The percentage of Americans seeking mental health treatment nearly doubled between 2004 and 2022, with almost a quarter of the population reporting that they saw a mental health care professional in 2022.This surge in help-seeking has many potential explanations. The pandemic, along with other external stressors, led to unprecedented high rates of anxiety and depression across all age groups.Yet the majority of Americans with a mental health condition are not receiving adequate treatment or any ...read more

When you first encounter a hummingbird moth, you might mistake it for a tiny hummingbird flitting from flower to flower. However, these flying insects are simply displaying their mastery of mimicry. Often referred to as hawk moths or sphinx moths, hummingbird moths are captivating critters with fascinating behaviors and appearances, which makes them a favorite of nature enthusiasts and backyard gardeners alike. In this article, we'll explore the world of the hummingbird moth, discussing what mak ...read more

There’s more to beach sand than meets the eye. It has stories to tell about the land, and an epic journey to the sea. That’s because mountains end their lives as sand on beaches.Over time, mountains erode. The mud, sand, gravel, cobbles and boulders they shed are washed into streams, which come together to form rivers. As they flow down to the sea, all this sediment is ground up and worn down in nature’s version of a rock tumbler.Big rocks break down into smaller pieces, so most of what re ...read more

A researcher working alone – apart from the world and the rest of the wider scientific community – is a classic yet misguided image. Research is, in reality, built on continuous exchange within the scientific community: First you understand the work of others, and then you share your findings.Reading and writing articles published in academic journals and presented at conferences is a central part of being a researcher. When researchers write a scholarly article, they must cite the work of p ...read more

Dingoes and dogs look similar — until you compare their genomes. A study in PNAS examines this seemingly counter-intuitive outcome and explains the genetic divergence between the two species.“The genetic difference might seem counter-intuitive because dingoes and domestic dogs share a common ancestor,” says Sally Wasef, a geneticist from Queensland University of Technology and a co-author of the paper. “However, the key factor is the period of isolation. Dingoes have been isolated from o ...read more

DNA extracted from a woolly mammoth excavated in 2018 was so well preserved that scientists have, for the first time, constructed a three-dimensional genome from ancient genetic material. That information, from an animal that died in Siberia about 52,000 years ago, allows better comparisons between extinct mammoths and contemporary elephants, according to a report in Cell.Freeze-Dried Woolly MammothA team of 56 scientists from four organizations collaborated to find the fossil, excavate it, then ...read more

Montezuma was one of the most influential figures in Aztec history, yet there’s a lot we don’t know about him. We know that he reigned from 1502 until 1520 and that he famously expanded the Aztec Empire, but the personality and details of this larger-than-life figure come mostly from the invading Spaniards — their accounts shrouded in prejudice, says Matthew Restall, a historian, and author, of When Montezuma Met Cortés.Montezuma, the Man“The Spaniards in Mexico constructed an extremely ...read more

Take a moment to imagine the moon, conjuring its speckled surface inside your mind. Think of its imperfections, its spots and splotches, carved out and cratered from the impacts of asteroids, meteorites, and comets. Chances are that your imagination conjured something surprisingly similar to mine, and to the imaginations of countless others.The reason for this similarity is simple: We almost always see the same surface when we stare at the moon, the same patterns of craters and cavities, thanks ...read more

Why did the lion swim across crocodile-infested waters? It was his only remaining option to find a mate, according to a study in Ecology and Evolution. That report was based on observations of lion behaviors driven by skewed sex ratios in a Uganda national park. The swim — across a channel over half a mile wide — may be the longest recorded by a lion.The swim’s length, as well as its obstacles (the waters contained plenty of hippos as well as crocs) shows the lengths that lions will go to ...read more

One of the great fears of modern times is that generative AI systems are giving malicious actors unprecedented power to lie, manipulate and steal on a scale previously unimaginable and that this will undermine our systems of trust, democracy and society. Examples abound of from election interference to the mass-production of fake reviews. Indeed, it’s easy to imagine that these are just a small fraction of the insidious endeavor currently undermining our way of life. The truth is more nuanced ...read more