When Hongjun Lin from New York University revisited the Jurassic Park films, something didn’t sound quite right. Lin, a dinosaur aficionado since his youth, was pretty sure the calls the creatures made were inaccurate. He was particularly focused on Parasaurolophus, a creature with a crest on the back of its head.“What if I told you that the sound of Parasaurolophus in the film Jurassic Park is not true?” Lin addressed a virtual press conference before presenting a research report on how t ...read more

Our master chefs in the SciStarter kitchen have been working overtime to bring you this delectable Thanksgiving menu, featuring citizen science projects guaranteed to satisfy even the most insatiable curiosity.Hors d'oeuvres: Nature's NotebookCredit: Nature's NotebookAt Nature’s Notebook, nature is always in season; currently, the program features the spicy flavors of autumn! Deepen your connection with nature by making observations as fall turns to winter. It’s a giant smorgasbord of activi ...read more

Knee injuries are common in athletes, accounting for 41 percent of all athletic injuries. But knee injuries aren’t limited to competitive athletes. In our everyday lives, an accident or a quick movement in the wrong direction can injure the knee and require medical treatment. A quarter of the adult population worldwide experiences knee pain each yearAs a physical therapist and board-certified orthopedic specialist, I help patients of all ages with knee injuries and degenerative conditions.Your ...read more

Millions of people in the U.S. and around the world suffer from urinary tract infections every year. Some groups are especially prone to chronic UTIs, including women, older adults, and some veterans.These infections are typically treated with antibiotics, but overusing these drugs can make the microbes they target resistant and reduce the medicines’ effectiveness.To solve this problem of chronic UTIs and antibiotic resistance, we combined our expertise in microbiologyand engineering to create ...read more

Amidst the permafrost in Yakutia, Russia, researchers uncovered a mummified saber-tooth cat cub (Homotherium latidens). The well-preserved mummy, still covered in fur, is a first-of-its-kind discovery and could reveal more about the ancient species. According to recent findings in Scientific Reports, researchers discovered the cub on the banks of the Badyarikha River. Carbon dating indicates that the specimen is over 30,000 years old, proving the cub lived during the Ice Age or Pleistocene epoc ...read more

Floating in space can slow you down — not just physically, but mentally as well.Scientists studied how 25 astronauts who lived an average of six month on the International Space Station (ISS) performed on a number of cognitive tests. The astronauts completed the activities slower, but no less accurately than they would have on Earth. And once back home, they could complete the same jobs as well, but faster, according to a report in Frontiers in Physiology.“We show that there is no evidence o ...read more

Mold growth in your home can be unsettling. Blackened spots and dusty patches on the walls are signs that something is amiss, but it is important to distinguish between mold growth that is a nuisance and mold growth that may be harmful.There are more than 1 million species of fungi. Some are used to produce important medications. Others can cause life-threatening infections when they grow in the body.Microscopic fungi that grow in homes are a problem because they can trigger asthma and other all ...read more

In an era where digital devices are everywhere, the term “screen time” has become a buzzphrase in discussions about technology’s impact on people’s lives. Parents are concerned about their children’s screen habits. But what if this entire approach to screen time is fundamentally flawed?While researchers have made advances in measuring screen use, a detailed critique of the research in 2020 revealed major issues in how screen time is conceptualized, measured, and studied. I study how di ...read more

The human remains of 12 individuals have been discovered in a chamber in the well-known Petra in Jordan.Petra, one of the new seven wonders of the world and a UNESCO World Heritage site, was the capital of the Nabatean Kingdom, which lasted from roughly 400 B.C. until the Romans absorbed the Kingdom as a province in the beginning of the second century A.D.“Complete burial sites are not a common thing in Petra,” says Richard Bates, a geophysicist at St. Andrews University in Scotland who has ...read more

We often associate the word “caveman” with crude simplicity. But based on a new finding, maybe we should, instead, use it as a stand-in for technological innovation. Researchers discovered a new kind of fire pit dating back about 75,000 years. After analyzing its novel design — a ringed trench rather than a simple pit — and the traces of chemical components left behind by burning, they determined that Neanderthals used it to produce tar from rockrose (Cistus ladanifer). They then employe ...read more