New Research

257,000 Years Ago, a Hyena Ate Some Human Hair (And Probably the Rest of the Person, Too)

The brown hyena who originally planted the evidence most likely ate the person, though it could have scavenged on a dead body

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Early Easter Islanders Ate Rats—Lots of Rats

Perhaps the lack of fish food even explains the orientation of Easter Island's famous statues, which face inwards toward the islanders' food source

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Ballerinas’ Brains Are Desensitized to Dizziness

Dancers may reshape their brains with years or training, or people who have a natural ability not to fall over may be most likely to become pro ballerinas

Water submerged tracts of this Thai forest, cutting off one part from another and creating forest islands.

When a Dam Turned a Forest Into Tiny Islands, Only Rats Were Happy

Although the rate of extinction the researchers observed is startling, it's unfortunately not surprising

Coastal Animals Have Two Internal Clocks, One for the Sun And One for the Tide

When researchers tamped with sea lice's internal clocks, the crustaceans were unruffled by the unwinding of their circadian cycles

Football helmet of the late Owen Thomas, a former University of Pennsylvania football player, brought to the hearing on H.R 6172, Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act by his mother, Rev. Katherine E. Brearley, Ph.D.

Just Learning About Concussions Doesn’t Make Kids Report Them

How effective are concussion awareness programs at actually getting kids to report their symptoms?

Americans Check Their Emails Even When They’re Sick And on Vacation

A new study confirms what we all shamefully know: even when we're sick or on vacation, we check our emails

A green sea turtle

Sea Turtles Are Nesting in Record Numbers

Once pushed to endangerment, nesting sea turtle numbers are soaring

Chromosomes Aren’t Actually X Shaped

So much for all that memorizing you did in high school

Rolly-polly trilobite

Meet the First Creature Ever to Roll Up in a Ball for Self-Defense

A species of tiny trilobite has taken the ball-rolling champion lead by millions of years

Scientists Show That Naps Really Are the Best

You should nap before, and after, trying to learn anything

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The Smell of Newborn Babies Triggers the Same Reward Centers as Drugs

When women catch the scent of a newborn baby, their dopamine pathways in a region of the brain associated with reward learning light up

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Fears Can Be Erased While We Sleep

Researchers think that this method could find some application in alleviating conditions such as PTSD, but those potential uses are speculative

Once a Toxoplasma Parasite Infects Mice, They Never Fear Cats Again

Toxoplasma is estimated to infect nearly one-third of humans worldwide, but what these results mean for humans remains to be seen

Good Cop, Bad Cop Might Not Work

By combining brute force and gentle understanding cops can get the criminal to confess to his crime. The problem is, that might not actually work

Rosetta eyeing the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Europe’s Space Agency Is Going to Harpoon a Comet And Ride It Into the Sun

A three billion mile hunt will climax soon when Rosetta, quite literally, harpoons a comet

The bartending robot James is here to serve.

Bartending Robot Can Tell If a Customer Wants a Drink or Is Just Standing Around

Using videos of thirsty customers lining up for bar-side drinks, they created algorithm equivalents for "I want a drink" body language

Flies, Chipmunks And Other Tiny Creatures See the World in Slow Motion

Flies, for example, can perceive visual stimuli four times faster than we can

A human genome, printed

One Woman Can Have Multiple Genetic Identities—Hers, Her Secret One, And All Her Kids’

The idea of there being one genetic "you" is up in the air

Three Ancient Rivers, Long Buried by the Sahara, Created a Passage to the Mediterranean

One river system, called the Irharhar, appears to have been a particularly popular travel route, corroborated by both model simulations and artifacts

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