Health & Medicine



Great Accidental Discoveries

Source: Goethe Institut

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.


How To Make Eyewitness Testimony More Reliable

Source: SciShow Psych (YouTube)

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.



5 Biggest Risks of Sharing Your DNA with Consumer Genetic-Testing Companies

Source: CNBC

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.


The zombie fungus from ‘The Last Of Us’ is real — but not nearly as deadly

Source: NPR

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?



Rainforest in Cockscomb Basin in Belize

Brazilian Explorers Search “Medicine Factory” to Save Lives and Rainforest

Source: The Guardian

We often think of cures for cancer as chemicals developed in laboratories, but nature may be the source of new remedies. Tom Phillips explains how researchers aim to tap into the medical possibilities of the Amazon rainforest—and at the same time protect this threatened environment from human development.