Biology

Here’s the Weird Reason You Get Tartar On Your Teeth

Your body isn’t a finely-tuned machine. It’s a reinforced pile of goo that spends its day trading off costs and benefits. One of those costs is the tartar building up on your teeth because of the surprising source of your saliva. Calcium, and fossilized bacteria, build up on your teeth every day in tartar. (Before…

Sea Otters Use Tools, and Archaeologists Are On the Case

For a long time, we thought of tool use as the thing that made us human, but we actually share the ability with many other primates, as well as surprising animals like crows and sea otters. Some archaeologists are interested in studying sea otters’ tools. Archaeologists have studied the history of human tool use, through…

Could Life Have Emerged on Earth’s Near Twin?

Yesterday, NASA’s Kepler team announced the discovery of the most Earth-like planet yet. It may be larger than Earth, but this exoplanet is situated firmly within its star’s habitable zone—and it’s been there for a while. So could it actually sustain life? Here’s What We Know So Far Kepler 452b is located 1,400 light-years from…

Ancient Microbes Found Alive Deep Beneath the Ocean Floor

Researchers working off the Shimokita Peninsula in Japan have discovered living microbes buried 8,000 feet below the seabed, a new record. And because they resemble those found in forest soils, these organisms likely survived for tens of millions of years after being buried under the seabed. “Microbial life inhabits deeply buried marine sediments, but the…

Longitudinal Study Confirms Dadbod is Real

A new study that tracked more than 10,200 men over a 20-year period finds those who became fathers gained weight, whether or not they wound up living with their kids. The men who didn’t become dads? They actually lost weight, over the same period. WaPo’s Elahe Izadi breaks down the findings, with some examples: Weight…

Why Are Smells so Good at Triggering Memories?

Smells are really good at stirring up memories, especially ones from adolescence. Which is curious, because these memories are often the hardest to access. In the latest episode of SciShow, Hank Green reviews some of the research on why smells are such potent triggers of early memories. “Smells tend to evoke early, perceptive memories of…

Musical Training Can Accelerate Brain Development and Help With Literacy

The notion that musical training can have positive effects on cognitive functions other than music has long been a source of interest. Research first emerged at the beginning of the 20th century. Standardised assessments of IQ and musical ability suggested the two were correlated – and it was thought that participation in musical training could…

Why Aren’t Human Fingers All the Same Length?

The human hand is remarkably different from that of other primates, with shorter fingers, a smaller palm and a significantly stronger thumb; of course, the most notable feature of our hands is the ability of the thumb to perfectly and comfortably oppose (come into square contact at the tips) each finger of the same hand.…

This Sea Sapphire Can Become Transparent in the Blink of an Eye

Now you see it, now you don’t. But the disappearing act performed by this small sea sapphire isn’t magic: it manage to flex its body to reflect frequencies of light that the human eye simply can’t see. As New Scientist reports, sea sapphires come in an array of different colors, including this electric blue. But…

The Controversial, Mad Science Strategy to Save Earth’s Rhinos 

Rhino horn is more precious than gold on the black market, and our insatiable demand for the stuff has driven rhinos to the brink of extinction. Now a Seattle-based startup has a radical plan to save these incredible animals: Using synthetic biology to manufacture rhino horns in the lab. The biotech company Pembient says it…

How a Human Scream Uniquely Activates the Fear Response in Your Brain

We know human screams are jarring. They’re loud, occasionally shrill, and tend to make us feel stressed, or even fearful. What’s unclear is why they elicit anxiety. But a new study suggests this response may have something to do with the acoustic quality of human screams, and how they trigger the brain’s fear response. According…

In Case You Needed Proof That Wood Frogs Will Screw Anything

Here are some very horny, very confused male wood frogs. They have ignored every vocal and chemical signal available, and they think they’ve found a female frog. Unfortunately, they are attempting to make sweet sweet amplexus with a tiger salamander. The herpetologists who captured the photo suggest that since wood frogs have an incredibly short…

How the Science of Smell is Changing Modern Warfare

The sensory chaos of battle has always posed a challenge to armies hoping to prepare for—and recover from—war. And while it’s clear to most people how sight and sound factor into a soldier’s experience and memory of battle, the smells of combat were, for most of history, largely ignored. But by the eve of the…

This Waving Figure is a Sign That Your Cell is Doomed

Look at the cute figure with the wavy arms! He’s getting your attention to remind you of your own mortality. This is a myelin figure, and it’s probably wiggling on the side of some of your cells right now. That’s what sprouts in your cell wall when the cell isn’t getting enough oxygen. It’s called…

Scientists Have Solved a Decades-Old Mystery About Polar Bears

Scientists have long wondered whether polar bears are able to enter a physiological state resembling hibernation in response to food shortages, an adaptation some researchers have speculated could protect the species even as their hunting grounds melt away. Today, we have an answer—though it’s not the one we’ve been hoping for. Polar bears, you’ve no…

This Fanged Fish Can Live Inside a Volcano [Updated]

The more we learn about undersea volcanoes, the more we realize that life can thrive almost anywhere. Now, an Australian research vessel has discovered a new kind of fish living in volcanoes off the coast of the continent. It’s called a scaleless blackfish and it’s adorably ugly. The team is still trying to identify this…

Do Animals Really Think, or Are They Just Following Their Instincts?

Since the time of Aristotle, scientists have debated the degree to which animals are capable of exhibiting rational, independent thought. But as this new TED-Ed video demonstrates, our ruminations on animal intelligence tend to say more about ourselves than anything else. [TED-Ed]

New research suggests humans have more “primitive” hands than chimps. The study, while controversial, raises some provocative questions about the origin of human toolmaking and the importance of specialized hands. Image: Denise Morgan, University of Utah

What Extraordinarily Weird Things Are Locked Up in Your Junk DNA?

We know that we don’t “use” a lot of the genes inside our cells, but our DNA is strung with relics. But what are those relics, and what if they come back to haunt us? Here’s what you’re carrying around, and why it’s not as irrevocably part of the past as you think it is.…

Musician Collapses Wearing All His Clothes to Beat Budget Airline Fees

Musician James McElvar used a sitcom-style idea to beat easyJet’s baggage restrictions, taking all of his clothes out of his bag and wearing them to avoid a fee to check his case – only to collapse on the flight from heat exhaustion. McElvar apparently ended up wearing 12 layers in all, comprising of 6 T-shirts,…