Shorter sleep and later bedtimes are linked to potentially harmful functional changes to parts of the brain important for coping with stress and controlling negative emotions, our recently published research found. And children in families with low economic resources are particularly at risk.We are neuroscientists who are passionate about reducing socioeconomic disparities in child development. To better understand how socioeconomic disadvantage affects sleep health and brain development in chil ...read more

Of the more than 74,000 known meteorites– rocks that fall to Earth from asteroids or planets colliding together – only 385 or so stones came from the planet Mars.It’s not that hard for scientists to work out that these meteorites come from Mars. Various landers and rovers have been exploring Mars’ surface for decades. Some of the early missions – the Viking landers– had the equipment to measure the composition of the planet’s atmosphere. Scientists have shown that you can see this ...read more

Mom knew what she was talking about after all: Scratching really does make the itch worse. Good as it feels, the burst of ecstasy you get from clawing your irritated skin only prolongs a vicious itch-scratch cycle, putting true relief farther out of reach. Our natural instinct betrays us.But why? Though itch has bedeviled our species (not to mention many other animals) for thousands of years, scientists have just begun to comprehend the physiological mechanisms behind it. Over the past couple of ...read more

Mount Vesuvius delivered a deadly one-two-three punch to Pompeii in A.D. 79. First, the volcano spewed stones high into the air, which rained down on the city. After that rock shower subsided, an earthquake shook the village. Finally, a swift river of lava, ash, and gasses — what vulcanologists call a pyroclastic flow — essentially finished off life in the village.A new study in Frontiers in Earth Science examines the significance of that second blow —perhaps the least-understood aspect of ...read more

More than half of stroke survivors do not receive rehabilitation after the first days of advanced stroke care. Instead of living for months or years with visible or hidden disabilities, stroke survivors can take advantage of new techniques of advanced rehabilitation to improve their function and freedom.One condition, called spatial neglect– in which a person’s three-dimensional reality and spatial movements are distorted on one side – is particularly underdiagnosed and undertreated among ...read more

In every major body of water in the world, there are sunken ships resting on the seafloor. Near the coast of North Carolina, for example, there is a graveyard of ships torpedoed during the Second World War by German submarines. And in the Great Lakes, an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 ships have been lost at sea.These wreckages, however, weren’t the intent of the captain or crew. Most ran into bad weather or enemy crosshairs. However, on the coast of a Hawaiian island, there is a ship graveyard whe ...read more

Helicopters draw a lot of attention with their almost magical ability to hover, fly in any direction and operate without runways. They also help save many lives, often dramatically, with their extensive use in all-weather military missions, ambulance duties and search-and-rescue roles.When things go wrong, dramatic images and news stories about helicopter accidents grab the public’s attention. This is especially true when high-profile celebrities or government officials are involved.However, m ...read more

Humans likely butchered 6-foot-long armadillo-like animals over 20,000 years ago, according to a report in PLOS ONE. These findings not only represent an interesting dietary choice (and make one wonder just what ancient armadillo must have tasted like), but they also bump back the time of known human occupation of South America by about 6,000 years.Pleistocene ButchersScientists analyzed cut marks on parts of the pelvis, tail, and body armor of a creature called glyptodont, also referred to as N ...read more

Isaac Newton would never have discovered the laws of motion had he studied only cats.Suppose you hold a cat, stomach up, and drop it from a second-story window. If a cat is simply a mechanical system that obeys Newton’s rules of matter in motion, it should land on its back. (OK, there’s some technicalities — like this should be done in a vacuum, but ignore that for now.) Instead, most cats usually avoid injury by twisting themselves on the way down to land on their feet.Most people are not ...read more

When I was in middle school, my biology teacher showed our class the sci-fi movie “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.”The plot drew me in, with its depiction of the “Genesis Project” – a new technology that transformed a dead alien world into one brimming with life.After watching the movie, my teacher asked us to write an essay about such technology. Was it realistic? Was it ethical? And to channel our inner Spock: Was it logical? This assignment had a huge impact on me.Fast-forward ...read more