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The Science of Nerdiness – Scientific American

Do you get excited and energized by the possibility of learning something new and complex? Do you get turned on by nuance? Do you get really stimulated by new ideas and imaginative scenarios? If so, you may have an influx of dopamine in your synapses, but not where we traditionally think of this neurotransmitter flowing. […]

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The Psychology of Fact Checking

Distortions and outright lies by politicians and pundits have become so common that major news outlets like the Associated Press, CNN, BBC, Fox News, and Washington Post routinely assign journalists and fact-checkers to verify claims made during stump speeches and press briefings. The motivation to uncover falsehoods and misleading statements taken out of context is […]

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Billions of Dollars for Stem Cell Research Institute On California’s November Ballot

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—In an election year dominated by a chaotic presidential race and splashy statewide ballot initiative campaigns, Californians are being asked to weigh in on the value of stem cell research—again. Proposition 14 would authorize the state to borrow $5.5 billion to keep financing the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), currently the second-largest funder […]

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Why COVID Outbreaks Could Worsen This Winter

Winter is fast approaching in the Northern Hemisphere, and researchers warn that COVID-19 outbreaks are likely to get worse, especially in regions that don’t have the virus’s spread under control. “This virus is going to have a heyday,” says David Relman, a microbiologist at Stanford University in California. “We are looking at some pretty sobering […]

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COVID’s Other Toll: Unnecessary Tests and Huge Hospital Bills

In a physician chat group recently, a doctor who treats hospitalized patients made a recommendation to our group of 38,000 members that left me startled and alarmed. She shared her protocol for all COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital: every one of them gets not only a chest x-ray but an entire battery of special […]

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COVID-19 Herd Immunity Strategies Could Bring ‘Untold Death and Suffering’

In May, the Brazilian city of Manaus was devastated by a large outbreak of COVID-19. Hospitals were overwhelmed and the city was digging new grave sites in the surrounding forest. But by August, something had shifted. Despite relaxing social-distancing requirements in early June, the city of 2 million people had reduced its number of excess […]

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Acorn Woodpeckers Fight Long Bloody Territorial Wars

[Acorn woodpeckers fight sounds] What you’re hearing is war—among woodpeckers.  A species called acorn woodpeckers. The birds fight long, bloody battles over access to trees, where these woodpeckers nest and store their food—you guessed it, acorns. “They build these giant acorn granaries, and these are basically acorn storage structures, where they store thousands of acorns […]

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Quantum Time Twist Offers a Way to Create Schrödinger’s Clock

Albert Einstein’s twin paradox is one of the most famous thought experiments in physics. It postulates that if you send one of two twins on a return trip to a star at near light speed, they will be younger than their identical sibling when they return home. The age difference is a consequence of something […]

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A Medical Student Contemplates Pandemic-Era Isolation–and Connection

People told me medical school would be a flood of information, a prolonged inundation, but in the beginning, it felt dry and incomplete. After moving from New York City to North Carolina to begin medical school, I decorated a new apartment with photographs of places I wish I were, leased a car for the first […]

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Coronavirus News Roundup, October 17-October 23

The items below are highlights from the free newsletter, “Smart, useful, science stuff about COVID-19.” To receive newsletter issues daily in your inbox, sign up here. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) this week broadened its definition of a “close contact” with an infected person, thereby expanding “the pool of people considered at risk […]