If you’ve ever felt your eyelids droop for just a fraction of a second during some mundane task — like staring at a computer screen or driving down the highway — you’ve experienced a phenomenon known as “microsleep.”   Discover Magazine‘s blog The Crux recently spotlighted the experience, which happens when key parts of the

Living in the city isn’t always easy. You have to contend with multitudes of other people and the problems they bring: disease, violence, pollution, pests. None of these hardships are new to the human experience. In fact, a new study examining one of the world’s earliest urban centres some 9,000 years ago shows people have

In 2015, a Swiss graduate student departed from the Zurich airport with a suitcase filled with empty wallets, loads of cash and 400 spare keys. The authorities stopped him with questions. It was for a science experiment, he explained.   He was part of a team of behavioral researchers tackling two important questions: Do people

When people come to visit the Nordic island of Sommarøy, they must leave their sense of time at the door.  Some choose to do this quite literally, and so, the bridge that connects this small fishing village to the mainland is sprinkled not with lover’s padlocks as you would expect in any other location, but rather,

The more we learn, the more it seems like our skeletal system is adapting to the unique stresses of modern life. For example, researchers in Australia have found evidence that young people appear to be increasingly growing bony protrusions at the base of their skulls, right above the neck.   Examining 1,200 X-ray images of

The periodic table is such a comforting way of cataloguing the Universe, breaking it down into its elements and organising them in nice neat boxes. What you may not know is it’s not the only way of arranging the elements – and it may not even be the best way, necessarily.   We’ve seen several

The size of the first population of people needed to arrive, survive, and thrive in what is now Australia is revealed in two studies published today. It took more than 1,000 people to form a viable population. But this was no accidental migration, as our work shows the first arrivals must have been planned.  

You know how when your dog wants something, she makes that face? You know the one – all beseeching, with eyes that seem to positively quiver with longing? You’d give her anything, right?   It turns out that our response to canine looks of longing or love may be the very reason dogs can make

Two trophy skulls, recently discovered by archaeologists in the jungles of Belize, may help shed light on the little-understood collapse of the once powerful Classic Maya civilization.   The defleshed and painted human skulls, meant to be worn around the neck as pendants, were buried with a warrior over a thousand years ago at Pacbitun,

Sometimes our expectations of modern technology can transcend reality in a dangerous way. While Tesla is on the path to creating a fully autonomous vehicle, it appears that drivers of its current cars are growing a little too confident in their purchases.   A gut-wrenching video from ABC7 Eyewitness news shows a man fast asleep in

In the distant past of the northern British Isles, ancient humans didn’t always dwell on dry land. Across Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, the foundations of thousands of mysterious artificial islands survive to this day: called crannogs, these strange structures were built long ago by prehistoric hands, in the chilly waters of rivers, lakes, and sea inlets.

“They’re just not my type.” Whether during private conversation with a trusted friend, or while watching a favourite romantic comedy, we’ve all heard these words spoken about a potential suitor. But for all its prevalence in conversations about modern day relationships, hardly anyone has investigated whether “my type” actually exists.   Recent work has suggested

It’s really not uncommon for human babies to be born with extra fingers or toes. The mutation is called polydactyly, and around one in 500 babies has it. These extra digits are considered useless, and usually amputated not long after birth – but as new research has shown, they may not be quite so bad

Breast feeding can be difficult for many new mums, but it could be argued that a 29-year-old in Austria had it much worse. It wasn’t just her breasts that were swelling, sore, and producing milk – it was also her vulva.   The doctors at the Obstetrics and Gynecologic Endocrinology section of the Kepler University

Bitcoin and the blockchain may seem like puzzling new technological concepts, but the central tenet of this cutting-edge cryptocurrency goes back way longer than you might believe.   Strange as it may seem, bitcoin has a kind of bizarro historical analogue in an ancient currency system dating back hundreds of years: giant stone disks called

We know humans have been using cannabis for various purposes for thousands of years, but its history as a drug has been a little harder to pin down. Now have a new point of reference: Around 2,500 years ago, the people of Central Asia were smoking psychoactive cannabis at funerals.   Specifically, archaeologists have found

At the turn of the 20th century, influential German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin noticed a curious pattern among his patients. Some liked to rise early and go to bed early, while others found they were more productive if they stayed up late and slept in the next day.   Drawing on years of systematic clinical research,

To sleep or to snooze? You probably know the answer, but you don’t prefer it. Most of us probably use the snooze function on our alarm clocks at some point in our lives. Just a few more minutes under the covers, a time to gather our thoughts, right?   While such snoozing might seem harmless,

How much of your chocolate buying is based on taste, and how much is based on the shininess of its wrapping? A new study backs up what we’ve long suspected – the way chocolate is packaged creates a stronger emotional pull than what it actually tastes like.   And while the chocolate we buy in

Humans have spread microplastics to virtually every ecosystem on the planet, from the deepest chasms in the sea to the most remote wilderness on land. Today, there is nowhere left to hide, and each year, we humans receive a hearty dose of our own medicine.   From what little we know about microplastics in air, food and water,

How far can the human body be pushed? It’s a question you might ask yourself on a 5K run, or an early morning gym session, but a new study says there is a definite limit to human endurance – beyond which our bodies start breaking down.   For long-term levels of exertion, that limit is

Imagining something into reality is probably a desire as old as imagination itself, but there might just be a slight bit more to it than mere wishful thinking. A new study reveals how imagining a scenario that takes place in an emotionally neutral place can change our attitude to that place in reality.   To

Starting the day with a bowl of pressed cereal rings from a garish cardboard box is a signature of the modern age. So when researchers discovered that a stash of tiny, Bronze Age doughnuts were made from processed grains, they seemed strangely out of place.   The Austrian archaeological dig site of Stillfried an der March

As tall as the towers of London Bridge, New Delhi’s Ghazipur landfill continues to grow at a startling pace. Within a year, it is set to rise higher than the Taj Mahal, one of the country’s most iconic monuments.   Nicknamed ‘Mount Everest‘ by locals, the expansive pile of fetid matter is already more than 65

If the dating of a number of East African artefacts turns out to be correct, the emergence of our genus might have been given a boost when hominids literally gave tools an edge.    Systematically flaked stones buried in sediment dated from 2.58 to 2.61 million years ago were uncovered at an Ethiopian dig site

It was built in the early 12th century by King Suryavarman II, one of the most famous kings of the Angkorian civilization that lasted from approximately the ninth to 15th centuries. The structure is so strongly associated with Cambodian identity even today that it appears on the nation’s flag.   For many years, historians placed

The most fundamental system we have to quantify the importance of scientific research is broken at its core, a new study reveals – and all it took was a single punctuation mark.   In a bizarre new finding, researchers have demonstrated that academic papers with hyphens in their titles get counted less in citation-counting databases: a

You’re sitting an exam, and just can’t recall the answer you know is in your brain somewhere. A new study suggests that a quick zap to a region in your prefrontal cortex might help you find the missing memory.   Okay, so maybe using this in practice is more science fiction than science at this

There’s a giant contradiction in the middle of the Arizona desert: an experimental city designed for thousands that now contains only a few dozen inhabitants. For nearly five decades, a group called the Cosanti Foundation has been working to build a city that would inspire a new future of urban design. Today, the project is

Parents that make a point of being generous with their money could inspire greater financial responsibility in their kids. Alongside budgeting and saving, a new psychology study suggests that responsible giving is one of the most valuable lessons a child can learn about money.   Interviewing individuals of all generations, the research is some of

A Canadian man has pleaded guilty to smuggling thousands of live medicinal leeches into the country, bundled up inside a reusable grocery bag, according to the Canadian government.   Ippolit Bodounov will pay a US$15,000 fine for the slimy heist, and had to turn over his nearly 5,000 leeches to authorities, Environment and Climate Change

After early humans took their first fledgling steps out of Africa and began dispersing across the landmass of Eurasia, what paths did they choose to travel, and why? The answers might not be what we once thought. New research exploring this fundamental chapter of human migration reveals that routes we didn’t consider possible may have

Anjali Kulkarni, an Indian mountain climber, trained for six years to make it to the top of Mount Everest, the highest mountain peak in the world. She finally fulfilled her longtime goal when she reached the summit this week. But it was the descent that killed her.   Her son, Shantanu Kulkarni, told CNN that she died

It’s been exactly 500 years since Leonardo da Vinci died, and even after all this time we’re still trying to discover new things about the famous Italian polymath. Two scientists have studied historical accounts of da Vinci’s life and come to the conclusion that he had a behavioural condition – attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or

Cell division is at the root of all life, and now, anyone who is interested can watch it unfold in all its microscopic complexity.  Researchers at the Allen Institute have created for the first time a highly-detailed visualisation of a dividing stem cell, and it is already revealing new secrets about the process.   Called

The battle for the thermostat has practically become a cliché in office culture, but it looks like the reasons may not be just about comfort. A new study suggests the temperature of a room also impacts our productivity, and for men and women that cognitive sweet spot is slightly different.   Plenty of anecdotes and

If you think the beer at your local bar tastes a little stale, spare a thought for the researchers who brewed up a beer from yeast estimated to be 5,000 years old. The yeast was plucked from pottery used to produce beer in ancient times, extracted from the nanopores of the clay and converted into

As the world grows ever more urban, the lack of natural outdoor space could have lifelong consequences for our mental health. Growing up around greener spaces has consistently been linked to better health outcomes, and new research suggests these benefits could last a lifetime.   It’s one of the first epidemiological studies to show an

Jade occupied a special place in the mysterious civilisation of the Maya people, crafted into elaborate trinkets rich with ancient meaning and lore. But this prized stone wasn’t reserved solely for ornamental finery. Jade – in the form of its mineral variety, jadeite – also seems to have had its uses in the toil of

Thirty years ago, archaeologists digging at one of England’s earliest medieval villages discovered the remains of 73 worn cooking pots.  Used for the last time half a century ago, they still hold tiny remnants of their last meal. Which means they provide fascinating insight into what medieval people actually ate on a day-to-day basis.  

Consider yourself lucky if you’re in a job that you love, but be aware that there’s a potential downside – other people might take advantage of your passion for your work. New research shows that managers often set extra hours without pay, or give out demeaning tasks to employees, to those who are particularly passionate

The death of a friend is a loss that most people face at some point in their lives – often many times. But it is a grief that may not be taken seriously by employers, doctors or others.   The so-called hierarchy of grief, a scale used to determine who is considered a more legitimate

They say a tree never forgets, and apparently, neither does its resin. For more than ten thousand years, an ancient chewing gum, made from the tar of a birch bark tree, has held the memory of Scandinavia’s first human settlers.   Discovered in the 1990s, in a prehistoric hunter-fisher site on the Swedish coast, known as

Unknown to many travellers in southeast Asia, the ‘jars of the dead’ in Laos are a 2,000-year-old mystery that has never been solved. Speckled across thousands of square kilometres of the Xieng Khouang plateau – now known as the ‘Plain of Jars’ for that very reason – these empty megalithic structures from the Iron Age

In our world, there exists an ancient and cryptic book that reads beyond human understanding. Known as the Voynich manuscript, this artefact dating from the 15th century has practically turned into modern legend.   Like King Arthur’s ‘sword in the stone’, the modern ‘world’s most mysterious book’ has attracted a host of curious readers determined

Perhaps your teacher is just a good a judge of your academic prowess as an exam paper – and that could help reduce some of the exam workload on kids as they go through school.   Researchers looked at data collected on more than 5,000 pairs of twins in the UK, and found that teacher

Warning: Full spoilers below for Game of Thrones Season 8, episode 5, “The Bells.” What do you do if you’ve named your baby after a genocidal maniac? That’s the question facing thousands of parents in America this morning after last night’s Game of Thrones took a very dark turn in the story arc of one

The grand, sprawling palace built by the Roman Emperor Nero nearly 2,000 years ago has been keeping a secret. While working on restorations, archaeologists found a secret chamber – a large underground room decorated with murals depicting both real and mythical creatures.   In red and ochre hues, with traces of gilding, centaurs dance across