Ever had poison ivy? If so, you probably noticed that scratching made the rash much worse. But scratching an itch, especially one as intense as that caused by poison ivy, is nigh irresistible — and feels so satisfying. If you think about it, says Daniel Kaplan, who is a dermatologist and immunologist at the University of Pittsburgh, that’s a little curious. When comparing this action to pain, pain causes you to stop what you’re doing and tend to the wound. But the pain also creates a memo ...read more

With popular genetic testing company 23andMe filing for bankruptcy, what does the future of ancestry DNA look like?A team of researchers from the University of Michigan says it is going to look more like a movie than a portrait, thanks to a new statistical model that can be used to trace ancestry in a new way.Redefining the Family TreeThis new statistical method, developed by Gideon Bradburd and fellow University of Michigan (U-M) researchers Michael Grundler and Jonathan Terhorst, promises to g ...read more

Wheat can be vulnerable to diseases that may increase as the Earth warms. A team of scientists across five continents may have found a way to help wheat fight back, according to two papers published in the journal Science."Climate change is causing diseases to appear in places previously unseen,” Brande Wulff., a researcher at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia and an author of the study, said in a press release. “We need more study of plant immunity t ...read more

Salt makes almost everything taste better — we add it while cooking to enhance the flavor of other ingredients, sprinkle some into baking to balance out sweetness, and enjoy it in our favorite snacks, like chips, pretzels, and microwave popcorn. Besides these obvious sources, many highly processed foods — foods we wouldn't ordinarily consider salty — contain an unexpectedly high amount of sodium, such as canned goods, salad dressings, cold cuts, various cheeses, flavored yogurts, ketchup, ...read more

Generative AI (Gen AI) tools like ChatGPT have become an ever-present part of many people’s personal and working lives. And whether they are causing more harm than good to our cognitive skills or problem solving is a growing concern. Experts are worried that dependence on Gen AI is making users who lean heavily on these tools “dumber,” according to research findings.In a recent paper, a team from Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University found that “higher confidence in Gen AI is associat ...read more

When the 2020 pandemic sent everyone home to “shelter in place,” kids began online school and adults telecommuted using videoconferencing. Suddenly, people saw a constant reflection of themselves mirrored on the screen.There we were, side-by-side in little boxes next to our colleagues as we pretended to listen to a department meeting or a budget update. Our every move was mirrored back to us, and it gave many people a chance to scrutinize their appearance.Small smiles revealed previously unn ...read more

Earth’s largest mass extinction eliminated a lot of marine species. But it didn’t eliminate them all. According to a study in Science Advances, warm, oxygen-depleted waters may have helped select survivors of the end-Permian extinction in the aftermath of the event around 252 million years ago, allowing them to expand their ranges throughout Earth’s oceans. The results reveal how marine animals have recovered from past mass extinctions and how they could recover from mass extinctions in th ...read more

Spring brings warmer temperatures, fresh greenery, and the return of birdsong. Songbirds are known for performing species-specific tunes to attract mates and defend their territories. But how do birds learn these signature songs? Much like humans, it takes time and practice to master a skill.To understand the brain signals involved in birds’ intrinsic desire to learn their songs, a research team from Duke University, North Carolina, closely studied how zebra finches practice their songs until ...read more

A surprising observation from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revealed a vestige of a galaxy that peeked through the early universe’s dense fog just 330 million years after the Big Bang. The recent sighting of ultraviolet light from this distant galaxy — called JADES-GS-z13-1 — has astonished researchers, shattering prior expectations of early galaxy formation. Shortly after the Big Bang, the developing universe was clouded by a thick fog of neutral hydrogen, blocking the l ...read more

Cold plunging has become all the rage. Whether in the ocean, rivers, lakes, or your own personal cold plunge bath, enthusiasts claim that the therapy has a host of benefits, both mentally and physically, from reducing anxiety to reducing brain fog and improving focus. It’s also been touted for improving athletic performance, reducing inflammation and joint pain, improving immunity, and increasing metabolism. But are any of these benefits backed by science?Shock the Body with Cold Water Plunge ...read more