A middle-aged woman—known as SM—blithely reaches for poisonous snakes, giggles in haunted houses, and once, upon escaping the clutches of a knife-wielding man, didn’t run but calmly walked away. All because a rare kind of brain damage precludes her from experiencing fear of any sort.
The imprint of Greek and Roman mythology is all around us, from the names of our shoes (Nike, the goddess of victory) to the names of the planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, etc). And maybe a certain recent movie series has made you familiar with a little Norse mythology, like Thor and Loki, too. Now a new show is introducing Western audiences to Chinese mythology. Find out how costume designers approached dressing ancient Chinese gods for a modern American audience.
There was a time when there was no written language and almost all communication was spoken. Even when language evolved, it was often written on stone and not very portable until the invention of paper. History is full of such advances. Even the now ubiquitous smartphone was thought to be science fiction just a couple of decades ago. But have you ever asked yourself what advances may come next?
Have you ever seen an accomplished athlete suddenly perform as if they’ve completely forget how to play their sport? If so, you’ve seen “the yips”–the sudden and unexplained loss of an athlete’s typical skills–in action. The yips are basically the opposite of achievement. Learn more about a term that started in golf, quickly moved to other sports, and is increasingly being used in other fields like politics, business, and education.
How do you make something old and familiar feel fresh and new? Science suggests the trick is to interact with it in new ways. Something as simple as eating popcorn–but doing so with chopsticks–can result in people rating the popcorn as tastier and more enjoyable than eating the same popcorn with their hands. Read the article and think of ways you may make things you already own feel new again.
When most people think of an illusion, they think of an image or video–but there are audio illusions that trick your hearing, too. After you watch this video, you’ll have to ask yourself “Can I trust my own ears?”
While hard work is a good path to success, there is another route that some people have followed: the simple accident. Some of the world’s biggest discoveries and inventions have happened by accident. And yet, to see a mistake and not think of it as a failure, but rather as a new and unexpected form of success, takes a special kind of industrious mindset.
Eyewitness testimony can be really important when investigating crimes, but how can we make them more reliable? SciShow looks at the scientific and psychological evidence around several ways in which your memory can fail–and how we may be able to minimize these effects.
Have you ever wondered just what, exactly, money is? We earn it. We spend it. But why do we all agree that one little piece of green paper is only worth a bag of chips and a different piece of green paper is worth a full, fancy dinner? This article takes a look at currency, what it is, how it got started, and what forms it might take in the future.
Nearly 50 million people have used consumer genetic-testing services to have their personal DNA analyzed to learn more about their ancestry, their risk for developing various diseases, or to find long-lost relatives. While there are many upsides, there are risks, as well. This article walks you through five of biggest risks when sending your DNA off to be tested.
Words like “myth” and “legend” often make you think of stories from thousands of years ago, but new legends are always being created. America is no exception, with a number of popular myths spreading during the 1800s as the country expanded westward. This article provides a high-level summary of nine of the most well-known American frontier legends–some entirely fictional, but some based on exaggerations around real people and events.
You may have heard of ‘Gothic horror,’ but do you know what makes a story ‘Gothic’ or not? This resources provides a quick, high-level breakdown of key elements, themes, and techniques that can earn a story the label of ‘Gothic,’ as well as a few examples of famous Gothic horror stories you can read on your own.
How good are you at basketball? What about playing an instrument? Psychological research suggests we’re not actually very good at evaluating our own abilities accurately. In fact, we frequently overestimate our own abilities thanks to something known as the Dunning-Kruger Effect.
Feelings that one is a fraud who doesn’t deserve their success, known as imposter syndrome, is an extremely common phenomenon. Why can’t so many of us shake feelings that our ideas and skills aren’t worthy of others’ attention?
If you can recognize when you’re being persuaded, it’s a lot easier to make sure your opinions are actually your own.
There’s a lot of talk in the news these days about advances in robotics and artificial intelligence. But, while the technology is new, the ideas for it are not. Many scholars consider the Greek myth of Talos to be the first representation of a robot in literature and art. Watch this video to learn more about this ancient, and powerful, mechanical man.
There’s been a lot of fungus talk in the news after the popular Last of Us video game became a popular TV show. In the show, people are turned into zombies by a new form of fungus that takes over their brains. And guess what? It’s real! Well, sort of–it’s only real for insects. Should we be worried? Or do fungi do more to help humans than harm them?
It seems artificial intelligence is everywhere these days, and the world of art is no exception. This has led to many questions, such as “can AI-generated art be copyrighted?” Courts have started to weigh-in and so far, the answer seems to be that machine generated art should not get the same protections as human-created images.
Land is one thing, but is it possible to explore the very air of the past? Thanks to some forward-thinking scientists in Australia, it is!
And it is all because of the Cape Grim Air Archive, which has been capturing samples of some of the most pristine air on the planet for nearly 50 years.
Today we study Shakespeare in school and often see his plays in formal settings, but is that how they were meant to be experienced? Learn more about what going to see a play was really like when Shakespeare’s theater company put them on stage for the first time.
