Neuroscie
Brain Moves Its Touch Center to Keep Feeling Sensation
Summary: Biomedical engineers at Penn State have solved a major hurdle in neuroprosthetics and sensory rehabilitation: sensory habituation, where the brain gradually stops perceiving continuous artificial electrical stimulation. In a…
Pregnancy Cannabis Abuse Triples Postpartum Psychosis Risk
Summary: A massive population-level epidemiological study of more than 2 million California hospital deliveries reveals that women diagnosed with cannabis use disorder during pregnancy face a threefold higher risk of…
Study Tracks 3,000 Real-World Psychedelic Journeys
Summary: Neuroscientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) are launching CANOPY, a global observational study designed to monitor up to 3,000 individuals taking psychedelics in real-world environments. Led…
Psychedelics Linked to Lower Anxiety and Depression in Young Adults
Summary: An epidemiological investigation from Durham University reveals that the mental health benefits linked to classic psychedelics, such as psilocybin and LSD, vary significantly across human lifespans. Published in Scientific…
Life
Nature
Newfound bat skeletons are the oldest on record
Two fossilized bat skeletons unearthed in western Wyoming represent a new species and are the oldest set of bat bones yet discovered, researchers say. The incredibly complete fossils of Icaronycteris…
Astronomy
Asteroid 2024 YR4 was Earth’s first real-life defense test
Artist’s depiction of an asteroid floating in space. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb), Martin Kornmesser (ESA), Serge Brunier (ESO), Nick Risinger (Photopic Sky Survey) At this point in…
How do you fire someone into the sun?
Firing our villain straight at the Sun results in a big miss. Credit: Michael Brown, CC BY To point a rocket directly at the sun and hit would require great…
Cosmic ray puzzle resolved as scientists link ‘knee’ formation to black holes
LHAASO experiment. Credit: LHAASO Collaboration Milestone results released by the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) on November 16 have solved a decades-old mystery about the cosmic ray energy…
If the supernova standard candle is wrong, it could solve the Hubble tension
An illustration showing how Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs) expand with the universe. Credit: Gabriela Secara, Perimeter Institute CC-BY-4.0 Last time I wrote about new data that overturns the standard cosmological…
