As the old saying — often attributed to Bette Davis — has it, “Getting old ain’t for sissies.” For most people, growing old is a lot better if they can stay in their own homes as they age, something called “aging in place.” But for many older people, especially those with some degree of cognitive impairment, staying at home has not been a realistic option. The good news is modern technology might be changing that. Data-Driven Home Care DevicesFor more than a decade, researchers at ...read more

Much of what your average person knows about ancient cultures comes down to a handful of artifacts.We know the ancient Egyptians partly through the Bust of Nefertiti and the Rosetta Stone. We know the Anglo-Saxons partly through the helmet and treasure left at Sutton Hoo.But what are some of the most significant treasures from the ancient Maya civilization?For those who aren’t as familiar with this culture, we’ve enlisted the help of Elizabeth Paris, an archaeologist at the University of Cal ...read more

We tend to think of our minds as, for better or worse, impenetrable fortresses. Other people see our internal thoughts only when we transform them into language and send them out into the world.Earlier this month, however, researchers at the University of Austin chipped away at this barrier between internal and external.By feeding brain imaging data into an artificial intelligence model, they captured the gist of what their subjects were hearing, seeing and thinking. As the technology’s accura ...read more

In the memoir, Group, a young law student ranked at the top of her class but struggled in her personal life with an eating disorder, suicidal ideation and intimacy issues. An acquaintance connected her with a therapist who recommended she join group therapy sessions.The author had to open up to other group members in the sessions and share parts of herself she’d rather keep hidden. In turn, she listened as other group members told their own stories and questioned the parts of their lives tha ...read more

Humans have evolved to survive and thrive as social creatures. Meaning, dynamic cooperation and connection to others are fundamental to our existence as a species.And yet, or perhaps because of this, some individuals insist on pushing the limits of human isolation. They voluntarily subject themselves to extreme environments and conditions to test what the human body and mind can endure.Living in Social IsolationOver the past century, scientists have monitored human subjects while they voluntaril ...read more

For almost 60 years, the world’s most iconic radio telescope consisted of a 305-metre dish built into a natural sinkhole in Puerto Rico with a 900-tonne receiver suspended above. But on 1 December 2020, the receiver plummeted to the ground after its supporting cables snapped, destroying the dish. The US National Science Foundation, which runs the facility, had long been aware of the ageing observatory’s shortcomings. Indeed, it had closed the observatory and announced plans to demolish it. B ...read more

Hobbits are usually found feasting, drinking, gardening and destroying rings in Tolkien's fictional Middle-Earth. But in reality, ancient remains indicate that hobbit-sized humanoids once lived on the Indonesian island of Flores. While researchers found artifacts such as stone tools, there was no evidence of dark lords or broken swords. The ancient remains belonged to Homo floresiensis, also known as the Flores Hobbit or simply, hobbit. As more research goes into the Flores Hobbit, it leaves ...read more

About 250 million years ago, widespread volcanic eruptions changed the earth’s atmosphere and thus its climate, setting off “The Great Dying,” otherwise known as the Permian extinction. Some nine out of 10 species disappeared over the course of about a million years, during which herbivores and predators alike jockeyed for resources, including the formidable inostrancevia.A saber-toothed meat-eater that likely had tough skin like a rhino and ran on all fours, the inostrancevia was the larg ...read more

Most breeds of chicken go around barefoot, with no feathers on their talons. But a new study found a simple genetic method to reverse this, neatly transforming scales into something else. Even the smallest changes in gene expression can affect embryonic development.The researchers’ method, carried out through the so-called Sonic Hedgehog pathway, could also help explain how scaly dinosaurs eventually evolved into lineages of small, feathery birds.Egg CandlingThe study took 11-day-old incubatin ...read more