Happiness over a lifetime follows different courses in various parts of the world The idea that happiness in the Western world plummets around midlife before rebounding has been around since the mid-1960s. A growing body of evidence supports the theory’s demise. Westend61/Getty Images The notion of a midlife crisis is dead. Or maybe it was

Oxybenzone, a UV-filtering compound used in sunscreens, has been found in high concentrations in the waters around popular coral reefs in Hawaii and the Caribbean. According to new research, the chemical not only kills coral, it causes DNA damage in adults and deforms the DNA in coral in the larval stage, making it unlikely they

Scientists put sticky traps on car bumpers to tally how many bees get hit on a typical trip Scientists studying bee roadkill were able to identify bees belonging to more than a dozen different genera caught in sticky paper traps put on car bumpers, as seen in this composite image. Joseph S. Wilson Tens of

Around one third of people with depression have high levels of inflammation markers in their blood. Now, new research appearing in in Molecular Psychiatry shows that persistent inflammation affects the brain in ways that are connected with stubborn symptoms of depression, such as anhedonia (the inability to experience pleasure). The findings bolster the case that

Rows of the flaps improve airfoil lift, reduce drag and mitigate stall The overlapping rows of covert feathers on this brown pelican’s wings can be distinguished by their light gray color. Imitations of these tufts could help improve aircraft flight performance. bmse/Moment/Getty Images Airplane plumage might be the next big thing in aviation. Bird wings

Using 20 years of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from tens of thousands of brain imaging experiments, neuroscientists at the University of Massachusetts have created a geometry-based method for massive data analysis to reach a new understanding of how thought arises from brain structure. The research, appearing in the current issue of Nature Scientific

Some massive stars may go out with a fizzle, not a bang. A star that winked out of view could be a “failed supernova,” a stellar explosion that petered out instead of fully detonating, a new study reports. If real, the failed supernova would mark the birth of a black hole. At the ends of

Snapping shrimp, naked mole rats, ants, honeybees, and humans – what do they all have in common? They all share a similar colony-like organizational system that biologists have termed eusociality. Eusocial species have been remarkably successful in both surviving and thriving through the use of colony-level cooperation. One cooperative behavior used by all eusocial species

Echoes coming off prey and plastic are similar, so may confuse whales using echolocation to hunt Deep in the darkness of the sea, deep-diving whales use echolocation to hunt (illustrated). But in an ocean full of plastic, such ability could backfire. Victor Habbick Visions/Science Photo Library In the ocean’s abyss, deep-diving whales use echolocation to

Life on other planets would likely be brief and become extinct very quickly, according to a new paper by astrobiologists at the Australian National University. In research aiming to understand how life might develop, the scientists realised new life would commonly die out due to runaway heating or cooling on their fledgling planets. “The universe