Rodrigo Pérez Ortega

Discrimination causes nearly instantaneous spikes in stress hormones

There’s clear evidence that racial discrimination negatively affects the health of people of color over the course of their lives. It’s associated with depression, anxiety, and psychological stress; it increases blood pressure; and it has been shown…

‘Breakthrough’ finding shows how modern humans grow more brain cells than Neanderthals

We humans are proud of our big brains, which are responsible for our ability to plan ahead, communicate, and create. Inside our skulls, we pack, on average, 86 billion neurons—up to three times more than those of our primate cousins. For years,…

Chilean voters resoundingly reject a new ‘ecological’ constitution

To the dismay of many scientists in Chile, voters resoundingly rejected a draft constitution that would have had major impacts on research, environmental policies, and Indigenous rights. Sixty-two percent of voters said “no” during a referendum…

Half of Americans anticipate a U.S. civil war soon, survey finds

Violence can seem to be everywhere in the United States, and political violence is in the spotlight, with the 6 January 2021 insurrection as exhibit A. Now, a large study confirms one in five Americans believes violence motivated by political reasons…

Maned dinosaur fossil will head back to Brazil after controversy over import to Germany

More than a decade ago, a 110-million-year-old dinosaur fossil was taken from its resting place in the Araripe Basin in Brazil under murky circumstances. Eventually, it landed in the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe (SMNK) in Germany—without…

Unconscious bias against Black and women physicians could undermine treatment

Your unconscious biases might be affecting your health care, at least if you’re white. In a new study, health care providers gave nearly 200 white participants an allergen that caused their skin to swell. They then applied a placebo cream (unscented…

Extreme temperatures in major Latin American cities could be linked to nearly 1 million deaths

In mid-January, the southern tip of South America suffered its worst heat wave in years. In Argentina, temperatures in more than 50 cities rose above 40°C, more than 10°C warmer than the typical average temperature in cities such as Buenos Aires. The…

To capture racism’s impact on health, one epidemiologist suggests going beyond conventional methods

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed many vulnerabilities in health care, including how structural racism created the pandemic’s outsize impact on marginalized groups. Age-adjusted infection, hospitalization, and death rates for people of color in the…

‘Racially biased’ devices caused delayed treatment for Black COVID-19 patients

COVID-19 treatment for Black patients was delayed because of inaccurate blood oxygen measurements from “racially biased” medical instruments, STAT reports. Pulse oximeters, which indirectly measure oxygen saturation levels using light that passes…

Accuser loses defamation suit in Peruvian sexual harassment case

A judge in Peru ruled against archaeologist Marcela Poirier on 23 May in a defamation lawsuit brought by Luis Jaime Castillo Butters, a prominent Peruvian archaeologist she accused of sexual harassment. Poirier, a manager of cultural and educational…

La fiebre del pepino de mar y su herencia maldita: la pesca ilegal acaba con las especies de Yucatán

El bum de la especie causó una crisis social que parece irreparable en las costas yucatecas. Ante la amenaza de muerte sobre un oficio con siglos de tradición, los pescadores locales hacen un último esfuerzo por salvar los recursos marinos y su modo…

Pterosaurs may have flaunted colorful plumage long before the reign of dinosaurs

The idea that dinosaurs sported colorful feathers, once outlandish, has become conventional wisdom. Now, a new study of a Brazilian fossil suggests that pterosaurs—leathery winged, flying reptiles only distantly related to dinosaurs—were also clad in…

La fiebre del pepino de mar y su herencia maldita: la pesca ilegal acaba con las especies de Yucatán

El bum de la especie causó una crisis social que parece irreparable en las costas yucatecas. Ante la amenaza de muerte sobre un oficio con siglos de tradición, los pescadores locales hacen un último esfuerzo por salvar los recursos marinos y su modo…

Stinky feet or something sweet? Cultures around the world respond to smells in the same way

The rotten egg smell of fermented herring has been described as one of the world’s most repulsive odors. Yet Swedes love the dish. Ditto for black licorice—the Dutch adore it, but its scent makes others gag. Scientists have long thought culture…

Triceratops definitely fought one another, wound in ‘Big John’ reveals

Movies, documentaries, and museum displays have long shown Triceratops using their long horns and majestic neck frills as weapons and shields against Tyrannosaurus rex and others of their own species. But, in a fist, researchers now have microscopic…

This mysterious dinosaur had a limp, ancient footprints reveal

In a subtropical wetland in what is now Spain, a 5-ton dinosaur with a limp walked in shallow waters surrounded by grazing fish. Scientists uncovered this moment in prehistoric time from just six preserved footprints the animal left behind in the…

Early mammals got big before they got smart

The asteroid that exterminated the dinosaurs about 66 million years ago left mostly smaller creatures in its wake, from rodentlike insect eaters to beaver-size herbivores. Over time, these animals got larger, some eventually becoming giants…

Ukrainian researchers flee trauma and terror of war

At this time of year Maryna Kravchenko, a population ecologist at Kharkiv National University (KNU), normally heads into the forests of eastern Ukraine to track frogs and toads emerging from hibernation. Instead, after 1 week sheltering from bombs in…

Newly discovered octopus ancestor had 10 arms

About 330 million years ago in what’s now Montana, a squidlike creature died in a tropical bay and its soft body was preserved in limestone. Now, paleontologists at the American Museum of Natural History and Yale University have studied the…

Augmented reality brings back extinct ice age animals

When scientists working with the La Brea Tar Pits wanted to bring extinct mammoths, ground sloths, and dire wolves to virtual life for museum visitors, they quickly ran into a problem: Accurate models of such creatures didn’t exist in the network of…