In the 1920s and ‘30s, a British botanist named Arthur Ernest Watkins collected over 1,000 varieties of bread wheat from 32 countries all around the globe. In a recent study, scientists propose that his seed collection – which has been painstakingly maintained for over a century – could hold the key to fortifying modern wheat agriculture and feeding the world’s ever-increasing population. Their findings were published in the journal Nature in June 2024. The Green RevolutionUpon Watkin’ ...read more
There are two kinds of tickles. Knismesis is a soft, gentle kind of tickling, such as when an insect crawls across your skin, or someone strokes you with a feather. But here we’re talking about the other kind. It’s called gargalesis and is the full-on, go-for-the-ribs or armpits tickling that makes you laugh out loud and wiggle and squirm.Stop and think about it for a minute, and you’ll notice something very odd about tickling. When you’re being tickled, you laugh, sometimes a lot. Thatâ ...read more
Ready or not, back-to-school season is here, and kids will be bringing home more than homework. They’ll be carrying germs, too.These viruses and bacteria will be agents that cause the common cold, influenza, norovirus, COVID-19, strep throat, and more. There’s a reason why boxes of tissues and sanitizing wipes show up on most school supply lists.As a nursing professor with experience in public health promotion, I have spent the past several years helping the public understand how to prevent ...read more
Nearly half of all dementia cases could be delayed or prevented altogether by addressing 14 possible risk factors, including vision loss and high cholesterol.That is the key finding of a new study that we and our colleagues published in the journal The Lancet.Dementia, a rapidly increasing global challenge, affects an estimated 57 million worldwide, and this number is expected to increase to 153 million by 2050 worldwide. Although the prevalence of dementia is on the decline in high-income count ...read more
Around the turn of the twentieth century, there wasn’t much space in academia for female scholars. Certain disciplines, like psychology, were almost exclusively male. Graduate programs didn’t permit women to enroll, and there were few opportunities for women to study psychology and impact the field with their ideas.Margaret Floy Washburn was one of the few women who was able to fight her way into the field. Many psychologists now consider her one of the founding scholars of comparative psych ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine