The Predictions We Make Can Change How the Future Unfolds

The 130-year timeline of telephone innovation describes a relatively steady rise as the technology under the surface was continuously improved, with a handful of spikes for inventions such as the rotary dial, touch pad dialing, the fax machine, and, of course, 1959’s Princess phone. The changes were predictably predictable, the future rising in a fairly smooth incline.
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Our Six Favorite Parasites Discovered in 2015

The only end-of-year list you need to read.
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Pterosaurs Aren’t Actually Dinosaurs, but They Are Actually Awesome

We tend to forget that while T. rex, Triceratops, Diplodocus, and the like were lumbering across the land, the air above was thick with volant reptiles.
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Which countries are the world's most linguistically diverse?

Mapped: The 7,000 languages across the world. Many countries are home to hundreds of languages, sometimes despite having very small populations.
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This Week’s Night Sky: New Year’s Comet and a Meteor Shower

Try out a new telescope or binoculars with these celestial sights.
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A 900-pound elephant seal shut down Highway 37 because she could

As soon as I heard about her, I was in love: the 900-pound elephant seal who shut down Highway 37 in Sonoma County, northeast of San Francisco. Elephant seals have no natural predators; they pretty...
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Taking vitamin D may benefit people with multiple sclerosis

Taking a high dose of vitamin D3 is safe for people with multiple sclerosis and may help regulate the body's hyperactive immune response...
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By 2050, There Could Be as Many as 25 Million Poor Elderly Americans

As the Boomers age, there are going to be a lot more people living in poverty.
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A healthy breakdown

A wide variety of fruits and vegetables contain oxalate. But humans and most other animals lack the ability to metabolize this molecule — that is, to break it down while digesting it. And so for some people, a buildup of oxalate is associated with kidney stones, arthritis, and even kidney failure.
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Potential New Particle Sparks Flood of Theories

Physicists have produced nearly 100 papers on the latest tantalizing results from the Large Hadron Collider. By Davide Castelvecchi.
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The problem with science journalism: we’ve forgotten that reality matters most

It’s the job of science journalists to look beyond data – we have to look at the people doing the science and whether they have conflicts of interest
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Do whales attempt suicide?

They are among the most intelligent creatures on the planet, but family ties can lead them into danger. By David Lusseau. (Nov. 5)
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These giant robots will mine the ocean floor for gold, silver, and copper

They could collect more than $1.5 billion worth of metals.
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Seeking the Gears of Our Inner Clock

Neuroscientists have struggled to understand exactly how the mind’s cycles affect us. Studies of donated brains provide some answers. By Carl Zimmer.
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​The 11 Sci-Fi Films That Defined 2015

The best films about the future this year. By Brian Merchant.
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Hypnosis may provide new option for ‘awake surgery’ for brain cancer

Could hypnosis help to reduce the psychological trauma associated with “awake craniotomy” for brain cancers? A new “hypnosedation” technique offers a new alternative...
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The Nearsightedness Epidemic

While not the kind of epidemic you're used to hearing about, nearsightedness is becoming a major health issue in many places. Learn about how scientists are finding out the reasons behind the increase in myopia, and how sunlight might be an important component.
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A Sonic Alarm for Our Natural World Going Silent

Bernie Krause has listened to nature since 1968, and in his decades recording environmental noise has become attuned to its changes.
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Solar Storm To Hit Earth By New Year's Eve

A solar storm can be caused by a solar flare or the aftereffect of a coronal mass ejection (CME) by the sun. Solar flares travel faster than CMEs
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Scientists Sequence First Ancient Irish Human Genomes

A team of geneticists from Trinity College Dublin and archaeologists from Queen’s University Belfast has sequenced the first genomes from ancient Irish humans, and the information buried within is already answering pivotal questions about the origins of Ireland’s people and their culture.
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Climate economics: The high road

Michael Grubb is both swept away and frustrated by Nicholas Stern's argument for tackling climate change.
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Microorganisms in the womb set stage for diseases

Researchers review importance of microorganisms that exist in the gut, suggesting perturbation of the environment during pregnancy, delivery and early infancy could impact the developing baby’s early microbiome and set the stage for health problems later in life. The term “microbiome” refers to the trillions of organisms we harbor, on our skin and within our gut.
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5 Signs You Might Be Ready to Apply to be an Astronaut

Did you hear? Astronaut applications are open! Here are a few signs that might mean you’re ready to apply: 1. You Don’t Mind Having Roommates When you’re an astronaut, you have to work and live with...
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No Visible Bruises: Domestic Violence and Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury is only starting to be addressed in the domestic-violence community. By Rachel Louise Snyder.
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DNA Manufacturing Enters the Age of Mass Production

Synthetic-biology startups adopt technologies from the computer industry. By Eliza Strickland.
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Do Dogs Know Other Dogs Are Dogs?

This is not a philosophical riddle. Despite their highly variable appearance, dogs can recognize each other by sight alone. By Julie Hecht.
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Researchers Find Lapses In Hospitals' Policies For Determining Brain Death

Most hospitals don't require neurologists, neurosurgeons or even fully trained doctors to make the ultimate call.
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Big Oil Argued for U.S. Crude Exports to Fend Off Iran, But First Exporter Vitol Group Also Exported Iran's Oil

The American Petroleum Institute (API) successfully lobbied for an end to the 40-year ban on exporting U.S.-produced crude oil in part by making a geopolitical argument: Iran and Russia have the ability to export their oil, so why not unleash America? What API never mentioned... By Steve Horn.
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Gone in 2015: Commemorating Ten Outstanding Women in Science

These notable researchers who passed away during the year just ending made key contributions to ecology, planetary science, medicine, chemical engineering, and more.
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The case for an entirely new calendar

Why the 12-month calendar is sorely out of date. There is precedent for the shift. Ogle points out that the world didn't agree on common time until the 20th century.
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The Terrible Beauty of Brain Surgery

A witness in an operating room where the patients are conscious. By Karl ove Knausgaard. Photographs by Paolo Pellegrin.
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US marines reject BigDog robotic packhorse because it's too noisy

‘They took it as it was: a loud robot that’s going to give away their position,’ said a military spokesman of Boston Dynamics’ LS3 quadruped
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Tax Breaks, Falling Costs Are Boosting Wind And Solar

Congress has extended tax credits for clean energy as part of a $1.8 trillion spending bill. Solar and wind power companies say it will catapult the industry at a time when costs are already falling.
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Fossilized Tropical Forest Found — in Arctic Norway

An ancient fossil forest in Norway with tropical origins is one of the earliest forests to appear on Earth. By Mindy Weisberger. (Nov. 20)
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Wisps Under the Rings

Dione's beautiful wispy terrain is brightly lit alongside Saturn's elegant rings.
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Louis Vuitton gains +10 charisma by enlisting Final Fantasy’s Lightning

The overlap between Final Fantasy XIII fans and people who splash out on Louis Vuitton handbags might be a slim one, but modern marketing is all about exploiting those profitable niches.
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Congress Directs NASA to Build a Deep Space Habitat

In the latest round of budget negotiations, NASA got a pretty good windfall. But hiding in that $19.3 billion budget it is a $55 million directive: begin building a deep space habitat, and have it ready to go by 2018. In 180 days, NASA will have to report on any progress. It may be part of Congress pushing NASA to be more serious in its efforts toward a crewed Mars mission in the 2030s. That mission will require a lot of money and a lot of new technology...
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The Tech That Will Change Your Life in 2016

Entering 2016, the future never felt more within reach. Science fiction will become science fact this year when you take virtual-reality vacations and your dishwasher reorders its own soap. Are you ready for a drone that follows you around like paparazzi? When we gazed ahead at the devices, breakthroughs and ideas most likely to make waves, two themes emerged. One is liberation: We’re increasingly less shackled, be it to a phone charger or a cable subscription.
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Superintelligence: fears, promises, and potentials

Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom, in his recent and celebrated book Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies, argues that advanced AI poses a potentially major existential risk to humanity, and that advanced AI development should be heavily regulated and perhaps even restricted to a small set of government-approved researchers. Bostrom’s ideas and arguments are reviewed and explored in detail, and compared with the thinking of three other current thinkers on the nature and implications...
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The Storm That Will Unfreeze the North Pole

Weather in the Arctic is about to go dreadfully wrong.
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Liver hormone may be the off-switch for sweet-tooth, cocktail cravings

Gimmicky diets, flavor fakery, and sham sweets all try to bamboozle the brain out of wanting sugary treats and calorie-packed happy hour drinks. But scientists may have found an all-natural way to simply switch off those corrupting cravings. When researchers gave mice and monkeys an added dose of a mammalian liver hormone called Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), both species voluntarily went off sweets, even artificial ones.
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Q: How do I estimate the probability that God exists?

Mathematician: Before jumping into this question, it is important to realize that probabilities are not objective, observer independent quantities. We can think of the claim that a particular outcome will happen with a probability of 0.30 as meaning (loosely speaking) that given the information available to me right now, if I could replay this scenario many times, then in about 30% of those occurrences I would expect that particular outcome would occur.
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Ramanujan – a humble maths genius

Ramanujan’s mathematical ability has become the stuff of legend.
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Teens 3X more likely to get addicted to painkillers

Younger teenagers are at higher risk of becoming dependent on prescription drugs within a year of when they began using them for non-medical reasons, a new study suggests. The findings are based on a nationally representative sample of 12- to 21-year-olds taken each year between 2002 and 2013. Out of about 42,000 respondents, researchers found that 14- and 15-year-olds are two to three times more likely to become opioid dependent within...
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Eye Contact: How Long Is Too Long?

There's a reason your mother told you to look people in the eye when you talk to them: eye contact conveys important social cues. Yet when someone holds your gaze for more than a few seconds, the experience can take on a different tenor. New work elucidates the factors that affect whether we like or loathe locking eyes for a lengthy period.
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Move Over, ROY G. BIV: Rainbows Get a Makeover

A French scientist suggests a new way of looking at rainbows and breaks them down into 12 different types.
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How To Stop Hangovers (With Science)

New Years Eve is just around the corner, and just in case you celebrate a little too hard, we're offering you some chemistry fueled tips on how to stave that hangover. You know, to better help you not drop the ball so you can get a head start on your resolutions. Happy New Years folks!
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Gene Editing Tool Hailed As A Breakthrough, And It Really Is One

A tool for modifying genes is spreading through the biomedical research world like wildfire. As part of the series Joe's Big Idea, NPR's Joe Palca explores why CRISPR-Cas9 is becoming indispensable.
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When Einstein Met Tagore: A Remarkable Meeting of Minds on the Edge of Science and Spirituality

Collision and convergence in Truth and Beauty at the intersection of science and spirituality.
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The Making of ArcaBoard

ARCA Space Corporation announced today that it has created ArcaBoard. For the first time in history, every person will be able to fly whenever they want, wherever they want. ArcaBoard represents the first revolutionary breakthrough in motion since the bicycle, automobile and airplane.
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