science
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Tattooed Science
Carl Zimmer’s Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed reveals the crossroads between the sciences and tattoo culture. The result is “a weird and wonderful almanac of the lovable geek who immortalized passion for science on their living flesh,” according…
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Caffeinated Ladies Fighting Depression
A new study suggests that drinking more than one cup of coffee a day may prevent the onset of depression in women. And the more you drink, the better: “The biggest coffee drinkers saw the largest reduction in risk, according…
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Now We’re Talking
It’s not always oil that we spill into the ecosystem. Every now and then a pet cockatoo is let loose or escapes, joins a wild flock, and teaches the natives how to speak. The phenomenon accounts for “numerous” reports by…
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Migrations Map
Here is a map to help you visualize human migration over the course of our 200,000 year existence. Using data based on mitochondrial DNA difference, the map models migratory patterns as humans “moved outward from Africa into Asia, and later…
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Family Tree Shake-Up
Fossils found in a South African cave may be “the most plausible known ancestor of archaic and modern humans,” argue the scientists who discovered the bones, citing the combination of apelike and human features in the newfound species—dubbed Australopithecus sediba.…
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Happy Words Win
Headed by the University of Vermont’s Isabel Klouman, a team of researchers did a massive language study that revealed an optimistic tendency of the English language—there are more positive words than negative. Compiling words from years of the New York…
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Independent Astronauts
Atlantis just returned from its last mission and here we are with our feet firmly on the ground. But surely there is an alternative to NASA. For inspiration into space travel here on earth experience the short film Life as…
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Age-Revealing Spit
It turns out those trusty Law and Order-like forensic techniques are now being adopted for another function–the preservation of social norms via the avoidance of seemingly invasive questions! Next time you feel the need to know somebody’s age, but feel…
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Believing in Science
There’s an awesome Mother Jones article on how we intake our science like lawyers and how our reasoning is inextricably linked to our emotional centers. We’re used to scientific evidence and opinion-based beliefs competing or being on opposite sides of…
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The Creative Impulse: A Duet of Sorts
There is a romantic idea that great genius emanates from the tower. The novelist, the philosopher, the architect, all retreat to their places of solitude to channel their minds and await inspiration. A few hours, days, months, years later, they…
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Drinkers Are Smarter, Says Science
In the department of You Can Prove Anything With Science, this statistics-happy chap finds that “the more intelligent, who scored high on a vocabulary test, … drink more than the dumb, who scored low.” (via @electriclit)
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If Science Says Facial Hair Is Sexy, It’s Sexy
“Results suggest that facial hair is worn to enhance a man’s marriage prospects by increasing physical attractiveness and perception of social status. Men shave their mustaches, possibly to convey an impression of trustworthiness, when the marriage market is weak and…