Pocket Archive: Science, History & Discovery

Illegal, underground and said to be brimming with health benefits — the practice of taking small amounts of psychedelic drugs is growing increasingly popular, yet it remains relatively unstudied and its reported benefits unproven.

They say time heals all wounds, and new research from UC Berkeley indicates that time spent in dream sleep can help. UC Berkeley researchers have found that during the dream phase of sleep, also known as REM sleep, our stress chemistry shuts down and the brain processes emotional experiences and takes the painful edge off difficult memories.

Ever feel during one of these recent sweltering days that it’s just so hot you can’t think straight? Well, maybe you can’t.

We asked a preeminent historian to investigate our coverage of people of color in the U.S. and abroad. Here’s what he found.

Learn about air pressure and how it affects the planet's weather. Find out how atmospheric pressure is measured with a barometer.

A look at the available evidence

How can you overcome fear? Learn how your brain works and it becomes super simple.

ESA’s Gaia mission has produced the richest star catalogue to date, including high-precision measurements of nearly 1.7 billion stars and revealing previously unseen details of our home Galaxy.

The highly modified feathers of a male bird of paradise absorb 99.95 percent of light, creating an astonishingly dark black.

[Seasonal Harmony 季节的和谐] Spring By Ellasara Kling   “Not only are we in the Universe, the Universe is in us.“ “To learn is to become closer to Nature”    Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist, D…

What is the Meta pixel, and how does it work? Learn how to install the Meta pixel on your website and use it to improve advertising ROI today.

As we grow older we suffer a decline in mental and physical fitness, which can be made worse by conditions like Alzheimer's disease. A new study, published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, shows that older people who routinely partake in physical exercise can reverse the signs of aging in the brain, and dancing has the most profound effect.

The Doudna lab's research on CRISPR biology led to the 2012 discovery of the mechanism by which small RNAs direct the protein Cas9 to bind and cut...

Perverse incentives and the misuse of quantitative metrics have undermined the integrity of scientific research

Your resume should be more than a list of your skills.

A revolutionary new study reveals that the core tenet of classical genetics is patently false, and by implication: what we do in this life -- our diet, our mindset, our chemical exposures -- can directly impact the DNA and health of future generations.

We live in a world of symbols. A symbol can be any word, image, object, animal, or person that represents an idea outside of its ordinary meaning.

Question of whether sponges or comb jellies were first to branch off the evolutionary tree from the common ancestor of all animals may be answered

Explore National Geographic. A world leader in geography, cartography and exploration.

Death just became even more scary: scientists say people are aware they’re dead because their consciousness continues to work after the body has stopped showing signs of life.

Western lifestyles differ markedly from those of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, and these differences in diet and activity level are often implicated in the global obesity pandemic. However, few physiological data for hunter-gatherer populations are available to test these models of obesity. In this study, we used the doubly-labeled water method to measure total daily energy expenditure (kCal/day) in Hadza hunter-gatherers to test whether foragers expend more energy each day than their Western counterparts. As expected, physical activity level, PAL, was greater among Hadza foragers than among Westerners. Nonetheless, average daily energy expenditure of traditional Hadza foragers was no different than that of Westerners after controlling for body size. The metabolic cost of walking (kcal kg−1 m−1) and resting (kcal kg−1 s−1) were also similar among Hadza and Western groups. The similarity in metabolic rates across a broad range of cultures challenges current models of obesity suggesting that Western lifestyles lead to decreased energy expenditure. We hypothesize that human daily energy expenditure may be an evolved physiological trait largely independent of cultural differences.

SANTA CLARITA, California—Cesar Millan crosses the road to meet me. Two pit bulls, a Chihuahua, and a Yorkshire terrier—named Junior, Taco, Alfie and Kaley Cuoko—follow. Off leash and at heel, the dogs are calm, almost languid. If Millan communicates with them, I do not notice.

Where did the summer go? As we age, time seems to whiz by. The 'why' is interesting...but what you can do about it is what really matters.

In a world first, French astronomers and experts at the University of Edinburgh identified the normal matter in the universe that past studies of galaxies and stars have been unable to find.