All Stories by Bethany Brookshire
- Chemistry
Three kids’ science books offer fun, fascinating experiments
No matter what interests kids, there’s a do-it-yourself science book for them. Here are three with entertaining and educational options.
- Chemistry
Pathway pieced together to make opiates in yeast
Scientists have engineered yeast to make sugar into thebaine, a precursor to opiates such as morphine.
- Health & Medicine
Building standards aren’t to blame for chilly offices
A recent study made headlines for finding differences between men and women in comfort level for heating and cooling. But that’s not why women are cold in the office.
- Health & Medicine
How trans fats oozed into our diet and out again
Trans fats are no longer “generally recognized as safe” by the FDA. In a world where we want to have our doughnuts and eat them, too, it’s back to the drawing board, and back to butter.
- Health & Medicine
The weekly grind of social jetlag could be a weighty issue
Even those of us with nine-to-five jobs don’t always respect our body’s clocks. Research shows that even slight disruptions might be associated with obesity.
- Life
Shifted waking hours may pave the way to shifting metabolism
Shift workers are at higher risk for obesity and metabolic problems. Scientists are working hard to understand why the night shift makes our hormones go awry.
- Life
Women blush when ovulating, and it doesn’t matter a bit
Women don’t signal their fertility in obvious ways like nonhuman primates. A new study shows that even skin flushes are too subtle to detect.
- Science & Society
No matter the language, disease risk is hard to communicate
Reassuring messages about MERS might seem designed to stop panic. But in reality, people need to hear the truth, even if it’s uncertain.
- Plants
Poppy yields the final secret to making morphine
Scientists have successfully transplanted most of the morphine synthesis pathway from poppies to yeast. Now the final step is ready to be put in place.
- Psychology
The guilty pleasure of funny cat videos
Many people love posting and looking at cute kitty content online. A new survey shows that this could be because it helps us manage our emotions.
- Science & Society
Home-brewed heroin: Hold the hype
Now is the time to think about policy for synthetically produced morphine, but the process, if it bears out, is years away from working.
- Science & Society
Tech in the classroom foreseen 50 years ago
Fifty years ago, scientists were looking forward to technology in the classroom.
