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Science / Mind & Body

New Research

Most Parents Want to Test Their Unborn Kids’ Genes For Disease Risk

Despite the fact that they might not like what they learn

For most humans, meditating in the snow would be highly uncomfortable. For Wim Hof, it's euphoric. Note: Wim Hof not pictured.

New Research

Science Explains How the Iceman Resists Extreme Cold

MRI scans reveal that Wim Hof artificially induces a stress response in his brain

A Hangover Pill Is Working on Drunk Mice

The new antidote may lower blood alcohol levels, helping a hangover and preventing alcohol overdose deaths

The science of DNA facial reconstruction is advancing rapidly.

How Accurately Can Scientists Reconstruct A Person’s Face From DNA?

Predicting physical features from genetic data certainly has its limitations, but it is advancing. What does this mean for our privacy?

Fake medicines are a lucrative global business. When it comes to malaria drugs that don’t work, they can be deadly.

Are Fake Drugs The Reason Malaria Sickens Millions a Year?

Fraudulent, expired and low-quality medicines contribute to the disease’s death toll—and could worsen drug resistance

The Versatile Extra-Sensory Transducer, or VEST, has 32 vibrating motors distributed around the torso.

Could This Futuristic Vest Give Us a Sixth Sense?

For starters, the new technology—appearing on ‘Westworld’ before hitting the market—could help the deaf parse speech and ambient noise

Human evolution is “one of the highest hurdles — if not the highest hurdle — to science education in America,” says Smithsonian's Rick Potts. Here, an early human fossil found in Broken Hill, Zambia.

How to Talk With Evangelicals About Evolution

For two years, researchers from the Smithsonian traveled the country explaining the science of our shared origins

Going to bed early is part of getting a good night’s sleep.

Bad News, Night Owls: You Might Have a Higher Risk of Dying Early

Researchers found a 10 percent higher risk of early death in late night sleepers, but aren’t sure why

This advertisement from San Francisco-based electronic cigarette company JUUL calls back the tobacco advertisements from the mid-20th century.

Ads for E-Cigarettes Today Hearken Back to the Banned Tricks of Big Tobacco

A new ‘Joe Camel’-esque phenomenon may be igniting as the new fad takes a 21st-century page out of an old playbook

A vintage ad for patent medicines, which usually didn't list their active ingredients. We now know that many contained morphine, cocaine, opium and more.

How Advertising Shaped the First Opioid Epidemic

And what it can teach us about the second

Why We Should Test Heart Drugs On a ‘Virtual Human’ Instead of Animals

Thousands of animals are used for heart drug tests each year—but research shows that computer-simulated trials are more accurate

Vanessa Brandon worried that her cancer was a burden on her family: “I don’t want my sickness to become their sickness.”

Could Immunotherapy Lead the Way to Fighting Cancer?

A new treatment that uses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer is offering hope to patients with advanced disease

Your Low-Calorie Sweetener Could Be Making You Fat

There are several ways that consuming artificial sweeteners might contribute to obesity

The Proliferation of Happiness

A professor of consumer culture tracks the history of positive psychology

The trepanated skull of a Neolithic woman. The fact that the hole is rounded off by ingrowth of new bone suggests that the patient survived the operation.

No, Getting a Hole Drilled in Your Head Was Never a Migraine Cure

The ancient and controversial procedure was used for a slew of reasons, but to ‘let the headache out’ was not one of them

Fifty years after researchers dismissed the idea of learning while you sleep, we now know that sound and smell cues can reactivate memories during this time of rest.

Sleep-Learning Was a Myth, But You Could Strengthen Memories While You Snooze

Neuroscientists find that sound and smell cues could solidify lessons you learn during the day

Winter Olympics

What Reddit Can Tell Us About the Afterlives of Banned Olympic Drugs

We analyzed 150,000 comments to find that the Internet is still openly discussing these mind-bending stimulants

A South Korean athlete receives acupuncture treatment

Winter Olympics

When Treating Sports Injuries, Does the West Do It Best?

As the Olympics kick off in South Korea, two radically different approaches to training and treating athletes will be on display

Will blue packets replace pink ones soon?

New Research

Heart-Stopping Arrow Poison Could Be the Key to Male Birth Control

A non-toxic version of the compound interrupts fertilization in rats

Healthcare providers leave a village after completion of a culling operation in response to a bird flu outbreak in Budgebudge, West Bengal, India.

The Next Pandemic

The Pandemic Everyone Fears Is Flu In the Wrong Place At the Wrong Time

Governments should constantly be preparing for outbreaks, instead of just hastily responding to threats as they arise

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