All Stories by Bethany Brookshire
- Psychology
Running is contagious among those with the competitive bug
Can behaviors really be contagious? Runners log more miles when their friends do — especially if they want to stay leader of the pack, a new study finds.
- Archaeology
How the house mouse tamed itself
When people began to settle down, animals followed. Some made successful auditions as our domesticated species. Others — like mice — became our vermin, a new study shows.
- Science & Society
Most Americans like science — and are willing to pay for it
Americans drastically overestimate how much the government spends on science. But when correctly informed, they want the government to spend more.
- Science & Society
Scientists may work to prevent bias, but they don’t always say so
Scientists may do the work to prevent bias in their experiments — but they aren’t telling other scientists about it, two new studies show.
- Computing
Speech recognition has come a long way in 50 years
Early versions of computer speech recognition relied on word sounds. Now, they add pattern recognition and a lot of statistics.
- Health & Medicine
Weekend warriors put up a fight against death
Weekend warriors shove all their weekly activity into just one or two days, and it’s still enough to reduce mortality risk.
- Science & Society
Analysis finds gender bias in peer-reviewer picks
The peer-review process aims to avoid bias, but it turns out there’s gender bias in who is picked to review the papers.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, methadone made a rosy debut
Heralded as the “answer to heroin addiction,” methadone is still used to treat opiate addiction, despite risks.
- Neuroscience
How scientists are hunting for a safer opioid painkiller
Scientists are sorting through chemical structures, twisting and turning known drugs and exploring new ways to ease pain.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, fluoridation was promoted as a bone protector
In 1966, scientists hoped fluoride might protect adult bone health. While the results broke down over time, the benefits for teeth remain clear.
- Science & Society
Why people don’t vote, and what to do about it
The United States has terrible voter turnout. Political scientists have studied why people don’t vote and some effective ways to improve voter participation.
- Science & Society
Blame bad incentives for bad science
Scientists have to publish a constant stream of new results to succeed. But in the process, their success may lead to science’s failure, two new studies warn.
