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Articles

Learning Another Language Could Help Delay Dementia

Kids who know two languages think faster and more creatively. And research even suggests that being bilingual could fortify the brain against dementia

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Watch a Cougar Grab a Salmon off a Zipline

More food should be delivered by zipline

Woodwind Players Who Don’t Clean Their Instrument Risk Growing Colonies of Infective Fungi

Brass players aren’t off the hook, either

The USPS Will Make Sunday Deliveries Just for Amazon

The US Postal Service announced that it would make special Sunday deliveries for Amazon.com customers

Conrad Heyer, a Revolutionary War Veteran, Was the Earliest-Born American To Ever Be Photographed

Conrad Heyer fought with Washington in the Revolutionary War

Toyota’s New Concept Car Takes the Driver’s Movements and Emotions Into Consideration

Toyota’s FV2 is engineered to make cars “Fun to Drive, Again.” But it might be too far out to ever become a reality

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Listen to “Huh”—a Universal Word—in Russian, Icelandic, Lao And Siwu

Researchers think “huh” is a great example of “convergent cultural evolution of linguistic items,” or a word that came out of a conversational need

Porcupines can be vicious killers. But not this one. This one is adorable.

Porcupine Quills Can Kill

Researchers in Italy watched porcupines corner a dog and stab it to death

You don’t need to take Google’s personality test; you’re already revealing enough on Twitter.

Analyzing Your Tweets Could Help Advertisers Understand Your Personality And Sell You More Stuff

By scraping your tweets, these researchers can get insight into your personality

Scissors That Cut Perfectly Straight Lines—Every Time!

An industrial design major has made it possible to make precise cuts without rulers or a heavy-duty guillotine

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Pollution May Be Crippling Chinese Men’s Sperm

The problem likely reaches beyond China, as some researchers have reported a worldwide decline in average sperm counts

Main waiting room, Pennsylvania Station, New York, NY, circa 1910

How Nostalgia Plays Into Our Love of Buildings Old and New

Never-before-seen photos reveal that Penn Station wasn’t as pristine as we remember when it was torn down

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These High-Tech Cocktail Garnishes Take a Hint From Plants And Animals

In the coming years, biomimicry could be the newest upscale dining fad, much as molecular gastronomy was in the late 1990s and locavorism is today

Simply by looking at geo-tagged tweets, an algorithm can track the spread of flu and predict which users are going to get sick.

Your Tweets Can Predict When You’ll Get the Flu

Simply by looking at geotagged tweets, an algorithm can track the spread of flu and predict which users are going to get sick

The brain scan on right shows Alzheimer’s damage.

How Lasers Could Be the Answer to Alzheimer’s

They’re now able to detect the clumps of toxic proteins that destroy the brain. One day they may be able to get rid of them

This Robot Is Powered by Pee

From bug eaters to pee drinkers, these robots of the future will be part of the food chain

Big-Breasted Mannequins Take a Craze for Plastic Surgery to Its Logical Conclusion

Whether in Sweden, the U.S. or Venezuela, however, it seems that women simply want to recognize a bit of themselves in store windows

Would you use these crystals in your kitchen if they were called “super delicious umami crystals?”

It’s the Umami, Stupid. Why the Truth About MSG is So Easy to Swallow

Few remember that the food pariah and hot trend are so closely connected

Searles Lake, California

Art Meets Science

The Science Behind Earth’s Many Colors

A new book of breathtaking aerial photography by Bernhard Edmaier explains how the planet’s vividly colored landscapes and seascapes came to be

One of the Strongest Hurricanes Ever Seen Is About to Hit the Philippines

Since detailed observations began, only three hurricanes on Earth have been this strong

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