It can be startling to look at a world population counter. There are eight billion (and counting — fast) humans on Earth. That’s a lot. And humans, of course, have an enormous impact. However, we are far from the most abundant animal on the planet. In fact, mammals are at the bottom of the list, with only about 5,500 or so named species. On the other hand, scientists have identified about a million species of insects, and there are many insects that haven’t yet been identified, explains S ...read more

Scientists corroborated an 800-year-old story about the literal poisoning of a well, according to a report in iScience.The Norse Sverris Saga, which recounts tales about King Sverre Sigurdsson, describes an 1197 raid in which a body was thrown into a well at Sverresborg Castle, ostensibly to poison the area’s main water source. Researchers analyzed the DNA of a skeleton found in a well outside Trondheim in central Norway. This study of “Well Man” matched the events the saga recounted. “T ...read more

Blood samples of patients infected with a parasitic worm that causes schistosomiasis contain hidden information that marks different stages of the disease. In our recently published research, our team used machine learning to uncover that hidden information and improve early detection and diagnosis of infection.The parasite that causes schistosomiasis completes its life cycle in two hosts – first in snails and then in mammals such as people, dogs, and mice. Freshwater worm eggs enter human hos ...read more

Fall for me as a teenager meant football games, homecoming dresses – and haunted houses. My friends organized group trips to the local fairground, where barn sheds were turned into halls of horror, and masked men nipped at our ankles with (chainless) chainsaws as we waited in line, anticipating deeper frights to come once we were inside.I’m not the only one who loves a good scare. Halloween attractions company America Haunts estimates that Americans spend upward of US$500 million annually on ...read more

After an unprecedented streak of 15 straight months of global heating records, the planet finally caught a tiny break: September did not go down as yet another record-shatterer. Even so, it was still the second-warmest September in records dating back to 1880. And today, the United Nations released a report saying a huge gap remains between what countries have pledged to do to limit further global heating, and what they've actually done.Earth's Fever Eases SlightlyAfter August continued the stri ...read more

Living with a small dog often means walking past a pile of blankets and not realizing the chihuahua, or Pomeranian, is burrowed deep within. After calling for the little one, the blanket might move and reveal their position.Dogs of all sizes (and many cats, too) enjoy going deep into a burrow of blankets. The darkness helps facilitate daytime napping, and the covers offer a sense of safety. Although domesticated animals burrow for comfort, scientists have found there is an evolutionary advantage ...read more

Psychologists know that childhood trauma, or the experience of harmful or adverse events, can have lasting repercussions on the health and well-being of people well into adulthood. But while the consequences of early adversity have been well-researched in humans, people aren’t the only ones who can experience adversity.If you have a rescue dog, you probably have witnessed how the abuse or neglect it may have experienced earlier in life now influence its behavior – these pets tend to be more ...read more

A simple difference in the genetic code – two X chromosomes versus one X chromosome and one Y chromosome – can lead to major differences in heart disease. It turns out that these genetic differences influence more than just sex organs and sex assigned at birth – they fundamentally alter the way cardiovascular disease develops and presents.While sex influences the mechanisms behind how cardiovascular disease develops, gender plays a role in how healthcare providers recognize and manage it. ...read more

To recapture a key moment in evolution, when aquatic animals walked out of the ocean, a group of scientists is building robots that mimic the motions of ancient organisms, according to a report in Science Robotics.The team of scientists from Cambridge University — includes roboticists, paleontologists, and biologists — are performing a feat of intellectual time travel to construct the contraptions. They are looking back at fossils of animals from about 390 million years ago and are examining ...read more

Each October, as the days shorten and the air grows crisp, millions of Americans prepare for the beloved – and often sugar-fueled – tradition of Halloween. From jack-o’-lanterns glowing on porches to costumes ranging from the whimsical to the gory, Halloween is a time of playful scares, childhood memories, and, of course, candy.But as the wrappers pile up and the sugar rush hits, there’s something far more sinister brewing beneath the surface: the negative effects of candy on your gut he ...read more