Kids have to learn reciprocity—the “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” response—but not revenge, research finds. “In our series of experiments, we thought we’d see that children would display positive direct reciprocity—the tendency to pay back

Twice as many people as previously believed are dying of sepsis worldwide, according to a new study. A disproportionately high number of the deaths are children in poor areas. The study reveals 48.9 million global cases of sepsis in 2017 and 11 milli

Researchers are using nature-inspired design and new materials to create smart building skins to make the structures more energy efficient. A smart skin enables a building to function like elements of some living systems. It allows a building to “bre

New research identifies common attributes of cybercrime networks, revealing how these groups function and work together to cause an estimated $445-600 billion of harm globally per year. “It’s not the ‘Tony Soprano mob boss type’ who’s ordering cyberc

Less active babies may accumulate more fat, which in turn may put them at risk for obesity later in life, a new study shows. Researchers tracked the physical activity levels of 506 infants using small ankle-worn accelerometers for four days per track

Approximately 7% of patients seeking abortion at Texas clinics had tried to end their current pregnancy on their own before coming to the clinic, research finds. This is higher than the national rate of 2.2%. Patients in the study mentioned four prim

Physicists are taking the temperature of dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up about a quarter of our universe. We have very little idea of what dark matter is, and physicists have yet to detect a dark matter particle. But we do know th

For the first time, scientists have sequenced and annotated the genome of a giant squid, which shed light on its life in the depths of the sea. Sailors’ yarns about the Kraken, a giant sea-monster lurking in the abyss, may have an element of truth. I

Deaths classified as drug-related for 15- to 64-year-olds hit 9% in 2016, up from about 4% about two decades prior, but new research suggests the true number is actually more than double that. “It’s obvious that the drug epidemic is a major American

Early morning blue light exposure therapy can aid the healing process of people with mild traumatic brain injury, according to new research. “Daily exposure to blue wavelength light each morning helps to re-entrain the circadian rhythm so that people

How teens’ brains respond to TV advertisements for fast food can predict what they are going to eat for dinner, according to new research. Teens who had greater responses in reward centers of the brain when viewing commercials for unhealthy foods—lik

A 1966 speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr in North Carolina—and the KKK’s response—have largely faded from record. Jason Miller, an English professor at North Carolina State University, is the curator of an on-campus photography exhibit about the h

Why did nearly one million common murres wash ashore dead from California to Alaska in 2015 and 2016? “The blob,” caused this seabird die-off, say researchers. Although the common murre must eat about half of its body weight in prey each day, common

Even if they have no way of identifying them, male chimpanzees form intimate bonds with their fathers, according to a new study of wild chimpanzees in Uganda. In adulthood, male chimpanzees form strong relationships with one another. These bonds can

Having a larger hippocampus doesn’t always reliably predict learning and memory abilities in older adults, research finds. It’s normal for the hippocampus—a curved, seahorse-shaped structure embedded deep in the brain—to shrink as we age, but it’s mu

Researchers may have found a way to prevent Duchenne muscular dystrophy-related heart disease, the leading cause of death in patients living with the disease. The study examines the role of Connexin-43 (Cx43), a protein that regulates heart function.

Stardust from a meteorite is five to seven billion years old—the oldest solid material ever found on Earth—report researchers who determined its age. Stars are born when bits of dust and gas floating through space find each other and collapse in on e

Expanding irrigation has dampened anthropogenic warming during hot days, with particularly strong effects over South Asia, researchers report. Large-scale irrigation is one of the land management practices with the largest effect on climate condition

A new system leverages artificial intelligence to rapidly analyze hundreds of thousands of comments on social media and identify the fraction that defend or sympathize with disenfranchised minorities such as the Rohingya community. The Rohingyas bega

The overabundance of intentional defects can cause battery cathodes to fail, engineers report. New simulations by Rice University materials scientist Ming Tang and graduate student Kaiqi show that too much stress in widely used lithium iron phosphate

The vast majority of low back pain in people may have roots in an overgrowth of pain-sensing nerves into spinal cartilaginous tissue, a new study with genetically engineered and old mice shows. An estimated 80% of people worldwide will experience low

American capitalism is once again under threat from monopolies, according to one economist. Luigi Zingales of the University of Chicago often says that only an immigrant like himself can really appreciate American capitalism. In his native Italy, Zin

A new machine can repair injured human livers and keep them alive outside the body for one week, researchers report. The machine may increase the number of available organs for transplantation, saving many lives of patients with severe liver diseases

When a key protein needed to generate new brain cells during prenatal and early childhood development is missing, part of the brain goes haywire,  researchers say. That can cause an imbalance in the brain’s circuitry leading to long-term cognitive an

Using the equivalent of facial recognition technology, researchers have analyzed the skulls of early Caribbean inhabitants and uncovered some unexpected findings. One surprising finding was that the Caribs invaded Jamaica, Hispaniola, and the Bahamas

New research suggests setting personalized goals early in adolescence and providing opportunities to achieve those goals can improve independence for young people with autism. The independence that comes with growing up can be scary for any teenager,

Exposure to lead, mercury, and other toxic chemicals, especially flame retardants and pesticides, resulted in more than a million cases of intellectual disability in the United States between 2001 and 2016, research finds. Furthermore, as the target

Researchers have pinpointed an early galactic merger that helped shape the Milky Way. The merger—a collision, actually—happened 11.5 billion years ago. That’s when a small galaxy called Gaia-Enceladus slammed into what then existed of the Milky Way,

Treatment for opioid problems is especially scarce in US states with Medicaid work requirements, a new study suggests. Medicaid work requirements allow states to drop people from their Medicaid health insurance rolls unless they can show that they’re

For hostilities between the United States and Iran to de-escalate, both sides must move away from the rhetoric that binds them to escalatory action, two experts at Stanford University say. Here, Abbas Milani, director of Iranian studies, and Lisa Bla