Our favorite TV characters might be a work of fiction, but our feelings for them are real. So when a character dies, or a beloved couple breaks up, viewers can also experience emotions of grief and sadness. Researchers have found that because humans are social animals, these feelings are to be expected and, in most instances, can be beneficial. The term “parasocial relationship”(or PSR) describes the emotions viewers develop as they watch TV characters week after week. Viewers become acquain ...read more

In recent years, psychedelic research has gone through a renaissance. Experiments on substances like LSD, ecstasy and psilocybin — one of the primary psychoactive ingredients in psychedelic mushrooms — have shown promising results for treating mental health disorders, like post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and even end-of-life anxiety for cancer patients. This year, Oregon became the first state to widely legalize psilocybin and more states are considering legislation that would fol ...read more

You may have heard that no two fingerprints are alike, even if left behind by identical twins. This is because the characteristic ridges found on our fingers and toes are the result of both nature and nurture, so to speak. The intrauterine environment is to blame for the more than 100 teeny-tiny variations that can be found in a fingerprint. These so-called minutiae include the bridges between ridges, or the abrupt ending of one, and are influenced by things like the density of the amniotic flui ...read more

Fossilized dinosaur bones are still a somewhat common find, mainly because of how long dinosaurs roamed the Earth. What’s far more unheard of, however, is fossilized dinosaur skin. In 2011, archaeologists unearthed a near-complete Borealopelta markmitchelli, a type of four-legged ankylosaur fossil. The fossil preserved some of its spikes, armor, stomach contents and most importantly, the skin on its face. Now, multiple studies have examined the fossil, revealing new details about the dinosaur ...read more

We've all been in bad relationships. Things aren't going well, and we stay together much longer than we should. It happens, but for some of us, it happens all too often. And according to experts, that's no coincidence. There are psychological reasons why we choose the wrong partner. According to Jaime Bronstein, licensed therapist and author of MAN*ifesting: A Step-By-Step Guide to Attracting the Love That's Meant for You, there are several reasons why we stay in relationships that are not serv ...read more

I've said this before in this space, but the Earth is weird. Consider this: These plots show the distribution of surface elevations on a bunch of large and small bodies in our solar system. Something should jump out pretty quickly: All have a single peak for elevation except for Earth and Mars. That's weird! Why would any planet have two different peaks for the distribution of elevation? For Earth, the explanation is relatively straight forward: we have two types of crust. Oceanic crust that und ...read more

For millennia, humans have been drawn to explore the cosmos. Since Apollo 11 astronauts first set foot on lunar soil in 1969, more than 72 countries have established their own space programs. And with NASA’s plans to establish a sustained presence on the moon by 2028, including a possible staging point for future missions to Mars, human space exploration is expected to rocket forward in the years to come. But any space-bound travelers may have to contend with a surprisingly mundane (and highl ...read more

We’re all familiar with (hic) the mildly uncomfortable sensation (hic) that is hiccups (hic). Perhaps you swallowed a bit too much air at once, downed your lunch with incredible speed or took a swig of something overly carbonated or alcoholic. Maybe you laughed at a phenomenal joke for way too long — or maybe you simply became over-excited for no reason at all. The fact is, any one of these things (and a great many more) can set off a round of hiccups. And while most attacks occur sparingly ...read more

Sea otters are innovative, adorable and apex predators in their ecosystem — until now. On Pleasant Island, a 20 square mile uninhabited island off of Alaska, the deer population has likely dropped due to wolf predation. With the decrease in available prey, it appears that sea otters are now on the menu for wolves. According to a new study from Oregon State University and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, this may be the first time sea otters have become the predominant food source for a ...read more

The Great Salt Lake is yet another evaporating lake making headlines along with Lake Mead and Lake Powell due to low water levels. According to a report from Brigham Young University, unless measures are put in place to restore billions of gallons of water, the lake could be a bowl of toxic dust within the next five years.  Drying lakes can have disastrous effects on the planet and the people and animals who live there. Let’s take a look at why lakes are important and what happens when ...read more