The Future of Conservation Is Basically Shazam for WildlifeThe eastern black rail, a subspecies of bird that’s scattered in clusters along America’s eastern coastlines, is one of the most elusive creatures a wildlife biologist can choose to study. Adults are the size of a human hand, and are dark and shy,… Mar 04 23March 04, 2023Article at The Atlantic
The Quiet Scientific Revolution That May Solve Chronic PainChronic pain is both one of the world’s most costly medical problems, affecting one in every five people, and one of the most mysterious. In the past two decades, however, discoveries about the crucial role played by glia — a set of nervous system… Nov 09 21November 09, 2021Article at New York Times
The Runty Prehistoric Mammals That Outlasted the DinosaursBEASTS BEFORE US The Untold Story of Mammal Origins and Evolution By Elsa Panciroli Richard Owen loathed small mammals, calling them “ratlike, shrewlike forms of the most stupid and unintelligent order of sucklers.” That wouldn’t have mattered if… Sep 09 21September 09, 2021Article at New York Times
Climate Change Enters Its Blood-Sucking PhaseAs winters grow warmer in North America, thirsty ticks are on the move. We found the moose calf half an hour in. He lay atop thin snow on a gentle slope sheltered by the boughs of a big, black spruce, curled up as a dog would on a couch. He had… Feb 21 19February 21, 2019Article at The Atlantic
The Devastating Allure of Medical MiraclesSheila Advento was not feeling well. It was July 6, 2003, and her mother’s house in northern New Jersey was filled with people. Sheila and her mom were there, along with Sheila’s boyfriend, sister, and brother-in-law—a slice of a huge extended… Feb 18 19February 18, 2019Article at Wired
Why a ‘Lifesaving’ Depression Treatment Didn’t Pass Clinical TrialsSome medical experiments are more daunting than others. The one that the neurologist Helen Mayberg came up with to test a model of depression she had developed over about 15 years involved drilling two holes in the top of a patient’s skull and… Apr 17 18April 17, 2018Article at The Atlantic
The Touch of MadnessFeature stories, read aloud: Download the Audm app for your iPhone. I. The Fabric of Reality By the time Nev Jones entered DePaul University's esteemed doctoral program in philosophy, she had aced virtually every course she ever took, studied five… Oct 03 17October 03, 2017Article at Pacific Standard
Survival of the Prettiest(“The Evolution of Beauty” by Richard Prum was selected as one of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of 2017. For the rest of the list, click here.) For readers, Charles Darwin, born in 1809, apparently never gets old. Books by Darwin… Sep 18 17September 18, 2017Article at New York Times
The Social Life of GenesA few years ago, Gene Robinson, of Urbana, Illinois, asked some associates in southern Mexico to help him kidnap some 1,000 newborns. For their victims they chose bees. Half were European honeybees, Apis mellifera ligustica, the sweet-tempered kind… Jun 14 17June 14, 2017Article at Pacific Standard
The Smartphone PsychiatristFrustrated by the failures in his field, Tom Insel, a former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, is now trying to reduce the world’s anguish through the devices in people’s pockets. Sometime around 2010, about two-thirds of the way… Jun 13 17June 13, 2017Article at The Atlantic
‘Galileo’s Middle Finger,’ by Alice Dreger“Soon enough,” Alice Dreger writes at the beginning of her romp of a book, “I will get to the death threats, the sex charges, the alleged genocides, the epidemics, the alien abductees, the anti-lesbian drug, the unethical ethicists, the fight with… Apr 17 15April 17, 2015Article at New York Times
Play that F**king Little 16th Note - Best of Neuron Culture #5The fine writer Steve Silberman has posted a collective homage to good teachers at his blog NeuroTribes. The loveliest is his tribute to his husband Keith, who holds a PhD from Berkeley and teaches science in a high school. Lucky be his students.… Jun 03 13June 03, 2013Article at Wired
Kill Whitey, It's the Right Thing to DoA couple years ago, David Pizarro, a young research psychologist at Cornell, brewed up a devious variation on the classic trolley problem. The trolley problem is that staple of moral psychology studies at dinner parties in which you ask someone to… May 31 13May 31, 2013Article at Wired
David Dobbs on science writing: 'hunt down jargon and kill it'What's a good science story? A good science story is like any other good story: it has tension and movement; it has conflicts the reader can relate to; it's usually about someone who wants something badly and faces obstacles trying to get it. What… Apr 19 13April 19, 2013Article at The Guardian
