tuck genes from one organism to another to enhance them in some way, and it’s already been done with pigs, fish, mice, and mosquitos, as well as human embryos.
