Health
America Has a Heart Problem, Not Just a Drug Problem
Twelve million, six hundred and seventy-five thousand, six hundred and forty-six.
May 8, 2026
Earth & Environment
A Volcano Erupted and Accidentally Started Cleaning the Atmosphere
Formaldehyde is not supposed to be in the stratosphere. The molecule survives for a few hours at most before sunlight tears it apart, so finding a cloud of it…
May 8, 2026
Brain & Behavior
More Than a Third of Americans Have Lost Relationships Over Politics
Somewhere around 2016, something shifted in how Americans fight about politics. Not in the fights themselves, which have always been loud and sometimes vicious, but in what came after.
May 6, 2026
Health
Why You’re Losing Muscle on Weight Loss Drugs, and What a Gut Hormone Might Do About It
Every time you swallow something fatty, your small intestine quietly releases a hormone called FGF19. It travels to your liver, taps the brakes on bile acid production, and nudges the whole digestive apparatus toward equilibrium.
May 6, 2026
Health
Running, Lifting, or Both: Why Combining Exercise Types Cuts Heart Risk by Nearly Half
Two curves. One shaped like the letter L, the other like the letter J. They look almost identical at first glance, but for anyone trying to understand how exercise protects the heart, the difference between them is rather significant.
May 6, 2026
Health
Super Shoes Make Runners Faster. They May Also Be Slowly Breaking Their Bones.
The carbon fiber plate sits roughly 30 millimeters deep inside the sole, sandwiched in a foam so springy it seems almost alive.
May 6, 2026
Brain & Behavior
A Single Dose of Psilocybin Leaves Lasting Marks on the Human Brain
Inside a brain on psilocybin, something unusual happens to the signal. The neurons keep firing, more or less as before, but the statistical pattern of that…
May 6, 2026
Health
Sensitive Skin Syndrome and Rosacea Are Not the Same Condition, and the Difference Is Written in Your Proteins
Your skin burns when you splash cold water on your face. It stings after the first sip of wine.
May 6, 2026
Technology
Sticky Tape Stores Memories Like a Combination Lock, Without Electricity
Pull a strip of ordinary Scotch tape partway off a surface and set it back down.
May 6, 2026
Life
Life Built Its Biochemistry on a Metal That Was Almost Nowhere to Be Found
Molybdenum is a hard, silvery metal most people encounter only as an additive in steel alloys.
May 6, 2026
Technology
Rooftop Solar Is Overwhelming Local Grids. Community Batteries Could Fix That
Somewhere in Victoria, Australia, a neighborhood wakes up, plugs in its electric vehicles, and the local grid quietly buckles.
May 6, 2026
Brain & Behavior
Honor, Shame, and a New Diagnosis for an Ancient Dread
Shame is something most of us think we understand. You do something wrong, or embarrassing, and the feeling arrives: a hot flush of self-consciousness, the impulse to look away.
May 6, 2026
Health
How Scientists Are Teaching Microbes to Make Our Medicines From Scratch
Yeast has been making things for humans for thousands of years. Bread, beer, wine, the slow alchemy of fermentation that civilisations were built around.
May 6, 2026
Earth & Environment
When the Rains Fail, the Big Gangs Win: How Climate Chaos Reshapes Capuchin Society
By January, many rivers and streams in Costa Rica’s Guanacaste province are greatly reduced by the dry season.
May 6, 2026