Every neighborhood has that one unkempt house with an overgrown lawn no one ever seems to mow. Dandelion flowers sprout from the cracks in the pavement, and the property looks like a prairie dotted with the yellow weed.A neighbor might see an eyesore and a homeowner’s association might see violations worthy of hefty fines. But increasingly, researchers who study nutraceuticals see the dandelion as a natural remedy with chemical compounds that can help with various ailments.   What Is Dandel ...read more

Sleeping with your dog in the same room could be negatively affecting your sleep quality, according to my team’s recently published research in Scientific Reports.We recruited a nationally representative sample of more than 1,500 American adults who completed questionnaires assessing their sleep habits. Overall, about half of the participants reported co-sleeping with pets – defined in our study as sleeping in the same room with your pet for at least part of the night.Next, our research team ...read more

On March 8, 2014, the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370) stunned the world. The incident has given rise to several theories that have attempted to explain the mysterious fate of the flight's 227 passengers and 12 crew. The presumed 239 fatalities made this one of the deadliest episodes in aviation history, yet what caused it remains unresolved to this day. What Happened to MH370?Any known details about the plane's disappearance are extremely scarce. MH370 was flying from Kual ...read more

David Grimaldi pauses before a gleaming white cabinet, one of dozens arranged in long rows in a sparse, high-ceilinged room on the first floor of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York. With care, Grimaldi pulls a glass-topped box from its shelf, revealing row upon row of jewel-bright butterflies pinned to a backing board, their yellow and aquamarine hues little dimmed by age. The smell of mothballs wafts from the interior, the ghost of the paradichlorobenzene used decades ago ...read more

During the Triassic Period (251 million to 220 million years ago), the first known dinosaurs grew rapidly and continuously — but so did many other reptiles that lived then, according to a new study in PLOS One. However, over time, dinosaur descendants generally kept up these fast growth rates, while the descendants of other reptiles eventually grew more slowly.“One of the cool things that our study confirmed, is that, back in this Triassic system, even animals that were more closely related ...read more

When we talk about survival of the fittest, the first image that often comes to mind is that of giant, vicious predators capable of killing their way to dominance — whether that's Tyrannosaurus rex or the giant ichthyosaurs that once dominated the ocean. While those titans went extinct eons ago, some of the giant reptiles that lived alongside them — specifically, turtles — focused more on defensive strategies, helping them survive against such fearsome predators. For example, paleontologis ...read more

When talking about parallel universes, physics is usually the main subject. But what about the ethics behind the multiverse? Paul Sutter, a theoretical cosmologist, award-winning science communicator, NASA advisor, U.S. Cultural Ambassador, and a globally recognized leader in the intersection of art and science, helps us question the ethics behind parallel universes. What are the Ethics Behind Parallel Universes?This is a good one! If we do live in a multiverse, are we forced to reconfigure our ...read more

Thousands of languages all over the world face an uncertain future and may soon fade away if immediate action isn’t taken. One of these endangered languages is Romeyka, a variety of Greek that has roots in the ancient Hellenistic age. While its speakers are dwindling in numbers, especially in the Trabzon region of Turkey, Romeyka may be spared thanks to continuing research, and a recently launched crowdsourcing platform that can help document and preserve the language. Preserving Romeyka The ...read more