Scientists have discovered that certain sunscreen chemicals can cause coral bleaching and even damage marine life. But is sunscreen really a major threat to ocean ecosystems, or is something else to blame?
Tag Archives: Science & Nature
With AI and linguistics, this professor is decoding how animals and humans communicate
Linguistics isn’t just about ancient languages, it’s shaping the future of AI and unlocking the secrets of animal communication. Researchers are now using AI to decode the sounds of whales, bees, and other species.
Teen Voices: How the Matilda Effect Affects Women in STEM
Have you ever made a great discovery, only for someone else to take the credit? That’s what happened to these women in science.
Assassin Bug Stacks Its Victims on Its Back to Create Cloak of Death
Some animals and insects are able to camouflaged themselves in various ways to help them hunt—or avoid being hunted. One assassin bug takes it to a scary new level, though. Read about the bug that covers itself in dead bodies in order to hunt its prey!
From Small Steps to Big Wins: The Importance of Celebrating
“Recognizing our accomplishments fuels motivation, growth, and success.” Read this article to learn about the importance of celebrating achievements and how the very act of celebrating can lead to greater success in the future.
Dogs Team Up with AI to Sniff Out Cancer
Moon, Pluto, and Mars are highly-trained specialists who’ve detected cancer in 94 percent of cases. Believe it or not, these aren’t the names of doctors! These are dogs who, with the help of AI, work hard to increase the cancer survival rate.
Are noise-cancelling headphones to blame for young people’s hearing problems?
| Noise-cancelling headphones are great for blocking out distractions, but could they be affecting the way people process sound? Some audiologists are concerned that prolonged use might be linked to auditory processing issues, making it harder to focus, communicate, and navigate noisy environments. |
From Fruit Fly to This Guy: a Map of One Tiny Brain May Show How Larger Ones Work
A fruit fly’s brain is only the size of a single poppy seed, but it contains a whopping 50 million connections between its neurons. With the assistance of AI, scientists have recently mapped these connections for the first time—the first time for any insect’s brain. It teaches us a lot about how a fruit fly’s brain works, but more importantly, this achievement has already begun to reveal lessons about how all brains work, including yours and mine.
Hypnagogia – Why Our Brains Hallucinate As We Fall Asleep
Have you ever found yourself seeing images right before falling asleep? If so, you might be experiencing hypnagogia! Learn more about what causes our pre-sleep hallucinations in this episode of SciShow, hosted by Hank Green.
PhD Student Finds Lost City in Mexico Jungle by Accident
Some achievements require consistent hard work.Some happen by blind luck. But some are a combination of the two. Read this fascinating story of a PhD student who stumbled across a picture on accident, but was skilled enough in his field of study to notice something in the picture that no one else had ever seen before—the ruins of an entire city.
New treatment for Type 1 Diabetics Gives Hope to University of Chicago Patients
Before insulin was first used in the 1920s (barely 100 years ago), a patient with Type 1 Diabetes was expected to live less than 2 years after being diagnosed. After insulin, diabetics began living longer and longer. Type 1 diabetics today can expect to live into their late 60s or early 70s—but doing so requires a lot of medicine, devices, and thoughtful care. However, a new treatment option is currently being tested that may make care easier and help patients live even longer.
A promising test for pancreatic cancer . . . from a teenager
If someone said you could change the world, would you believe it? If you had an idea that could save countless lives, would anyone listen? Watch this talk by Jack Andraka, a teen who discovered a revolutionary way to detect certain cancers. Discover what he did, how he did it, and what it took to get people to listen.
Tool Use Found in Octopuses
When we think of intelligent animals, we usually think of mammals, such as dolphins and dogs. So it might be surprising to learn that a creature that seems much more primitive—the octopus—is capable of planning, strategizing, and using tools.
Your Brain Perceives Reality By Hallucinating
Are our minds playing tricks on us all the time? Click this link to watch an animated video that explains what perception and hallucination have in common.
How reintroducing wolves helped save a famous park
Wolves had been absent from Yellowstone National Park for more than 70 years when they were reintroduced in the 1990s – and their return had some surprising benefits.
Colorblind viewfinders in Virginia parks allow guests to experience fall foliage in full color
Virginia is known for its vibrant, breath-taking autumn views, but people with colorblindness were often left out from fully enjoying the scenery. That is, until one park ranger set out to make a change.
Teen is one of the first ever to get his genes edited. Why he says the process is ‘cool and freaky’
Johnny Lubin, one of the first in the world to try a new kind of medicine that uses a gene-editing tool called CRISPR to offer a potential cure for sickle cell disease.
NASA clears $5 billion Jupiter mission for launch after review of suspect transistors
Europa, one of Jupiter’s many moons, is an icy environment with a saltwater ocean beneath its surface. NASA plans to learn more about this ocean by sending the Europa Clipper into Jupiter’s orbit.
What Causes Déjà Vu?
It’s an eerie feeling: You walk into a place you know you’ve never been before but are overwhelmed by a sense of familiarity—a memory you can’t quite reach. Has this all happened before?
The sensation is known as déjà vu, and though it is hard to study, scientists are slowly figuring out why it happens.
The 10 Most Intriguing Science Breakthroughs of 2023
It’s too early to know what the greatest scientific discoveries and achievements of 2024 will be, but now that we’ve had some time to reflect on last year, here is one site’s opinion on what the Top 10 most intriguing advancements of 2023 were. Which ones do you agree with? Are there any you think should have made the list?