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New Research

Once a Toxoplasma Parasite Infects Mice, They Never Fear Cats Again

Toxoplasma is estimated to infect nearly one-third of humans worldwide, but what these results mean for humans remains to be seen

Good Cop, Bad Cop Might Not Work

By combining brute force and gentle understanding cops can get the criminal to confess to his crime. The problem is, that might not actually work

Rosetta eyeing the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Europe’s Space Agency Is Going to Harpoon a Comet And Ride It Into the Sun

A three billion mile hunt will climax soon when Rosetta, quite literally, harpoons a comet

The bartending robot James is here to serve.

Bartending Robot Can Tell If a Customer Wants a Drink or Is Just Standing Around

Using videos of thirsty customers lining up for bar-side drinks, they created algorithm equivalents for “I want a drink” body language

Flies, Chipmunks And Other Tiny Creatures See the World in Slow Motion

Flies, for example, can perceive visual stimuli four times faster than we can

A human genome, printed

One Woman Can Have Multiple Genetic Identities—Hers, Her Secret One, And All Her Kids’

The idea of there being one genetic “you” is up in the air

Three Ancient Rivers, Long Buried by the Sahara, Created a Passage to the Mediterranean

One river system, called the Irharhar, appears to have been a particularly popular travel route, corroborated by both model simulations and artifacts

Eating Breakfast Probably Won’t Help You Lose Weight

As much as researchers themselves want to believe that breakfast helps people lose weight or keep it off, the evidence is far from conclusive

Half of Children That Die Before Age Five Live in Just Five Countries

6.6 million children died before their first birthday last year, but the good news is that number is going down

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Orangutans Plan And Share Their Routes Before Hitting the Road

The authors suspect that other great apes and species of intelligent animals likely use similar communication strategies

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Two Dozen Corpses, Beheaded Around 1,400 Years Ago, Found in a Cave in Mexico

In a cave in Mexico, the disembodied corpses of dozens of people

Elephants Can Distinguish Between the Growl of a Hungry Tiger And a Hungry Leopard

Farmers may be able to use growl-broadcasting, motion-triggered speakers to deter elephants from raiding their crops

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Your Parents’ Music Will Be Stuck in Your Head Forever—And You’ll Like It

Deep down, new research finds, kids may be secretly enjoying themselves and creating fond attachments to oldies songs that still rock their parents out

Eight of the Ten Highest-Paying College Majors Include the Word “Engineering”

According to researchers, unless students come from a wealthy family, considering whether a college degree will pay off as an investment is a smart move

A Man’s Testicle Size May Influence His Enthusiasm for Parenting

Some men may be naturally inclined to go down the long-term investment parenting route, whereas others may lean towards the Johnny Appleseed approach

“The Rape of the Sabine Women,” Pietro da Cortnoa

Ask 10,000 Men About “Forced Sex,” And Rape Statistics Start to Make Sense

When asked, one in four men admitted to committing sexual assault

Sudden Pauses in Text Messaging May Mean You’re Being Lied To

Additionally, we’re more likely to lie by text than in-person or on the phone

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An Underwater Volcano the Size of New Mexico Is the World’s Largest

The Tamu Massif is not only the world’s largest volcano, but also one of the largest documented volcanoes in the solar system

A Tiny, Transparent Skull Implant Could Simplify Brain Surgery

Unlike past glass-based models, the new implant’s ceramic material will not shatter if someone bumps their head

A sacral sample (S) taken from Richard III revealed ancient roundworm eggs. Control samples from his skull (C1) and outside of the grave (C2) linked the infection to his body.

Richard III Had a Nasty Case of Roundworms

Perhaps the king’s cooks were not washing their hands, or forgetting to rinse the human waste-fertilized salad greens before serving them to their monarch

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