Feature
- Neuroscience
Mapping aggression circuits in the brain
Using optogenetics and other techniques, scientists are tracing connections to and from the brain’s aggression command center.
- Particle Physics
Sam Ting tries to expose dark matter’s mysteries
Particle physicist Sam Ting is applying a meticulous approach to analyzing positrons in space, testing whether they can reveal clues about dark matter.
- Health & Medicine
For athletes, antioxidant pills may not help performance
Supplements of vitamins C, E and other antioxidants may blunt the positive effects of exercise training.
- Health & Medicine
Six ways to beat chronic stress
Counseling, mindfulness training and purposeful social contact may counteract the effects of chronic stress.
- Health & Medicine
Chronic stress can wreak havoc on the body
Scientists are shedding light on all the ways that chronic stress can boost inflammation and lead to serious health problems.
- Psychology
Adults with autism are left to navigate a jarring world
Researchers are beginning to study ways to help adults with autism navigate independently, get jobs and find friendship.
- Ecosystems
Noise made by humans can be bad news for animals
Animals live in a world of sounds. Clever experiments are finally teasing out how human-made noise can cause dangerous distractions.
- Science & Society
Big data studies come with replication challenges
As science moves into big data research — analyzing billions of bits of DNA or other data from thousands of research subjects — concern grows that much of what is discovered is fool’s gold.
- Life
Fast and furious: The real lives of swallows
In the fields of Oregon, scientists learn flight tricks from swallows.
- Life
Flying animals can teach drones a thing or two
Scientists have turned to Mother Nature’s most adept aerial acrobats — birds, bees, bats and other animals — to inspire their designs for self-directed drones.
- Science & Society
12 reasons research goes wrong
Barriers to research replication are based largely in a scientific culture that pits researchers against each other in competition for scarce resources. Here are a few that skew results.
- Science & Society
Is redoing scientific research the best way to find truth?
Researchers don’t even agree on whether it is necessary to duplicate studies exactly or to validate the underlying principles.
