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He documented his own death by snakebite instead of going to the hospital
In September 1957, someone from the Lincoln Park Zoo brought a young 30-inch snake to the Chicago Natural History Museum. They asked for help identifying the snake. Famed herpetologist Karl P. Schmidt...
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Want better thinking and productivity? Improve the air quality in your office.
Ground-breaking research by a team from Harvard, Syracuse University and SUNY Upstate has found that improving indoor air quality can dramatically improve workers’ cognitive functioning.When most of us...
View ArticleAlien abduction and the walking dead: can science explain the world's...
Science Writer Sam Kean has had real-life experiences worthy of a horror film. During one such recent episode, he woke up from a night of sleep and found that he was unable to move, completely...
View ArticleIs Football Bad for Your Brain?
At the beginning of his high school football season Blake Ripple’s football coach read aloud a sticker that said the helmets the teenage players would wear would not prevent head injury, only head...
View ArticleFor Obama's top science guy, the climate outlook is partly sunny
The global climate crisis has only gotten worse in the six years since the last big international climate summit in Copenhagen ended in near-failure. The pollution-cutting pledges made by the world’s...
View ArticleIndia's biggest festival is really bad for its health
For the Hindu festival of Diwali, every neighborhood in India becomes more beautiful. Houses are cleaned out, decorative lamps are lit, families reunite and gifts are exchanged. Diwali, which falls on...
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How do public transportation maps help fight climate change?
Transit maps fight climate change. Or at least, they might.One guy certainly thinks so. His name is Mark Ovenden. He’s an expert in transit maps and the author of “Transit Maps of The World.” So he’s a...
View ArticleSix things you believe about spiders that are totally false
Lauren Esposito regularly milks scorpions. Catherine Scott lets black widows crawl on her. Both of these spider experts love arachnids, and they want you to love them, too.Here are six myths about...
View ArticleCould composting someday become an alternative to burial and cremation?
Each year, 5 million people die in the US. About half of them choose conventional burial and half choose cremation for their body. Now, if a new project comes to fruition, individuals may have another...
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What's killing the endangered Saiga antelope of Central Asia?
The Saiga — tawny, bulbous-nosed antelopes that have roamed the desert steppe of Central Asia by the millions since the days of the woolly mammoth — are suddenly falling to a mysterious disease that...
View ArticleEight things spiders can do that you’ve never heard of
They have eight legs, multiple sets of eyes, and build webs in the corners of your house. But arachnologists Lauren Esposito and Catherine Scott say the bizarre world of spiders goes far beyond...
View ArticleA veteran of the Katrina response says climate change will force us all to be...
At the end of November, political leaders, scientists and policy wonks will gather in Paris to talk about climate change. But beyond the policy, the posturing, and the dense terminology, climate change...
View ArticleWhat exactly does a 'war' against ISIS entail?
The hacktivist group Anonymous has doubled down on its digital war against ISIS.In the wake of the Paris attacks, the group released a video declaring, “We are Anonymous. We are legion. We don’t...
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On the farm, new allies to save America's endangered bats
Bats in North America have suffered a massive decline in recent years due to an invasive fungal disease called white-nose syndrome. But while scientists struggle to get a handle on the disease, one...
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At this trail-blazing cemetery, a flock of birders
Mount Auburn Cemetery was created in 1831 to change people's idea of death and burial. Today, in addition to being the resting place for a host of famous Americans, it is one of the Boston area’s key...
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Kicking China's coal habit — and helping to save the planet?
China’s coal habit has fueled incredible growth; the economy quadrupled in size in the first dozen years of this century, when some 70 percent of its energy came from coal.The rewards have been high,...
View ArticleWhat brainless slime mold can teach us about making better decisions
There is a mindless, senseless yellow-tinted blob of an organism that lives on the forest floor. It’s called slime mold and even though it lacks a brain, it can be relied upon to make a healthy...
View ArticleEven plans to close nuclear power plants stir controversy
Energy companies are finding that making plans to close a nuclear power plant doesn’t end the protests and anger.In Massachusetts, residents who live near Entergy Corporation’s Pilgrim Generating...
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Nuclear reactor closings in the US continue to roil the energy industry
In the face of growing safety problems, cheap natural gas and the rising use of renewable energy sources, aging nuclear power plants are closing down across the US, raising questions about the future...
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A way to save one of North America's fastest animals
Pronghorn antelope are one of the fastest land animals on Earth, reaching speeds close to 60 mph. Once, their speed helped them outrun ancient predators, but today the pronghorn faces new challenges...
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