Scicurious

Animals

A weighted butt gives chickens a dinosaur strut

Scientists put wooden tails on chickens to learn how small feathered dinosaurs moved, with results captured on video.

Health & Medicine

Your epigenetics can be a pain

A new study shows that your epigenome can play an important role in pain sensitivity, potentially offering a new target that could make development of a more effective painkiller less of a ... pain.

Life

The fluid part of semen plays a seminal role

We often think of reproduction as involving only sperm and egg. But a new study highlights the seminal role of liquid semen in fertility and healthy offspring.

Tech

A turkey’s wattle inspires a biosensor’s design

A group of scientists from the University of California, Berkeley have developed a color-changing biosensor inspired by a turkey’s wattle.

Neuroscience

Caffeine’s little memory jolt garners a lot of excitement

A new study claims that caffeine can perk up memory consolidation in students without a caffeine habit. But concerns about the effect size and the statistics in the paper require a little extra shot of replication.

Agriculture

Sweet potato weevils have favorite colors

When it comes to eradicating the sweet potato weevil, the devil is in the colorful details.

Neuroscience

All mice are the same, until they’re not

A new study shows substantial differences in how two closely related mouse strains respond to drugs. It offers new options for linking genes and behavior and may change how scientists think about the similarity of their mouse strains.

Psychology

When stressed, the brain goes ‘cheap’

A new study shows that stress makes you go with your gut, biasing your decisions against the more “expensive” method of thinking things through.

Genetics

You are what your dad ate, perhaps

Your development is affected by what your mother ate while she was pregnant with you. Is it also affected by what your father ate? A new study suggests that folate deficiency in dads can affect their offspring through epigenetic changes.

Neuroscience

Lighting up the lightning speed of vesicle formation

While the release of neurotransmitters from vesicles is speedy, we always thought vesicle formation was slow. It turns out that vesicle formation can zip along much faster than we thought.

Life

Male contraceptive test targets sperm’s travel route

Most efforts at a male contraceptive have focused on hormones, trying to stop production of sperm. A new study in mice explores leaving the sperm to themselves, and instead stops their transport.

Chemistry

Keeping wine fine for a longer time

Trace metals in wine can be oxidized, producing browning and a nasty smell. A new study shows how we might be able to keep wine fine using chelators. The catch? You may not be able to drink it.