Uncategorized
- Life
Probiotics help lab corals survive deadly heat stress
In a lab experiment, probiotics prevented the death of corals under heat stress, suggesting beneficial microbes could help save ailing reefs.
- Health & Medicine
How different COVID-19 testing plans can help keep kids safe in school
As children head back to school in the United States, here’s a look at various testing strategies that could keep kids safe during in-person learning.
- Astronomy
Measuring a black hole’s mass isn’t easy. A new technique could change that
The timing of flickers in the gas and dust in a black hole’s accretion disk correlates to its mass, a new study finds.
- Psychology
How the strange idea of ‘statistical significance’ was born
A mathematical ritual known as null hypothesis significance testing has led researchers astray since the 1950s.
By Bruce Bower - Genetics
An Indigenous people in the Philippines have the most Denisovan DNA
Genetic comparisons crown the Indigenous Ayta Magbukon people as having the most DNA, 5 percent, from the mysterious ancient hominids.
By Bruce Bower - Life
Scientists have a new word for birds stealing animal hair
Dozens of YouTube videos show birds stealing hair from dogs, cats, humans, raccoons and even a porcupine — a behavior rarely documented by scientists.
- Health & Medicine
Colds and other common respiratory diseases might surge as kids return to school
Recent historically low levels of some respiratory illnesses may lead to outbreaks this fall and winter, creating disruptions as kids return to school.
- Health & Medicine
Ripples in rats’ brains tied to memory may also reduce sugar levels
Brain signals called sharp-wave ripples have an unexpected job: influencing the body’s sugar levels, a study in rats suggests.
- Psychology
Psychology has struggled for a century to make sense of the mind
Research into what makes us tick has been messy and contentious, but has led to intriguing insights.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
6 answers to parents’ COVID-19 questions as kids return to school
Universal masking in schools could prevent a bumpy 2021–22 schoolyear and keep kids, many of whom are too young to be vaccinated, safe, experts say.
By Sujata Gupta - Physics
Windbreaks, surprisingly, could help wind farms boost power output
Wind farm performance could be improved by 10 percent by using low barriers to increase the wind speed directed at the turbines, simulations suggest.
- Health & Medicine
What kids lost when COVID-19 upended school
Researchers are starting to tally how a year and a half of pandemic has left many children struggling academically and emotionally.