If you’re feeling groggy during the day, and a cup or several cups of coffee just isn’t doing the trick, you might resign yourself to a cat nap. As the name suggests, those kinds of power naps are reminiscent of the ways our feline friends seem to laze and doze their entire days away. Sleeping may appear to be your cat’s favorite, or at least, most commonplace activity, and there’s good reason for it. Here's what to know about the ways cats sleep. Why Cats Sleep So Much(Credit: Svetlana ...read more

Imagine packing for a trip to space. Your suitcase would contain apparel that is much different from your usual vacation gear. Instead of swimsuits, flip-flops, and sun hats, you'll need life-supporting attire — gear that can protect you from the vacuum of space, extreme temperatures, and harmful radiation.But what do astronauts really wear in space? Let’s unpack the essentials.The Space Suit: Your Personal Spacecraft[embedded content]When you think of spacewear, the iconic spacesuit likely ...read more

When Elizabeth Edgerly’s mother was living with memory loss, Edgerly had to help her with daily care activities like getting dressed. At times, her mother became frustrated and couldn’t communicate what she needed.“I remember a couple instances in which she went to hit me with a cane,” says Elizabeth Edgerly, the senior director of care and support for The Alzheimer’s Association.People with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), dementia, or other forms of memory loss can display aggression or a ...read more

Human-wildlife overlap is projected to increase across more than half of all lands around the globe by 2070. The main driver of these changes is human population growth. This is the central finding of our newly published study in the journal Science Advances.Our research suggests that as human population increases, humans and animals will share increasingly crowded landscapes. For example, as more people move into forests and agricultural regions, human-wildlife overlap will increase sharply. It ...read more

The proverbial “sugar high” that follows the ingestion of a sweet treat is a familiar example of the potentially positive effects of food on mood.On the flip side, feeling “hangry” – the phenomenon where hunger manifests in the form of anger or irritability – illustrates how what we eat or don’t eat can also provoke negative emotions.The latest research suggests that blood sugar fluctuations are partly responsible for the connection between what we eat and how we feel. Through its ...read more

If you've checked out parts 1 and 2 of this three-part series examining the new State of the Climate 2023 report, you already know that greenhouse gases have been continuing their relentless growth in the atmosphere, and that 2023 shattered previous global heating records. Here in Part 3 of the series, I look at some of the other impacts, starting with one that took me surprise: In addition to being the warmest year, 2023 was also the least cloudy ever observed globally in records dating back fo ...read more

We've known for awhile that 2023 was by far the warmest year on record, triggering widespread alarm among climate scientists. Now, a newly released climate report reveals other disturbing trends.No aspect of Earth's climatic life support system was spared from humankind's impact last year, according to the State of the Climate 2023 report, led by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and published by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. Driving it a ...read more

In Part 1 of this three-part series focusing on a new report about climate change in 2023, I described the relentless rise of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Rather than showing signs of leveling off — which must happen soon if we are to avoid even more disruptive climate changes than we've already seen — they're accumulating at an increasing rate. In fact, 2023 saw the fourth highest rise of atmospheric CO2 on record.As I pointed out in Part 1, no aspect of Earth's climatic life support ...read more