I Want To BelieveWhy People Are Suckers for a Good Conspiracy Theory Everything from bad childhood experiences to certain personality traits to poor digital literacy leaves some people more likely to buy into wild ideas than others. By Liesl Goecker
Pick And ChooseRational People Are More Self‑Serving, While Reasonable People Are More Considerate: Research Therefore, in situations of conflict, people prefer rational people on their side and reasonable people on the opposing side. By Aditi Murti
Home Away From HomeEarth‑Like, Potentially Habitable Planet Discovered 102 Light Years Away Known as TOI-700d, this exoplanet with its own sun was found by a NASA satellite launched last year specifically to discover Earth alternatives. By Liesl Goecker
Om Om Om OmWe Just Got a Radio Signal From Another Galaxy, Scientists Say Scientists have recorded five instances of these fast radio bursts in the last few years, but have not been able to determine a source yet. By Rajvi Desai
Hoofless WonderThe Future of Meat May Not Require Animals Microbe-manufactured protein and plant-based, meat-tasting burgers are picking up steam -- and investment. By Liesl Goecker
First ImpressionsWomen Scientists 12 Times Less Likely to Describe Their Findings as Unique or Excellent The way women describe their papers affects their editorial review -- they end up spending three to six months longer in assessment. By Anubhuti Matta
Oops I Did It AgainWhy Do You Forget Names or the Reason You Walked Into a Room? Scientists believe slip-ups are ways the brain tries to save energy by entering a relaxed state. By Anubhuti Matta
Surprise SurpriseIs This Normal? “I Have a Compulsive Need to Read Spoilers” Control freaks, or people who are averse to “big emotional experiences,” usually try to find comfort in spoilers. By Pallavi Prasad
Not One Of UsHere’s How Our Brains Figure Out Whom to ‘Cancel’ The neuron systems responsible for focus, processing context, and troubleshooting help us decide who we want to punish socially. By Aditi Murti
Lasting ImpressionsDNA From 6,000‑Year‑Old Chewing Gum Used to Build Portrait of a Neolithic Girl It's the first time scientists have been able to map a human genome from anything other than human bones. By Rajvi Desai
It's A Bird; It's A PlaneAll You Need to Know About Stormquakes, a Newly Discovered Natural Disaster Hurricanes and other strong storms can produce earthquakes at magnitudes up to 3.5 on the Richter scale. By Aditi Murti
Evolution 2.0Birds Are Shrinking Because of Climate Change, Study Finds Scientists theorize that smaller bodies help animals cool off more effectively as temperatures warm. By Liesl Goecker
Night SpectreThe Purpose of Dreams Might Be to Prepare Us to Face Our Fears After scary dreams, the emotional control regions of the brain respond to threats much more effectively, a study has found. By Liesl Goecker
Research SpringboardSmall‑Scale Study Finds Women Taking Oral Birth Control Have Smaller Hypothalami The finding about a brain region integral in regulating emotion raises more questions than it offers answers. By Liesl Goecker
Fruit For ThoughtWould You Eat a 1‑Year‑Old Apple? The Cosmic Crisp, a new breed of apple, "maintains excellent eating quality in refrigerated storage" for up to 10 to 12 months. By Liesl Goecker
A River Runs Through ItGlacial Rivers Absorb Carbon Faster Than Forests — But Only Because Glaciers Are Melting Faster "We’re potentially losing something that we’re deriving a lot of benefits from, before we actually fully understand it." By Liesl Goecker
Fire In The MountainThe Amazon Fires Are Worsening Glacial Melt More Than 2,000 Kms Away Soot from the Amazon fires is coating snow in the Andes range, reducing the glaciers' ability to reflect sunlight, and heating mountain air. By Rajvi Desai
Flipping The ScriptResearchers: Same‑Sex Behavior in Animals Was Evolution’s Starting Point, Not an Anomaly Instead of wondering “Why do animals engage in same-sex behavior?” science should have been asking, “Why not?” By Liesl Goecker
