Science

It's common knowledge that there are five main tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami (savoury). But based on new research coming out the US, we can now add fat to that list, and scientists are hoping this discovery will help us figure out the underlying reasons for why so many people...

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A puff of this, and the world transforms into a colourful kaleidoscope of dancing patterns and waves of sound; a sip of that, and the muscles in your body relax like jelly. We know different drugs make us experience the world around us in very different ways - and their after-effects are often...

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The term ‘dad bod’ may only been coined this year, but already there’s scientific evidence backing up the notion that fatherhood changes men’s bodies, and in ways that might not be considered flattering. In a wide-ranging 20-year study that tracked the Body Mass Index...

Science

Earlier this year, a synthetic dairy start-up called Muufri (pronounced “Moo-free") was founded by two bioengineers in California - Perumal Gandhi and Ryan Pandya. They’re working on perfecting an artificial cow's milk made from a special variety of yeast that has been...

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Foods high in compounds such as antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids can improve brain health and memory, experts say. From fruit to fish, here are six things that, based on various studies, may perk up your gray matter. Spinach Your mom always told you to eat your spinach, and there's...

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Elderly women are more likely than elderly men to develop Alzheimer's disease, even when they are exposed to some of the same risk factors, two new studies find. Senior women who have mild cognitive problems, such as memory impairment and difficulties with language or thinking skills,...

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A satellite designed to help warn people of space weather hazards has just sent back its first photo of the full sunlit side of the planet shining like a blue marble in the blackness of space. The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), which launched to space in February, is tasked with...

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Even before a child learns to read, a quick biological test may be able to identify if she or he will have literacy challenges or learning disabilities. The study, published in PLOS Biology, centers on the child’s ability to decipher speech—specifically consonants—in a chaotic,...

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Although smoking and drinking are stable or declining among US teenagers, marijuana use has risen in past decades—particularly among black teens. “Our analysis shows that public health campaigns are working—fewer teens are smoking cigarettes,” says Stephanie Lanza,...

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1 / 10 Not All Milks Are Alike The milk aisle is changing, and has a growing number of options for what to douse on your cereal or drink down as a late-night snack. But what do the newer types of milk mean for your heart health? Old-fashioned cow’s milk, for example, is loaded with...

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Airplane crews at high altitude are exposed to potentially harmful levels of radiation from cosmic rays. “Neutrons which don’t reach the ground do reach airline altitude,” says Adrian Melott, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Kansas. “Flight crews...

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While smoking has declined in the past 20 years, nearly 1 in 5 women between the ages of 18 and 25 call themselves “very light smokers.” “Very light” smoking is defined as five or fewer cigarettes per day. “Smoking, even at low levels and intermittently, carries...

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What lengths would you go to in order to preserve your 'do? A brush? Some smoothing serum? How about a few syringes to the face? In order to protect their $35 blowouts from destruction by summer heat or intense workouts, many women are turning to Botox injections of the scalp in order to...

Science

There is nothing quite like the sound of a scream to make the hair on the back of the neck stand up. But what is about a scream that grabs our attention? All screams have an “acoustic signature”—a sound we make only when we want to let others know we’re in...

Science

When children expect aggression from others, it may cause them to be overly aggressive themselves, a new study finds. While the pattern is more common in some cultures than others, a four-year longitudinal study involving 1,299 children and their parents finds it is true in 12 different cultural...