More than 86 million Americans used a weight loss app in 2022. With an enormous variety of choices, there's an app for every type of consumer. Among the most common features found on these apps are diet plans, water consumption tracking, goal setting, fitness tracking, food diaries, recipes and a supportive environment.  Not all apps offer every option, which is why potential users should seek out the app best suited for them. With emerging evidence that these apps can be helpful, let's ...read more

Today, humans are the only members of our genus — the Homo from Homo sapiens — left alive. Remnants of our closest relatives, including Neanderthals and Denisovans, range from teeth and bones to tools and artwork, not to mention a genetic legacy in many modern humans thanks to interbreeding. Neanderthal DNA With a new study published in iScience, a group of researchers announced that ancient DNA has helped illuminate another aspect of our fellow humans’ lives: their sense of smell. This re ...read more

For many of us, hair loss is a fact of life.  Around 95 percent of the time, hair loss is due to a condition called androgenetic alopecia — also called male or female pattern baldness. And if you’re part of the 80 percent of men or 50 percent of women who experience such hair loss over the course of their lifetimes, chances are you’re not super stoked about it. The U.S. hair loss treatment industry is booming, after all. Whether you’re talking oils, serums, shampoos or conditioners, acc ...read more

No, we’re not talking about Marvel’s Venom. But when you think about venom, you might think about snakes and stinging insects. But there are plenty of venomous animals you wouldn’t have ever thought of — even mammals, or worms. Some animals are more toxic than others, and most of them have completely different ways of producing their killer chemical cocktails or using them on their attackers, or prey. Many of the molecular concoctions that have evolved in the animal kingdom are so uniqu ...read more

This story was originally published in our Mar/Apr 2023 issue. Click here to subscribe to read more stories like this one. Whoever studies the history of medicine finds L’Orvietan,” says Lamberto Bernardini. In his laboratory in Orvieto, Italy, a medieval hill town famous for its soaring duomo, that history is all around. Bernardini’s vaulted, frescoed space dates to the 1200s. One of the rooms in his lab is a museum-like space filled with historic books and framed antique letters, adver ...read more

This story was originally published in our Mar/Apr 2023 issue. Click here to subscribe to read more stories like this one. Across Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, pools of azure water punch through the landscape like Swiss cheese. In many of these sinkholes, called cenotes (pronounced “seh-NOtays”), braided root systems and spiraling foliage descend multiple stories down limestone walls to soak in the oases. Increasingly, however, the flora is sharing these cool waters with throngs of human ...read more

You might imagine that the spinosaur mind was one-of-a-kind. Trampling through the British Isles as many as 125 million years ago, it makes sense to think that these dinosaurs had something special swirling around inside their heads. But a paper published in the Journal of Anatomy says otherwise. According to the paper, a team of researchers recently reconstructed the basic brain structure of two spinosaur specimens based off the shape and size of their braincases. And despite the fact that thes ...read more

This article was originally published on Oct. 26, 2022 and has been edited to include recent information on UAPs and unidentified objects. A 16-member crew from NASA will study Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, an updated name from Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) — formerly known as Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). According to a NASA press release, the team will analyze and establish the framework for future studies around UAPs for NASA and other organizations. UAPs interest nation ...read more

Exoplanet hunting is evolving from a science searching for exotic new worlds into one that is attempting to better understand these planets and to characterize them. Astrobiologists are especially interested in worlds that might support life. One important characteristic is the existence of liquid water, which is essential for life on Earth. So astrobiologists have focused on finding other Earths in the region around stars where liquid water might exist, the so-called habitable zone. And they ha ...read more

Science and romance may seem like strange bedfellows, yet some of the most groundbreaking scientific advances have been made by couples working together. Like the rest of us, the scientists involved in these love affairs had their share of drama and tragedy — and their romances didn’t always end happily. Nevertheless, we honor their stories and discoveries today. Happy Valentine’s Day to them and to all science lovers!  1. Marie-Anne and Antoine Lavoisier If Antoine Lavoisier is considere ...read more