Ever since the ancient Greeks first made observations of the circular Moon and the skies, scientists have known that the Earth is a sphere. We’ve all seen beautiful images of the Earth from space, some photographed by astronauts and others collected remotely by orbiting satellites. So why doesn’t our planet look round when we’re standing in a park or looking out a window?The answer is all about perspective. Humans are pretty tiny creatures living on a really large sphere.An average adult i ...read more

“Aren’t they a little young for that?”This is a question I used to hear regularly from parents when I’d recommend strength training for the kids I worked with, whose ages ranged from 6 to 18 years old, in youth sports. During my four years as a strength and conditioning coach, I often received questions from parents about the pros and cons of strength training– that is, training that involves weight-bearing exercises – for children.Some of the most common questions: Is strength train ...read more

Do you believe in psychics, ghosts, or communication with the dead? If so, you may be experiencing a high level of stress or feel a loss of control over your life, according to a study in PLOS ONE.While the study’s authors took great pains to emphasize that the beliefs in paranormal phenomena are not necessarily caused by stress or feelings of having no control, they point out that the relationship between the two are strong. “Findings support the notion that traditional paranormal belief is ...read more

After the Second World War, 1940s America was awash with radar equipment and experienced technicians who could make it work. That set the scene for the birth of a new field of science – radio astronomy. In 1944, the Dutch astronomer Hendrick van de Hulst predicted that interstellar hydrogen ought to emit electromagnetic radiation with a specific wavelength. He noted that a hydrogen atom contains only a proton and an electron that both have a property known as spin. These particles can spin in ...read more

A keeper at the Oklahoma City Zoo one day noticed that Eko, a Sumatran tiger, kept rubbing his face on the side of the fence, breaking all his whiskers. A team started treating the tiger with antihistamines, but he continued to rub his face. Eventually, the staff partnered with a veterinary dermatologist who came out and performed skin allergy testing to see what Eko was reacting to. While allergies in domesticated animals like dogs, cats, horses, and some birds are common, experts say there are ...read more

Around 700 million years ago, the Earth cooled so much that scientists believe massive ice sheets encased the entire planet like a giant snowball. This global deep freeze, known as Snowball Earth, endured for tens of millions of years.Yet, miraculously, early life not only held on but thrived. When the ice melted and the ground thawed, complex multicellular life emerged, eventually leading to the life forms we recognize today.The Snowball Earth hypothesis has been largely based on evidence from ...read more

We crafted our first rodent car from a plastic cereal container. After trial and error, my colleagues and I found that rats could learn to drive forward by grasping a small wire that acted like a gas pedal. Before long, they were steering with surprising precision to reach a Froot Loop treat.As expected, rats housed in enriched environments – complete with toys, space, and companions – learned to drive faster than those in standard cages. This finding supported the idea that complex environm ...read more

Anyone following the rhetoric around artificial intelligence in recent years has heard one version or another of the claim that AI is inevitable. Common themes are that AI is already here, it is indispensable, and people who are bearish on it harm themselves.In the business world, AI advocates tell companies and workers that they will fall behind if they fail to integrate generative AI into their operations. In the sciences, AI advocates promise that AI will aid in curing hitherto intractable di ...read more

Spinning methods. (a) Manual thigh-spinning [64]; (b) Spindle-and-whorl “supported spinning” [68]; (c) “drop spinning” [66]; (d) the experimental spindles and whorls, the 3D scans of the pebbles and their negative perforations. The bottom pictures show Yonit Kristal experimenting spinning fibers with replicas of the perforated pebbles, using supported spinning and drop spinning techniques (photographed by Talia Yashuv). (Credit: Yashuv, Grosman, 2024, PLOS ONE)Perforated pebbles discover ...read more

When it comes to naturally occurring spicy foods, some animals are more fit than others to enjoy them. Humans and other mammals aren't so well equipped to handle those foods. Take the chili pepper, for example. While it's a food rich in anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and serves as an excellent source of vitamin C, it contains capsaicin — a chemical that makes peppers taste spicy and interacts with the nerve receptor known as TRPV1. While some humans may classify the tingling and ...read more