Small animals that carry disease adapt well to our activities
A study suggests that small mammals like rodents have adapted to thrive on human-influenced land. They also happen to carry a lot of human…
Category: Big Questions
Telling people they’re getting a placebo does not stop it from working
Does giving a placebo require lying to a patient? This study concludes...no! Placebos still work even when the patient knows, at least for…
Energetic winds from a distant X-ray source
A team of astronomers were studying GRS 1716-249, an object believed to host a black hole. A wind of gas flowing out of it can be seen in…
Are we looking for Martian life in the right place?
Thus far, we have not found evidence of life on Mars. Is it truly a sterile desert, or are we simply looking in the wrong place? #Mars #NASA
A stinky noxious gas could point us toward alien life
Hold your noses! ET life might produce noxious gases in the form of #phosphine. Here’s why phosphine is an important marker in the search…
How “fast radio bursts” are used in the search for alien life
Detecting fast radio bursts is difficult because the data is "noisy" so ruling out false positives is a current topic of study. A group of…
Horseshoe crabs are critical to the biotech industry
Did you know that the modern US biomedical industry is built around the baby blue blood of horseshoe crabs? Come find out what scientists…
Diet and exercise can shape how your mind ages
Dementia is a condition that many of us are all too familiar with within friends and family. Dementia itself is a blanket term that…
Microscopic animals glow in the dark to survive radiation
Glowing #tardigrades?! Learn how a newly discovered species of tardigrade survive extreme UV radiation. #astrobiology
Could the “overview effect” calm political polarization?
Have you ever been angered by someone else’s opinion? Did you understand where the person was coming from before disagreeing? Here’s how…