Joshua Learn

2 weeks ago | discovermagazine.com | Joshua Learn

If an expansive Mesozoic menu was laid out in front of you, what would you order? Tyranno tenders or triceratops-burgers with triple cheese? Would you go for a slow-cooked stegosaurus steak or the velociraptor ribs - the Cretaceous fast-food option? Determining what dinosaurs tasted like is not an easy question to answer. "I don't know if you can really say too much definitively about it," says David Varricchio , a paleontologist at Montana State University.

3 weeks ago | discovermagazine.com | Joshua Learn

Sweetened vanilla, calming lavender, or fragrant jasmine and lotus may fill your home with enticing aromas. But new research shows that the supposed stress-reducing and mood-enhancing effects of scented products may come with unwanted indoor pollution. "While these products are widely used to create a cozy atmosphere, their emissions can impact indoor air quality, especially in spaces with limited ventilation," says Nusrat Jung, a civil engineer at Purdue University.

4 weeks ago | discovermagazine.com | Joshua Learn

For humans, the gestation period can last forty weeks. There are cramps, morning sickness, strange food cravings, increasing discomfort, and a multitude of other effects. And the nine months of pregnancy is often just a prelude to the real drama. All this pain and suffering is for a good reason though. Scientists are still learning more about when live birth evolved, but one fossil discovery in the South China Sea revealed a 250 million-year-old creature with an embryo in its ribcage.

1 month ago | discovermagazine.com | Joshua Learn

Your body may move to the music on the dance floor, but how does your brain function when listening to tunes while you work? A lot of people swear one way or another - electronic music may speed up the pace of typing for some, while others just find it distracting. In fact, the question of whether music helps you get your work done or hinders you may be highly individualistic.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Joshua Learn

There's nothing worse than a noisy neighbor when you are trying to have a nice meal - even if that meal consists of liquefying the insides of your prey before sucking them back up. New research shows that some spiders living in cities somehow weave soundproofing designs into the fabric of their webs to manage unwanted noise, which can make it difficult for them to find prey and detect mates.