Scicurious
A peek behind the science curtain
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Neuroscience
A vivid emotional experience requires the right genetics
A single gene deletion gives some people an extra vivid jolt to their emotional experience, a new study shows.
- Neuroscience
For the blind, hearing the way forward can be a tradeoff
Many blind people have enhanced hearing. A new study shows that the ability to hear your way forward might come at the cost of hearing up and down.
- Science & Society
A peer-reviewed study finds value in peer-reviewed research
The best scoring peer-reviewed grants are associated with more papers and patents, a new study finds. But whether peer review is the best system is another question entirely.
- Neuroscience
Serotonin and the science of sex
Some scientists say that low serotonin makes male mice mate with males and females. Others disagree. In the end, it’s not about sexual preference, but about how science works.
- Science & Society
Women in engineering engage best with gender parity
There are many hypotheses as to why women don’t stay in science or engineering. A new study puts an intervention to the test.
- Neuroscience
Our taste in music may age out of harmony
Age-related hearing loss may be more than just the highest notes. The brain may also lose the ability to tell consonance from dissonance, a new study shows.
- Neuroscience
Sniffing out human pheromones
A new review argues that most of the chemicals labeled human pheromones, and the experiments behind them, don’t pass the smell test.
- Health & Medicine
Report offers stimulating recommendation on coffee
Results from a committee of experts give the blessing to moderate coffee intake. But as we all raise our mugs, the science behind the report is worth a closer look.
- Health & Medicine
There’s more than one way to persuade people to vaccinate
Fear, facts and attitude are all strategies for promoting immunization
- Psychology
Scientists of a feather flock together
When it comes to major scientific issues such as global warming and GMOs, scientists and the public don’t see eye to eye. It might be because socially, they don’t see each other at all.
- Neuroscience
How the brain sees follow-through
The follow-through on your golf swing is more than just a way to use up extra energy. It’s part of how your brain “sees” a movement.
- Science & Society
Attitude, not aptitude, may contribute to the gender gap
Does talent or hard work matter most? A new survey suggests an emphasis on genius predicts how many women end up in a field of study.
