It’s an attractive idea: By playing online problem-solving, matching and other games for a few minutes a day, people can improve such mental abilities as reasoning, verbal skills and memory.…
Category: Humans
Small bribes may help people build healthy handwashing habits
Good habits are hard to adopt. But a little bribery can go a long way. That’s the finding from an experiment in India that used rewards to get villagers hooked…
Surprisingly, humans recognize joyful screams faster than fearful screams
Screams of joy appear to be easier for our brains to comprehend than screams of fear, a new study suggests. The results add a surprising new layer to scientists’ long-held…
DNA from mysterious Asian mummies reveals their surprising ancestry
Mystery mummies from Central Asia have a surprising ancestry. These people, who displayed facial characteristics suggesting a European heritage, belonged to a local population with ancient Asian roots, a new…
Lidar reveals a possible blueprint for many Olmec and Maya ceremonial sites
An unexpected architectural tradition linked many Olmec and Maya societies of Mesoamerica, an ancient cultural area that ran from central Mexico to Central America. Starting as early as around 3,400…
More than 5 million children have lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19
An estimated 5.2 million children worldwide have lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19. The tally covers the beginning of the pandemic through October 2021, during which there were about…
A chain mail–like armor may shield C. difficile from some antibiotics
Chain mail–like armor may help keep one superbug safe from bacteria-killing medicines. Clostridioides difficile bacteria are notorious for taking over the guts of people who have taken antibiotics to treat…
Nudge theory’s popularity may block insights into improving society
Imagine removing a branch of the U.S. government, say the Supreme Court. What are the myriad ways that such an upheaval might reshape people’s lives? Policy makers and researchers probably…
Nudge theory’s popularity may block insights into improving society
Imagine removing a branch of the U.S. government, say the Supreme Court. What are the myriad ways that such an upheaval might reshape people’s lives? Policy makers and researchers probably…
An anime convention in November was not an omicron superspreader event
A large anime fan convention held in New York City last November was not an omicron superspreading event despite cases of the highly contagious variant linked to the gathering, researchers…
