In late 2019 and early 2020, bushfires in Australia destroyed the habitat for millions of animals as well as homes for thousands of people. UNICEF estimated that the fires somehow impacted 40 percent of Australian children. Many children felt traumatized by the fires, and because teddy bears have the power to calm and comfort, UNICEF organized therapy sessions with handmade teddy bears that children could keep and cuddle.Researchers are learning more about the emotions people attach to teddy ...read more
As heavy snows have closed parts of Yosemite National Park in California, it's a good reminder that when visiting one of the 63 national parks in the U.S., always have a backup plan. The national parks are a wonder to behold. They help preserve pristine natural areas and the organisms that live there. However, they are also subject to extreme and unpredictable weather and are home to wildlife you won't often encounter anywhere else, which can hinder your visit. The best way to have a fun and sa ...read more
For better or worse, humans have sent an ark's worth of other animals into space. This veritable zoo of space travelers includes dogs, mice, fish, tortoises, frogs, spiders and non-human primates.But let's start with some little guys — fruit flies. First Animals in Space: Fruit Flies(Credit:Tomasz Klejdysz/Shutterstock)Fruit flies were the first animals of any kind to leave the planet. Fruit flies make good experimental subjects because they're remarkably similar to humans at the genetic and ...read more
Dyslexia affects approximately 20 percent of the U.S. population and represents 80 to 90 percent of all learning disorders. Despite its prevalence, many people with dyslexia experience a misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis or go completely undiagnosed. It creates challenges in processing written and spoken language and is usually first noticeable in childhood, sometimes even as young as preschool age.Signs of dyslexia include:Reversing sounds when pronouncing words.Slow reading speed.Difficulty re ...read more
Some ideas feel so obvious and make so much sense that you’d think they existed for millennia. But it’s incredible how fast science has moved in the past two centuries. The strides that we’ve made may seem so conspicuous that you can’t imagine a world without them, but you’d be surprised. These five scientific assumptions and discoveries are more recent than you might imagine.1. DNA Structure(Credit:ADragan/Shutterstock)In 1953, we learned that DNA was a double helix, a twisted ladder ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine
