科学美国人60秒 SSS Commuting Patterns Help Forecast Flu Outbreaks

Every flu seasonthats now through the springepidemiologists track flu infections as they break out across the country. And they forecast how bad it's going to get: at the national level, regionally, state by state. They even forecast for metro areas,

科学美国人60秒 SSS Breast-Feeding Benefits Babies with Genetic Asthma Risk

Babies benefit from breast-feedingthey have a lower risk of infections, vomiting and diarrhea and less of a chance of later developing adult onset diabetes. And now a study finds that being breast-fed helps protect infants who are genetically predisp

科学美国人60秒 SSS Self-Driving Cars Probably Won't Boost Commuter Productivity

Advocates for self-driving cars love to tout the benefits the cars would bring, such as fewer accidents and less congestion. Another alleged value of being a passenger rather than a driver is more productivityyou could work rather than concentrate on

科学美国人60秒 SSS New Insecticide Makes Mosquitoes Pop

It's bad enough that mosquitoes suck our blood, and sometimes pass on disease. But there's more. They can actually give you a disease and pee on you at the same time. Adding insult to injury if you will. Jerod Denton, a pharmacologist at Vanderbilt U

科学美国人60秒 SSS Stopping Splashes with Smarter Surfaces

When you spill a liquid on the ground, it splashes. But if youre a guy using a urinal, or, more important, if the liquid is dangerous, say, an infected blood sample, you want to limit splashing. In other words: If an accident happens, you want the dr

科学美国人60秒 SSS Dogs Teach Bomb-Sniffing Machines New Tricks

Old Yeller was a great smeller. Dogs in general have superior smelling abilities. They detect dead bodies, illegal drugs and explosiveseven cancer. But dogs don't just have great olfactory gear. Another reason they're amazing chemical detectors? [sni

科学美国人60秒 SSS ＂Power Poses＂ Don't Stand Up

Perhaps youve seen the famous TED talk about so-called power poses. It encouraged viewers to change the course of their lives by assuming what are thought of as dominant postures. So you make yourself big, you stretch out, you take up space. You're b

科学美国人60秒 SSS Small Fraction of Pilots Suffer Suicidal Thoughts

In March 2015, the co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 crashed the jet into the French Alps, killing himself and 149 others. Later on, investigators found out he'd googled poisons, and living wills. And he'd previously been treated for severe depress

科学美国人60秒 SSS Bats Learn To Take White-Nose Punch

The little brown bat was once abundant in the eastern U.S. But within the last 15 years, a fungus called Pseudogynmoascus destructans infiltrated a cave in upstate New York. This fungus causes whats called white-nose syndrome in bats. The illness has

科学美国人60秒 SSS Pregnancy Primes the Brain for Motherhood

Pregnancy brings big physical changes to a woman's body. But what three neuroscientists were more interested in was, what does it do to the womans brain? We were in our 30s, and we were thinking I'd like to have a baby, but look at this, look at this

科学美国人60秒 SSS Migrating Birds Prefer Lakefront Property

You may have spotted V-shaped squadrons of geese heading south this fall. But for many migrantslike smaller songbirdsnighttime is the right time, when it comes to migration. Winds are gentler. And darkness helps them avoid airborne attacks. Of course

科学美国人60秒 SSS 'Necrobiome' Reveals a Corpse's Time of Death

Tens of trillions of microbes call our living bodies home. But when we die? The first thing that happens is basically ecosystem collapsewhere you have a tremendous loss of diversity. Nathan Lents, a molecular biologist at John Jay College in New York

科学美国人60秒 SSS Isolated Low Temps May Reassure Climate Skeptics

Global warming deniers love to point to cold or snow as evidence against climate change. Like Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe. Remember last year, when he tossed a snowball in Congress? You know what this is? It's a snowball. It's very, very cold out.

科学美国人60秒 SSS Weakest Piglets May Sneak Help from Strongest Siblings

Human parents usually have one or sometimes two offspring at a time, and when babies get delivered we pour all our energy into child rearing. But other animals raise lots of babies at once. And the weaker individuals can be at a big disadvantage. If

科学美国人60秒 SSS When Dining for Trillions, Eat Wisely

You are what you eat, the old expression goes. But it leaves out one crucial detail. We don't dine alone. We dine with trillions of friends. Jeff Gordon, a microbiologist at Washington University in Saint Louis. And they are partners in consuming the