Bats are the only mammals that can fly (though some can glide). They have excellent hearing, navigate by echolocation, and they can eat their body weight in insects in a single night. But bats’ most impressive superpower is a remarkable tolerance to viral infections. Bats host many viruses, viruses that would sicken and even kill other mammals, without suffering serious consequences themselves (rabies is an exception). And that superpower may be related to the ability to fly, explains Cara Br ...read more
There’s something so satisfying about surprising “aha!” moments — those strange instances of insight that strike when you’re struggling with a problem and arrive at an answer suddenly, seemingly without warning. But is satisfying all that those moments are?Apparently not, as it turns out that the flashes of inspiration you feel when a solution finally bursts into your brain are much more than pleasurable. They’re also an important part of your memory-making process. Tied to surges of ...read more
When CRISPR was first introduced as a gene-editing tool in 2012, the world was in awe of all the possibilities it held — eventually earning its discoverers the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020. Now, after years of refining the technology and running clinical trials, gene-editing has taken a major leap toward personalized medicine.As Kiran Musunuru, professor of Translational Research in Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, put it in a press statement, “The promise of gene therapy that we’ ...read more
The Axial Seamount, an underwater volcano 300 miles off the coast of Oregon, U.S., is stirring and will likely erupt again in 2025. Because Axial Seamount dwells nearly 5,000 feet below the surface, its eruption will likely not impact life above. However, that doesn’t mean that life below the surface won’t be impacted.Often, when we think of volcanic eruptions, we think of the devastation they may cause. They may destroy homes, impede air traffic, change the climate, and harm wildlife. Howe ...read more
Far before modern humans ever walked the Earth, our Homo erectus ancestors made arduous journeys to the present-day islands of Southeast Asia. Fossil remnants of H. erectus have been left all across this region, and now, two newly discovered skull fragments belonging to the species have added a new angle to their story. A study published in the journal Quaternary Environments and Humans reveals that the fossil remains were found after a marine sand extraction project in the Madura Strait, a str ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine