The third episode of The Deep End finds Jon in the operating room as he gets electrodes implanted in his brain. You’ll hear how Jon and other volunteers feel in the hours, days and weeks after their surgery, including an itch to go to the library, an urge to walk around the block and a…
Since President Donald Trump took office a few weeks ago, the administration’s frenetic activity, which has included withdrawing from global agreements and slashing slashing federal jobs and funding, has left many people reeling. Others, though, seem to be reveling in the chaos. According to political scientists, at least some of this chaos-seeking behavior may be intricately…
In the insect world, impostors could be hiding anywhere. When lifting a stone during an expedition in the Anti-Atlas Mountains in Morocco, researchers came across an unusual sight: three blowfly larvae living inside a termite nest. “I immediately thought ‘Wow, this is something cool,’ because I’ve never seen anything like that,” says entomologist Roger Vila…
Sex is messy. It’s not just about chromosomes. Or reproductive cells. Or any other binary metric. Many genetic, environmental and developmental variations can produce what are thought of as masculine and feminine traits in the same person. And so sex, scientists say, should be viewed in all its complex glory. “Sex is a multifaceted trait…
Rural communities in arid regions have harvested tiny droplets of fog for years as a source of fresh drinking water. Now, researchers say that fog water can be a practical supplement to stave off water stress for larger desert cities. A yearlong assessment of the potential volume of harvested fog water near a city in…
Rub a balloon on your hair and the balloon typically picks up a negative electric charge, while your hair goes positive. But a new study shows that the charge an object picks up can depend on its history. The number of times an object had previously touched another determined whether the object became negatively or…