It doesn’t look like much. An odd-shaped hunk of verdigris-covered metal. On a passing glance, you might mistake it for the handle of an old ship’s door or some other long-forgotten marine junk. But this is no sea garbage. What you see in the image above is the Antikythera mechanism. It is, to the curious …
Go on…The single most important object in all of human history
The concept of “self-care” isn’t necessarily a new one, but the field of research surrounding it is far from mature. Succinctly put: we’re just starting to understand the physiological ramifications of long-term exposure to stress, anxiety, and frustration. We’re in an era where most folks finally recognize the importance of self-care. By and large, we …
Go on…Study: Practicing self-compassion makes you a better caregiver
Think you know how babies are made? You sure? Because the San Diego Zoo just published peer-reviewed research demonstrating the existence of the first two known avian parthenotes. In layperson’s terms: two condors were hatched from eggs that weren’t fertilized. This form of asexual reproduction is uncommon, but it happens. We’ve just never observed it in …
I’m going to share an embarrassing story. Once, not long after my internship, I was approaching a deadline, and the person I was supposed to interview emailed to let me know they couldn’t make our call. They wanted to know if we could do the interview via email. I was over the moon. As someone …
A team of researchers from universities in Finland recently published a study indicating that people undergoing depressive episodes may also experience reduced visual contrast suppression. In other words: maybe the world really does look gloomier when we’re feeling down. The researchers enlisted 140 participants split between a 29 person control group and a 111 …
What’s that? There are only two genders? People are either born male or female? That doesn’t sound right to me but – oh, you say it’s science? Mmhm. Yep. I see. So you’re saying that biology and psychology clearly and empirically demonstrate the existence of a binary gender construct for homo sapiens? Facts don’t …
Go on…If you think there are only two genders you are really bad at science
Do heterosexual men feel desired in their relationships? Survey says: No. A pair of Canadian researchers recently conducted a study involving 300 men between the ages of 18 and 65. Participants were sourced from Reddit and, apparently, self-identified as heterosexual. The men were asked questions relating to how “desired” they feel in their relationships. Surprisingly, …
Go on…Study: Traditional ‘scripts’ for sexuality leave heterosexual men feeling left out
Here’s something only a non-autistic person would find surprising: autistic folks are much, much more likely to identify as queer than so-called neurotypicals. Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It’s disclaimer time: We haven’t seen any peer-reviewed research yet, but we did find this interesting article in US News (an outlet we weren’t previously familiar …
Go on…Study: Autistic individuals 3-9 times more likely to be bi, ace, or gay