Researchers at the Museum of Archaeology and Paleontology in Madrid, Spain have uncovered a chamber of a cave filled with 35 skulls of long-dead herbivores. The skulls are assumed to have been placed there by groups of Neanderthals, a close relative to the modern human. Read More: Who Were the Neanderthals? The cave, known as the Cueva Des-Cubierta, is in the north Madrid region of Spain. Researchers initially discovered it in 2009, but this collection of skulls was not found until recently – ...read more

Though many dog owners may not be aware of it, our canine friends can develop dementia too. Dementia in dogs — also known as canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome — often follows a similar pattern of development as it does in humans, says Gary Landsberg, a veterinary behaviorist and senior veterinary scientific director with the research organization CanCog. Read More: We’re Not Alone: Animals Suffer From Mental Health Issues Too “Dogs have neurodegenerative disease disorders that they d ...read more

A growing body of research is making some surprising discoveries about insects. Honeybees have emotional ups and downs. Bumblebees play with toys. Cockroaches have personalities, recognize their relatives and team up to make decisions. Fruit flies experience something very like what we might call fear. Read More: Bumble Bees Like To Play Just For Fun Insects having emotions is not a new idea. In 1872, in The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, Charles Darwin wrote, "Even inse ...read more

The world was an unrecognizable place more than 2.45 billion years ago. But for most of the tiny organisms that lived on the planet at the time, things were just fine; at least, until the cyanobacteria started to proliferate.   As a result, these photosynthetic bacteria began to produce oxygen — so much of it that the tiny microbes sparked the "Great Oxidation Event" that infused the gas into our atmosphere. “You could argue that that’s the biggest poisoning event of Earth’s history,� ...read more

On Sunday, February 12, the Philadelphia Eagles will face the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII in Phoenix, AZ! Below, find ways to learn about eagles (and other birds) from almost anywhere; and discover where to check out a free kit from libraries in Missouri (Kansas City is in Missouri after all) to help measure light pollution. Leading up to the Super Bowl, the Science Cheerleaders, who were recently featured on the cover of Diversity in STEAM Magazine, will be busy with events in Phoen ...read more

Physiologically, human adolescents are late bloomers on many fronts: learning to walk, securing and preparing their own food, and reproducing sexually. And that’s especially true for the development process inside our heads.  Even after a young adult has finished growing, perhaps married or claimed independence by most social standards, their brain typically continues developing — until they reach their mid- to late 20s. Adolescence, in fact, spans from the age of 10 until at least age 24, ...read more

Our favorite TV characters might be a work of fiction, but our feelings for them are real. So when a character dies, or a beloved couple breaks up, viewers can also experience emotions of grief and sadness. Researchers have found that because humans are social animals, these feelings are to be expected and, in most instances, can be beneficial. The term “parasocial relationship”(or PSR) describes the emotions viewers develop as they watch TV characters week after week. Viewers become acquain ...read more

In recent years, psychedelic research has gone through a renaissance. Experiments on substances like LSD, ecstasy and psilocybin — one of the primary psychoactive ingredients in psychedelic mushrooms — have shown promising results for treating mental health disorders, like post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and even end-of-life anxiety for cancer patients. This year, Oregon became the first state to widely legalize psilocybin and more states are considering legislation that would fol ...read more

You may have heard that no two fingerprints are alike, even if left behind by identical twins. This is because the characteristic ridges found on our fingers and toes are the result of both nature and nurture, so to speak. The intrauterine environment is to blame for the more than 100 teeny-tiny variations that can be found in a fingerprint. These so-called minutiae include the bridges between ridges, or the abrupt ending of one, and are influenced by things like the density of the amniotic flui ...read more

Fossilized dinosaur bones are still a somewhat common find, mainly because of how long dinosaurs roamed the Earth. What’s far more unheard of, however, is fossilized dinosaur skin. In 2011, archaeologists unearthed a near-complete Borealopelta markmitchelli, a type of four-legged ankylosaur fossil. The fossil preserved some of its spikes, armor, stomach contents and most importantly, the skin on its face. Now, multiple studies have examined the fossil, revealing new details about the dinosaur ...read more