A thought-provoking paper proposes a way to advance psychology: by encouraging researchers to ignore previous work in the field. The piece is called Unburdening the Shoulders of Giants: A Quest for Disconnected Academic Psychology and it appeared in Perspectives on Psychological Science. According to author Dario Krpan, academic psychology is failing to fully explore the […]
Children have started arriving at hospitals with a distinct set of symptoms during the pandemic. The condition is rare — about 150 kids in New York City seem to have it, for example — and strange. Few patients test positive for COVID-19, and only some of them have trouble breathing, which has been a hallmark […]
This story appears in the June 2020 issue as “More Than Child’s Play.” Subscribe to Discover magazine for more stories like this. The tattered leather slipper would have fit a child under the age of 10. Well preserved for footwear nearly 3,000 years old, it was discovered decades ago in the Hallstatt salt mine. Together with other […]
Physician Michael Saag has already had COVID-19, and a recent blood test confirmed his antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus are through the roof. But the infectious disease specialist isn’t taking any chances, and still wears full personal protective gear when seeing COVID-19 patients. “I don’t want to be cavalier and expose myself to people with […]
Every 50,000 years or so, a nomadic star passes near our solar system. Most brush by without incident. But, every once in a while, one comes so close that it gains a prominent place in Earth’s night sky, as well as knocks distant comets loose from their orbits. The most famous of these stellar interlopers […]
For behavioral psychologist Ellen Peters, the COVID-19 outbreak presents a rich opportunity. Back in early February, with the potential extent of the novel coronavirus unclear, the author and researcher sprang into action. Before the virus had even arrived (officially) in the U.S., she had secured funding for a new project to study the public’s response […]
This story appears in the June 2020 issue as “Awe-Struck.” Subscribe to Discover magazine for more stories like this. The first time I ventured to Western Canada’s Selkirk Mountains, I was a tourist. My family and I arrived in a small mountain town via ferry, snapping photos as we passed by stunning vistas of lake, mountain and sky. […]
What is the most common birth date in the U.S.? According to data from the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, it’s Sept. 9. In fact, September as a whole is a very busy month in U.S. delivery rooms. And, for those of you doing the math, that makes December a very busy month for, […]
As government officials begin easing restrictions implemented during the early months of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, they are looking for new ways to track and slow the spread of the virus. Contact tracing — the practice of identifying those exposed to infected individuals — is part of this effort. For COVID-19, however, public health officials have […]
Plastic pollution in our oceans is a major, on-going global crisis. Researchers estimate that 8 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year. Much of the plastic is dumped carelessly, on land or in rivers, and then carried or blown into the sea. Nearly 700 species, including endangered ones, are already known […]
Pluto’s atmosphere is hard to observe from Earth. It can only be studied when Pluto passes in front of a distant star, allowing astronomers to see the effect the atmosphere has on starlight. When this happened in 2016, it confirmed that Pluto’s atmosphere was growing, a trend that astronomers had observed since 1988, when they noticed […]
A lot happens during pregnancy. In the months before birth, a baby’s brain forms, their heart thumps for the first time and their fingernails sprout. At some point, a baby’s gut, skin and other organs will be populated with trillions of beneficial bacteria — the microbiome. But does that happen before birth, or after? For […]
The emotional attachment to the feral horses, says Gornish, is disastrous for both the horses and the environment. These horses are destroying vulnerable habitat very quickly, especially native plant communities. “However, people really dislike the ideas of killing horses, so they push back against control measures,” she says. The result is too many horses in […]
Even as they struggle to cope with the coronavirus pandemic, millions of people in India and Bangladesh are bracing for Amphan. The dangerous tropical cyclone is bearing down on the border between the two countries and is expected to come ashore on Wednesday evening, not far from Kolkata. The Indian city of 14 million people […]
This story appeared in the June 2020 issue as “A Universe of Galaxies.” Subscribe to Discover magazine for more stories like this. On the evening of Oct. 4, 1923, near Los Angeles, a young astronomer got into his car and began a motorized trek up to Mount Wilson. There, he arrived at the observatory that housed the […]