You sink your teeth into a grilled cheese from your nearest comfort food joint. That first bite leaves you parched, so you chase the umami with a cold glass of milk. On your way home, you treat yourself to some ice cream, a Friday reward after a successful week. Unfortunately, all the joy in the world couldn’t compensate for the cramps, bloating and bathroom torture you’ll endure thanks to this dairy joyride. Sounds familiar, right? Despite the ubiquity of dairy at grocery stores and restau ...read more

When studying how humans evolved to walk on two feet, scientists have focused on comparing bones from the shoulders, pelvis, spine, and limbs of early humans. So how did humans evolve bipedalism? It turns out, it may have had to do with the inner ears of our ancestors. A new study, published in The Innovation, suspects that the skulls of Lufengpithecus, a primitive ancestor to modern-day orangutans, may hold the key to bipedalism in the structure of their inner ears. “It is from this broad anc ...read more

Magnesium is one of many essential nutrients our bodies need to maintain health. Humans have used this element for medicinal purposes since ancient times, and it continues to be popular today. With so many forms of magnesium available, it’s important to know which are beneficial and which types are better avoided. All magnesium is not the same. Find out which ones best meet your needs.What Is Magnesium?(Credit: beats1/Shutterstock) Magnesium is the eighth most abundant element, comprising app ...read more

Were dinosaurs already on their way out when an asteroid hit Earth 66 million years ago, ending the Cretaceous, the geologic period that started about 145 million years ago? It’s a question that has vexed paleontologists like us for more than 40 years.In the late 1970s, debate began about whether dinosaurs were at their peak or in decline before their big extinction. Scientists at that time noted that while dinosaur diversity seemed to have increased in the geologic stage that spanned 83.6 ...read more

Eight years. Over a billion dollars. New tools that even get at the samples ... and this is what people saw:The sample tray from the return capsule of OSIRIS-REx. These dark black rocks are pieces of the asteroid Bennu. Credit: NASA.If you're a cynic, you might say that's an awful lot for what looks like a plate full of black rocks. You could go out into your driveway and collect something that looks pretty similar to the sample container from NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission. However, you'd be wrong. ...read more

Fossils of prehistoric elephants may have inspired the Greek myth of giant, one-eyed, man-eating creatures, known as cyclopes. In the Odyssey, the ancient Greek poet Homer recounts the hero Odysseus’s near fatal encounter with the cyclops Polyphemus. Stranded with his crew on the island of Sicily, the wily Odysseus blinds the giant and escapes with the remnants of his crew — many of whom had been eaten — beneath a herd of sheep.It’s possible that visitors to islands in the Mediterranean ...read more

“I started waking up in the middle of night with pain in my hand,” says Moon-Moon Majumdar, a medical doctor in the U.K. who has suffered from carpal tunnel for the past four years. “It’s a kind of tingling and burning sensation.”Majumdar sought medical advice and was told to wear a wrist brace at night to prevent her arm and hand from getting into positions that could aggravate the problem.Even though we haven’t seen carpal tunnel appear in the news as much lately, somewhere between ...read more

The sad eyes. The whimpering. The trouble with the water dish. Sometimes, the surgical collar prescribed for a post-op pet can seem worse than the actual wound.Researchers and clinicians call it an “Elizabethan collar” or E-collar because it resembles the fashionable fabric ruffle in Elizabethan times. Pet parents, however, know it as the “cone of shame” for how humiliated and unhappy it makes their pet.In recent years, animal behaviorists have researched the impact of E-collars on anima ...read more

The Jezero crater has captivated scientists since its discovery in 2005. Some studies suggested that the crater was home to an ancient lake with flowing rivers that dried out between 3.5 billion years and 3.8 billion years ago. In a new study, more evidence gathered by the Perseverance Rover’s ground penetrating radar confirmed the presence of lake sediments. The find has reignited anticipation for when rock samples from Mars return to Earth in the early to mid-2030s.“From orbit we can see a ...read more

Many people are wired to seek and respond to rewards. Your brain interprets food as rewarding when you are hungry and water as rewarding when you are thirsty. But addictive substances like alcohol and drugs of abuse can overwhelm the natural reward pathways in your brain, resulting in intolerable cravings and reduced impulse control.A popular misconception is that addiction is a result of low willpower. But an explosion of knowledge and technology in the field of molecular genetics has chan ...read more