A new study fills gaps in the when and where of cat domestication, explaining how the animals went from lean hunters to, uh, this. (Credit G. Tarlach…yes, it’s my cat, but don’t kvetch about his obesity. I took the photo shortly after I adopted him. Thanks to careful management he is now several pounds lighter.)
The truth about cats and dogs is this: despite being the two species that humans are most likely to have as pets, Rex and Ruffles had very different paths from t ...read more
When Disney’s animators were creating Timon, the energetic meerkat sidekick in The Lion King, the part where he turns his anal pouch inside-out and marks his territory must have been left on the cutting room floor. Not once does Timon smear scented butt paste on a branch. But real meerkats use their anal scent glands to communicate with each other. And each animal’s distinctive scent seems to come from its personal community of bacteria.
Both male and f ...read more
A Century of Autism
1911 Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler coins the word autism — from the Greek autos, meaning “self” — to describe extreme self-obsessiveness and anti-social behavior in children.
1943 Leo Kanner at Johns Hopkins Hospital publishes the first case studies of autism as a medical condition.
1944 Austrian scientist Hans Asperger describes a disorder called Asperger’s syndrome, which, in older diagnostic criteria, had similar but milder symptoms than au ...read more
Humans have used marijuana, or Cannabis sativa, for thousands of years, for religious purposes, medicinal remedies or simply getting high. These days, 1 in 8 Americans ingest or smoke marijuana, and the drug faces renewed scrutiny as more states wrestle with legalization. While the legislative battles rage on, scientists continue to study the effects this plant can have on us, therapeutic and otherwise.
But the work isn’t easy. The U.S. government hasn’t legalized marijuana and still ...read more
How we're powering up our lives.
Batteries symbolize our love affair with convenience. They liberate us from wires by juicing up our smartphones, laptops and cars. With gadgets fully charged, we can go anywhere, do anything. One hundred percent power feels secure. But when the charge runs dry, we’re screwed. The good news? Engineers are trying to create the perfect battery. It is efficient and safe, and it packs a lot of oomph using little space. It’s made from abundant, cheap a ...read more
In 1984, geneticists recovered 229 base pairs of genetic code from a quagga, a subspecies of zebra extinct since the late 1800s. The achievement proved DNA could survive in dead things and spurred a new field of science: paleogenetics. Today, technological advances allow scientists to read billions of letters from the genomes of ancient humans and other organisms, transforming our view of history and evolution.
The genetic record is “like a lost library ... and we’re just starting to ...read more
A bioluminescent viper fish. (Credit: Jérôme Mallefet)
In a dark world of crushing pressures and barren landscapes, creatures we’ve never seen before, and, likely, couldn’t even imagine, are swimming.
The ocean’s abyssal zone begins over two miles beneath surface; it’s so deep that light never touches it. What little we know about it comes from sediment dredged up from the seafloor and brief snapshots captured by remotely operated submarines. This makes it ...read more
Researchers’ solar-charged battery system merges function and comfort. (Credit: Zamarayeva et al., Sci. Adv. 2017;3: e1602051)
Incorporating electronic components into everything we wear is the fashion trend of the future. But those LEDs, health sensors, heaters and whatever else we’ll come up with all need energy. A battery is a logical solution, but it’s been difficult to design one that’s rugged and efficient, but also comfortable.
However, in a study published today ...read more
By: Nina Friedman
When I hit a mental roadblock while I’m working, moving always helps. I can’t keep my brain moving unless my body is moving. I might get up from my desk and take a little walk but if I’m in a time crunch I’ll just fidget around in my chair or tap out a fun rhythm. As a growing body of research shows, cognitive functioning increases when we move. In other words, moving helps us think.
Michael Karlesky, a PhD candidate at NYU’s Tandon School of Engin ...read more
