Our brains might help explain why people disagree on politics

Elections tend to bring out strong emotions in people. As voters evaluate the candidates, emotions can rise. Political disagreements may emerge. Even between loved ones, friends or neighbors, discussions can turn bitter. And this discord can affect everyone, even those…

Scientists Say: Theia

Theia (noun, “THAY-ah”) Theia is a planet-sized object that scientists think collided with Earth about 4.5 billion years ago. When Theia smashed into a young Earth, it would have blasted fragments into orbit. And those fragments could have clumped together,…

New machine learning model could revolutionize early autism detection

A recent study published in JAMA Network Open introduces an advanced machine-learning model that predicts autism spectrum disorder in young children using limited information, with nearly 80% accuracy for children under two years old. The model, called AutMedAI, was designed…

Habit of suppressing positive emotions might lead to lower well-being

A series of studies in the United States and on the island of Taiwan found that people suppress their positive emotions less often than they suppress their negative emotions. However, suppression of positive—but not negative—emotions was consistently associated with lower…

New study explores testosterone’s role in men’s romantic misjudgments

A recent study published in Frontiers in Psychology offers new insights into how testosterone might affect men’s interpretations of women’s social signals. Researchers found that testosterone heightened men’s sensitivity to specific friendly cues, particularly among men who viewed themselves as…

Fungi may not think, but they can communicate

Fungi can be enigmatic organisms. Mushrooms or other structures may be visible above the soil, but beneath lurks a complex network of filaments, or hyphae, known as the mycelium. It is even possible for fungi to communicate through the mycelium—despite…

iPod fans evade Apple’s DRM to preserve 54 lost clickwheel-era games

Old-school Apple fans probably remember a time, just before the iPhone became a massive gaming platform in its own right, when Apple released a wide range of games designed for late-model clickwheel iPods. While those clickwheel-controlled titles didn’t exactly set the gaming…