What Was the Deadliest Wildfire in U.S. History?

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Much of the coverage of the wildfire that destroyed the Maui city of Lahaina on Aug. 8 labels it the deadliest wildfire “in modern American history” or “in America in over a century.” With 115 people known dead and dozens still missing, it’s hard to grasp what a worse fire could look like.But on the evening of Oct. 8, 1871, the deadliest wildfire in recorded world history burned through 1.5 million acres of northern Wisconsin. By the next day, the booming town of Peshtigo had been anni ...read more

Is Mental Time Travel Good For Us?

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

In our fast-paced modern lives, we are increasingly encouraged to stop and focus on the present. And there are tangible advantages.Studies on the effects of mindfulness and meditation — practices that gear people’s cognitive capacities towards the present moment — have pointed to reduced stress, increased focus and less emotional reactivity.As a result, mindfulness has become a billion-dollar industry that promises to alleviate all manner of psychological ills.However, Anna-Lisa Cohen, a p ...read more

Ancient Shoes: Tracks On A South African Beach Offer Oldest Evidence Yet Of Human Footwear

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

When and where did our ancestors first fashion footwear? We cannot look to physical evidence of shoes for the answer, as the perishable materials from which they were made would no longer be evident. Ichnology, the study of fossil tracks and traces, can help to answer this unresolved question through a search for clear evidence of footprints made by humans who were shod – that is, wearing some kind of foot covering.But this is no simple endeavour, as our research team from the Cape south coas ...read more

A Lab Has Created a Synthetic Human Embryo Without a Fertilized Egg

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Research involving human embryos is famously difficult and fraught with ethical quandaries, but a new synthetically derived model could open new doors in the study of infertility and birth defects.The model comes from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and follows years of research by labs around the world into producing a similar clump of cells. The team led by professor Jacob Hanna claims that their latest iteration is the most advanced so far and contains all the hallmarks of a human ...read more

Is Alzhemier’s Disease Genetic: Could It Run In Your Family?

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Alzheimer’s takes a toll on its patients. As the disease progresses, a person’s personality deteriorates, and so, too, does their judgement, their memory, and their motor skills. But a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s dementia affects much more than the individual who is diagnosed. That’s because the disease fosters feelings of fear and loss for the family, friends, and loved ones who witness its destruction, while also causing concerns for those same individuals about their own futures with the ...read more

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