The use of melatonin supplements has spiked significantly in the U.S. in recent years, prompting calls for more research into the effects of long-term melatonin supplementation in humans. That’s because relatively little research has been done concerning how taking melatonin pills on a regular basis affects overall health. Particularly in aging populations with Alzheimer's or dementia. Melatonin support has also been recommended for those who are blind and struggle with a regular sleep schedul ...read more

In the spring of 1993, a 30-minute program called Bill Nye the Science Guy aired for the first time on KCTS-TV, a Seattle-based PBS affiliate. Within months, the show was being syndicated nationally, and what followed was life-changing for the show’s titular host: six seasons, 100 episodes and substantial underwriting from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy. Bill Nye was suddenly famous — broadcast into the homes and schools of millions of children, to explain ...read more

Several years back, a woman checked herself into a hospital psychiatric unit. She needed help, she told her doctors, because she was terrified of… zombies. Her doctors did what good doctors do: They used cognitive behavior therapy to help the woman question her thoughts and fears. Within days, the woman was laughing at her folly, and she was discharged. It’s possible that zombies do lurch about our world — just not in the ways depicted in popular movies or television shows. Real Life Zombi ...read more

Psychedelic drugs have become all the rage among scientists. But not for the reasons you might think. From early, rudimentary research of psychedelics in the 1950s and '60s to today’s sophisticated technology, there is a deep interest in understanding how psychedelics affect the brain. Scientists have been digging for meaningful answers, whether to learn the psychedelic effects on human consciousness or their potential as therapeutics. But what exactly are psychedelics? What are Psychedelics? ...read more

As a founding father in the fields of physics and astronomy, Galileo Galilei is known for countless contributions to science. The Italian thinker stressed a methodical, mathematical approach to studying the universe, and inspired the modern scientific method that remains a bedrock of scientific inquiry — even 380 years after his death. His innovations in the realm of motion and gravity are equally exceptional and have laid the foundations for today’s physics and made him one of the greatest ...read more

Though known for the sound of their hissing and slithering, snakes themselves were long believed to be deaf. Now we know that couldn’t be farther from the truth, according to a growing body of research by scientists who are working to show that snakes use sound to interact with their environment. How exactly these slithering reptiles understand noise still has the scientific jury puzzled, however. One school of thought argues that snakes sense vibrations in the ground — but new research doub ...read more

A massive but surprisingly dainty “elephant bird” once wandered Madagascar, according to a new study that hands the title of largest-ever bird to a new species. The winner? Aepyornis maximus, which lived more than 1,200 years ago on the island of Madagascar and wielded a raptor-like beak and impressive talons, though it probably ate mostly plants and the occasional small lizard. The largest elephant birds stood about 9 feet tall and weighed up to 2200 pounds, about as much as a small car or ...read more

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 932,000 people have died from a drug overdose in the U.S. since 1999. In 2020 alone, nearly 100,000 people died from an overdose. The main cause? Synthetic opioids — specifically fentanyl. This sharp rise in opioid-related overdoses in recent years includes almost 69,000 deaths in 2020. Of those deaths, 82.3 percent of them involved synthetic opioids, which are artificially produced. But what makes synthetic opioids so dead ...read more

It was a familiar scene in my office, where I practice as a clinical psychiatrist. The well-dressed woman sat across from me with a worried furrow between her brows. “Doctor, my husband and children say I get too angry," she said. "I have trouble controlling my temper. Do you think I have bipolar disorder?”  After a thorough evaluation, I concluded that my patient’s verbal outbursts and tendency to throw dishes didn't stem from a severe mood disorder, but from uncontrollable anxiety. M ...read more

Tradition says that Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens were intellectually distinct. But archaeologists and anthropologists increasingly insist that the intellectual divide between the two species is shrinking. In fact, the traces of their ancient activities show more and more that the two species followed similar survival strategies. Residing in similar societies, they made similar sounds and manipulated similar tools. Apart from that, the most recent research shows that the two created sim ...read more