Krystal Kasal

The La Venta fossil site in Colombia is home to a rich fossil record, yielding a particularly diverse set of vertebrate fossil assemblages. The giant terror bird (phorusrhacid) and caiman—a large crocodile-like reptile—were ...

Working long hours week after week, with no end in sight, takes a toll on employees. Long work hours have been shown to significantly decrease mental and physical health and lead to less productivity at work. This can also ...

The consensus on the likelihood of giving birth to a boy or girl has long been that the odds are roughly equal and that all mothers have the same odds of having either a boy or a girl. This is partially because sperm have ...

The human gut microbiome has been shown to impact health in a myriad of ways. The type and abundance of different bacteria can impact everything from the immune system to the nervous system. Now, researchers at Stanford University ...

Obesity rates in children have been on the rise for decades, having quadrupled from 1990 to 2022, and along with the rise in obesity, comes a rise in health risks. However, obesity can be broken down further into categories ...

In the last decade, the incidence of restrictive eating disorders in children, like anorexia-nervosa and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorders (ARFID), has doubled. These disorders have severe consequences for growing ...

It's common knowledge that obesity is a global epidemic, particularly in industrialized countries, and that it is a major cause of disease and poor overall health. However, there has been a tug-of-war in the debate of whether ...

The Mesozoic pterosaur is considered to be the first vertebrate to achieve powered flight and new evidence, also the first of its kind, helps to pin down what exactly this flying reptile ate. Previously, scientists had trouble ...

Donkeys played an important role in the lives of ancient Mediterranean people, providing both food and a means of carrying goods. New evidence from an early Bronze Age (2900–2600/2550 BCE) archaeological site in modern-day ...

The histories of sled dogs and humans in the Arctic have been intricately linked for thousands of years, so it is no surprise that the migration patterns of these dogs mirror those of humans through the Arctic. Sled dogs ...

Although the avian flu (H5N1) virus may not be making the news as frequently, it is still working hard behind the scenes, attempting to evolve into more and more effective versions. Since the highly pathogenic avian flu was ...

Animals often evolve to have certain characteristics that help them escape predators more effectively. Some of these characteristics work to deflect predators away from the animal's head. Many butterfly species have evolved ...

Forests are a crucial resource for carbon mitigation, currently offsetting around 20% of North American carbon emissions. As temperatures continue to rise, scientists are rushing to understand how climate change is affecting ...

Unlike most other bird species, the brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) lays its eggs in the nests of other bird species and leaves the host to raise its young—a behavior known as brood parasitism. To become a successful ...

X (formerly Twitter) launched its "Community Notes" program in 2021 to combat misinformation by allowing users to add contextual notes on posts that might be deceptive or lead to misinterpretation. An example would be users ...