Some Americans choose to nurture trees as soil, some want to be fireworks, and others want to be turned into sex toys. People are choosing new, imaginative and individualized uses for their remains, and entrepreneurs are making more and more products available:
The Conversation
American individualism lives on after death, as consumers choose new ways to put their remains to rest
For some people, the decision over how to dispose of their body represents one last adventure – and one last consumer choice, a scholar explains.
Approximately 16 million U.S. adults have chronic back pain. And for many of them, the solution can be psychological. Pain can originate with an injury, but then the brain signals get “stuck” and keep firing long after injuries have healed.
The Conversation
Understanding that chronic back pain originates from within the brain could lead to quicker recovery, a new study finds
An intriguing therapy that shifts what people perceive as the source of their pain could aid in pain management.
We don’t all function on a 9 to 5. For early risers and late-nighters alike, listening to your internal clock may be the key to success. Discover your chronotype (whether you’re an early riser or a night owl kind of person) with a few simple questions:
The Conversation
What’s your chronotype? Knowing whether you’re a night owl or an early bird could help you do better on tests and avoid scams
Synchronizing your daily activities to your circadian rhythm could help you improve your performance on a variety of cognitive tasks − and even i...
Know somebody who insists women’s soccer is boring? When researchers disguised the gender of players in game highlight reels, viewers judged female players to be just as entertaining and skilled as male players.
The Conversation
We blurred the gender of soccer players and had people rate their performances − with surprising results
A common criticism of women’s sports is that female players aren’t as entertaining or skilled as their male counterparts. Two researchers decid...
No, you can’t.
The Conversation
Almost half the men surveyed think they could land a passenger plane. Experts disagree
Takeoff and landing are among the most difficult tasks commercial pilots perform.
An almost-solved mystery: What was Louise May Alcott’s pseudonym? A researcher makes a convincing case that stories published under the name “Gould” could have been written by Alcott. By disguising her name, Alcott could publish in less prestigious venues without worrying about tarnishing her literary reputation.
The Conversation
How I identified a probable pen name of Louisa May Alcott
By disguising her name, Alcott could publish in less prestigious venues without worrying about tarnishing her literary reputation.
Virgin births aren’t just for Mary: A female Asian water dragon at the Smithsonian National Zoo produced a daughter without the assistance of a male. And scientists have learned that spontaneous “parthenogenesis,” as it’s called, may be a heritable trait, meaning females can pass the ability down to their daughters.
The Conversation
Virgin births from parthenogenesis: How females from some species can reproduce without males
Parthenogenesis, a form of reproduction in which an egg develops into an embryo without being fertilized by sperm, might be more common than you re...
Is American democracy an “experiment” (as the Founders called it) in the bubbling-beakers-in-a-laboratory sense of the word? If so, what is the experiment attempting to prove, and how will we know if and when it has succeeded?
The Conversation
Why Franklin, Washington and Lincoln considered American democracy an ‘experiment’ – and were unsure if it would survive
Is American democracy an ‘experiment’ in the bubbling-beakers-in-a-laboratory sense of the word? If so, what is the experiment attempting to pr...
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Did you watch the show “Good Times”? 50 years ago, Norman Lear brought the first nuclear Black family to prime-time television in 1974. It continues to garner appreciation for the way the show featured strong female characters, and gave Black women agency – on and off the set.
The Conversation
‘Good Times’: 50 years ago, Norman Lear changed TV with a show about a working-class Black family’s struggles and joys
Norman Lear brought the first nuclear Black family to prime-time television in 1974.
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How #technology can connect us: Maasai men in Tanzania embrace wrong numbers as ways to build new friendships and expand their networks, gain business opportunities and understand areas they haven’t been.
The Conversation
‘Wrong number? Let’s chat’ Maasai herders in East Africa use misdials to make connections
Maasai in Tanzania use their mobile phones all the time – usually to communicate with people they already know. But dialing errors can also breed...