Science has shown us that people who are generous and altruistic are happier and healthier than people who aren’t, no matter what economic class they belong to. But it’s not as easy to be kind to strangers as you’d think. Every people are often suspicious of acts of kindness, especially from someone they don’t know. Psychologist Sandi Mann, who is studying the “pay it forward” phenomenon, found this out firsthand … Read More → "Does it pay to be kind to strangers?"

The discovery of fresh fingerprints at a crime scene is a promising step towards determining the culprit, though huge databases still need to be sifted through in order to find potential matches and the culprit’s prints need to be included in said databases. So what if many of the suspects could be ruled out before this rigorous search even begins? A new fingerprint identification technology is promising to lighten the load for investigators, by revealing whether prints belong to a male … Read More → "Chemistry reveals whether fingerprints came from a male or a female"

The notorious number Pi has succeeded in becoming even more prevalent in science. Researchers from the University of Rochester discovered that a formula which approximates the energy levels of a hydrogen atom is the same as the one developed 360 years ago by English mathematician John Wallis to find the value of Pi.

The pair of physicists realized that when the variational method was employed to calculate … Read More → "Formula for Pi found hidden in hydrogen atoms"

Forget everything you thought you knew about myxozoans. (We know it’s hard, but you can do it.) Scientists sequenced the microscopic organisms’ genome and discovered that they’re actually a type of teeny tiny jellyfish. The researchers published their results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

Compared to other animals, the body of the jellyfish is as simple as … Read More → "Microscopic parasite revealed to be teeny, tiny jellyfish"

Australian researchers have discovered that diamond nanothreads (one-dimensional diamond crystals capped with hydrogen) could be extremely strong. While scientists thought they were brittle when announced just a month ago, it turns out that they become supremely flexible (and thus durable) when you introduce the right kinds of defects. You could create nanoscopic structures that are just as strong as you need them to be, with a ‘perfect’ mix of bendy and rigid shapes.

The nanothreads have only … Read More → "Nano-sized diamond thread may be a super-strong wonder material"

Jeff Bezos finally one-upped Elon Musk in space. On Tuesday Bezos’ company, Blue Origin, announced its New Shepard space vehicle had ascended to 100.5km and returned successfully to the ground near its West Texas launch site.

“Now safely tucked away at our launch site in West Texas is the rarest of beasts—a used rocket,” said Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin, in a statement. “ … Read More → "Blue Origin sticks rocket landing, a major step toward reusable spaceflight"

People actually need vastly different amounts of water to stay healthy and hydrated. Pryme is a new intelligent cup that’s designed to track your personal water needs. “If you’re Shaquille O’Neal or Taylor Swift…or a lactating mom or a triathlete, you should be drinking different amounts of water,” says Nic Barnes, head of branding at Mark … Read More → "The Pryme Smart Cup tells you how much water to drink. Seriously"

Sometimes a certain color comes along that is just so appealing you want to lick it right off the paint chip. That might get you kicked out of Home Depot, so try one of these special Pantone-branded tea cocktails instead. 

Pantone Color Institute and the Canadian tea blender Tealeaves worked together to create a series of tea mixtures that match specific Pantone colors. … Read More → "Drink vibrant colors with pantone tea cocktails"

A bizarre research study has revealed that neuroscientists are more excited at the prospect of seeing their names in prominent research journals than they are by piles of money.

Given the not-so-glamorous salaries of academic researchers, this probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise. But the clever part of the study is really in exploring how people’s experiences as adults can alter the way our brains function.
… Read More → "Scientists are more excited by seeing their names in prominent research journals than they are by money"

What does it mean to be stupid? That’s not a dumb question. In fact, it’s important to know what, precisely, is stupidity. Psychologists Balazs Aczel and Bence Palfi of Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary and Zoltan Kekecs of Baylor University in Waco, Texas decided to find out.

They compiled a list of 180 stories of people acting stupidly, then asked 154 undergraduate students to read 15 of these stories. The participants then rated the stupidity of the … Read More → "Psychologists develop a formal definition of stupidity"