How living in a pandemic distorts our sense of time
Time hasn’t made much sense since spring 2020 for many people, myself included. In February 2020, during the Before Times, my family traveled to...
SCIENTIFIC NEWS
Can’t comb your kid’s hair? This gene may be to blame
The flurry of frizzy-hair e-mails began in 2016. Human geneticist Regina Betz of University Hospital Bonn in Germany and her team had just linked...
Why once-gold ceilings in Spain’s Alhambra palace have purple stains
Once upon a time, Spain’s hilltop Alhambra palace glittered with gold. Over the centuries, though, the Islamic citadel’s ornate, gilded structures on its ceilings...
A carbon footprint life cycle assessment can cut down on greenwashing
Today, you can buy a pair of sneakers partially made from carbon dioxide pulled out of the atmosphere. But measuring the carbon-reduction benefits of...
How to make recyclable plastics out of CO2 to slow climate change
It’s morning and you wake on a comfortable foam mattress made partly from greenhouse gas. You pull on a T-shirt and sneakers containing carbon...
DNA reveals donkeys were domesticated 7,000 years ago in East Africa
From pulling Mesopotamian war chariots to grinding grain in the Middle Ages, donkeys have carried civilization on their backs for centuries. DNA has now...
An AI can decode speech from brain activity with surprising accuracy
An artificial intelligence can decode words and sentences from brain activity with surprising — but still limited — accuracy. Using only a few seconds...
How the COVID-19 pandemic may leave a long-term imprint on our health
At the start of another school year, I’ve been thinking about the differences between 2021 and 2022. Last year, many schools had mask mandates,...
Living fast may have helped mammals like ‘ManBearPig’ dominate
In the wake of the dinosaurs’ demise, a bizarre beast that some researchers have nicknamed “ManBearPig” lived life in the fast lane. This sheep-sized...
The oldest known surgical amputation occurred 31,000 years ago
A child who lived on the Indonesian island of Borneo around 31,000 years ago underwent the oldest known surgical operation, an amputation of the...
Rising Trade Values Mask the True Cost of Global Supply Chain Disruptions 
Why Dhaka Floods Every Monsoon 
These mammal ancestors birthed live young far earlier than thought 
WHO chief voices concern over Trump Administration’s executive order on vaccines