News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
Back in 2018, researchers were able to study the moment brain death becomes irreversible in the human body for the first time, observing the phenomenon in several Do Not Resuscitate patients as they died in hospital. For years, scientists have researched what happens to your brain when you die, but despite everything we’ve found … Read more
Editor’s Note (12/21/21): This article is being showcased in a special collection about equity in health care that was made possible by the support of Takeda. The article was published independently and without sponsorship. COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc across the world, accounting for more than 2.7 million deaths so far; prolonged economic shutdowns; and … Read more
In the before times, clinical psychologist Leslie Becker-Phelps met with patients in a tidy private office in Basking Ridge, N.J., carefully observing their demeanor, body language and, with couples, interpersonal vibe. That changed with COVID’s social-distancing exigencies. “My office is a 14-foot by 14-foot room,” she explains, “and I am not going to do therapy … Read more
This year saw more space tourists fly to space on a bunch of different systems, and the story has only just begun. Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and SpaceX each flew their first tourist-focused missions this year, sending aloft several people each with minimal training in professional spaceflight. Meanwhile, Roscosmos (the Russian federal space agency) brought … Read more
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. Imagine you’re strolling through a park and you overhear a middle-aged couple cooing over each other, doting over their “wittle sugar pwum” and “baby doll.” “Ewwww,” you might reflexively think. Baby talk is cute when grown-ups dote on … Read more
It’s the holiday season and while that means festivities and celebrations for many, it also means “The Book of Boba Fett” is about to hit our screens on Disney Plus. Available to stream on December 29, “The Book of Boba Fett” is a spin off series about the infamous bounty hunter and a highly anticipated … Read more
Every commercial flight you have ever taken has been recorded. Every tug on the yoke and every adjustment of the throttle has been dutifully logged by a little recording device tucked away in the tail of the aircraft. It’s the infamous “black box” that search and rescue crews scan the crash site for any time … Read more
The internet is full of quick-fix weight-loss hacks. One popular suggestion is to eat ‘negative-calorie’ foods such as celery, because you burn more energy eating and digesting the celery than you absorb. Is it true that eating some foods makes us lose calories rather than gain them? And does eating these foods help weight loss? We … Read more
Science is often thought of as a serious subject. But even though it tackles hugely important issues—many with life-or-death consequences—it also has a fun side. This year Scientific American has covered some stories that ranged from “Huh, that’s weird” to “Ew, gross” to “So. Cool.” Below, we’ve rounded up a few of our favorites (seriously, … Read more
On the grand cosmic scale, our little corner of the Universe isn’t all that special – this idea lies at the heart of the Copernican principle. Yet there’s one major aspect about our planet that’s peculiar indeed: Our Sun is a yellow dwarf. Because our home star is what we know most intimately, it … Read more