Medicine
Featured picks
- The Best Time to Nap May Be 7 to 8 Hours After You Wake Up
A well-timed nap usually works best about 7 to 8 hours after waking, with a short 20 to 45 minute nap helping avoid sleep problems.
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- Why Spider Legs Work Like Tiny Hydraulic Systems
Spiders lack extensor muscles in their major leg joints, so they use blood-like fluid pressure to extend their legs, which curl when that pressure stops.
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- Turtles Have Been Around for More Than 200 Million Years
Some of the oldest known turtle fossils date to about 215 million years ago, showing turtles were already around during the Triassic Period.
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- Why Crows Cover Themselves in Ants
Crows and many other birds deliberately cover their feathers with ants, a behavior called anting, but scientists still do not know exactly why.
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- Scientists Identify About 18,000 New Species Every Year
Scientists identify about 18,000 new species each year, revealing how much of Earth life is still unknown to science.
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- Lungfish Are Closer to Humans Than Most Fish
Lungfish are more closely related to humans and other land vertebrates than they are to most familiar fish like salmon and tuna.
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- Some Sea Stars Can Regrow an Entire Body From One Arm
Some sea stars can regrow an entire body from a single arm, and one species can split into two males that later become females as they grow.
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- Your Body Has More Bacterial Cells Than Human Cells
Your body has roughly 30 trillion human cells and 38 trillion bacteria, so bacteria slightly outnumber human cells, with most concentrated in the gut.
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- Sleep Helps Flush Waste From the Brain
In mice, sleep expands the space between brain cells, helping cerebrospinal fluid wash away waste, including proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
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- Y Chromosome Loss Becomes Common in Men With Age
By age 70, about 35% of men have lost the Y chromosome from some blood cells, with affected cells ranging from roughly 4% to 70%.
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- Humans Are Still Evolving, and It Shows in Surprising Traits
Humans are still evolving, with recent genetic adaptations linked to free-diving, high-altitude living, disease resistance, and digesting milk as adults.
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- These Ants Rescue Their Wounded After Termite Battles
Megaponera analis ants rescue injured nestmates after termite battles, carrying them home so they can recover and return to future raids.
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- The Tiny Ear Muscle Some People Can Flex on Command
Some people can voluntarily flex a tiny middle-ear muscle called the tensor tympani and hear a low rumbling sound that only they can hear.
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- Why Octopuses Are Remarkably Intelligent
Octopuses show remarkable intelligence, solving puzzles, using tools, escaping captivity, and showing behavior that suggests they can plan for future needs.
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- Magnolias Trace Back About 95 Million Years, Before Bees
Magnolias trace back about 95 million years, before bees, so their tough flowers evolved to be pollinated by beetles.
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- Grasshoppers Evolved Long Before Grass
Grasshopper relatives date back about 250 million years, while the earliest known grasses appeared much later, making grasshoppers older than grass.
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- The Squid That Uses Bacteria to Hide Its Silhouette
The Hawaiian bobtail squid uses light sensors, glowing bacteria, and a controllable light organ to match moonlight and starlight, hiding its silhouette from predators below.
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- How Parasitic Castration Lets Parasites Hijack a Host’s Reproductive Energy
Parasitic castration is when a parasite partly or completely stops its host from reproducing, often redirecting reproductive resources to benefit the parasite while keeping the host alive.
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- How Parasites Can Make Their Hosts Grow Bigger
Some parasites can make infected animals grow unusually large by shutting down reproduction and redirecting resources toward body growth.
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- Prototaxites: The Giant Life Form That Was Not a Fungus
Prototaxites grew up to 8 meters tall and 1 meter wide, and new evidence suggests this giant Devonian organism was neither a plant nor a fungus.
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