This article was originally published on November 3, 2022. Ada Byron was on her best behavior when first presented to the British Royal Court — though she found the event and its attendees to be underwhelming. A few weeks later, however, the 17-year-old accompanied her mother to a mathematics lecture. That event captured her imagination and changed her life.Within the next decade, she married and became Ada King, Countess of Lovelace. But historians remember her as Ada Lovelace, a computer sci ...read more
Forensic science is supposed to be a scientific process. But for decades, critics have complained evidence isn’t always evaluated in a laboratory setting, and empirical studies don’t back the methods of analysis.The consequences for faulty forensic evidence have been severe. Forty-five percent of wrongful convictions that were later overturned due to DNA evidence were found to be the result of inaccurate evidence. Advocacy groups such as the Innocence Project argue that many forensic t ...read more
Maybe you became a brussels sprouts convert in your late teens. Or perhaps you were addicted to the sweet stuff — specifically, candy — as a kid, only to grow out of it later. It might have taken until adulthood for you to start craving bitter foods and drinks like sautéed kale or a martini with olives.It’s a familiar story, right? Although we all have our own unique preferences, most of us gravitate towards sweeter things and avoid bitter-tasting foods when we’re children, then develop ...read more
The class of psychotropic drugs is a big one, and you may be surprised by some of the substances included in this group. Psychotropic drugs affect your mental state, including your thoughts, perceptions, mood and behavior.When you hear the words ‘psychotropic drugs,’ what comes to mind might be something like LSD or mescaline. Those drugs fall broadly into that category. But so does caffeine. What Are Psychotropic Drugs?For the most part, when we talk about psychotropic drugs, we talk abou ...read more
One of the scariest things about an earthquake is not how much damage it creates but when and where it will strike next. The start of 2023 has already brought significant tremor activity, with February quakes in Turkey and Syria killing tens of thousands of people.Many experts predict this type of destructive earthquake activity will only continue, threatening other at-risk areas around the globe.Although scientists cannot predict when an earthquake may strike, many are developing sensitive devi ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine
