A woman looking out of a window

Why Does Menopause Exist?

What is the point of menopause? Evolutionarily speaking, why do female humans go through menopause and then live for many more decades?
Marshmallows

What’s So Bad About Instant Gratification?

The internet is making us impatient. But is that actually such a bad thing? Our tech columnist takes a look.
Ocean currents map

Could Climate Change Alter the Ocean’s Currents?

What do currents do anyway? What would happen if they stopped?
JSTOR Daily Mixtape

A Very JSTOR Daily Mixtape

Academics and musicians have a lot in common. The JSTOR Daily playlist combines songs and scholarship.
A panda chewing on a stalk of bamboo

Why Do Pandas Have Thumbs?

Some panda species have strange thumb-like appendages, but their thumbs evolved for strikingly different reasons.
Bioluminescent ocean

The Glowing Mystery of Bioluminescence

Bioluminescence, an animal's ability to create and use light, exists exclusively in the lower branches of the tree of life.
red knee tarantula

Fear and Your Brain

Researchers at Cambridge studied how peoples' brains respond to fear.
Serengeti

Plants Know When They Are Being Eaten. (And They Fight Back.)

Plants have long employed a variety of defensive strategies against herbivores, but the scope and sophistication of these defenses is still being understood.
Moving Forest

The Incredible Moving Forest

For as long as plants have existed, there have been moving forests, migrating across the earth’s surface in response to changes in the climate.
A well-groomed thoughtful cat

The Curious Science of Animal Personalities

Any pet owner can tell you that different pets have different personalities, but actually measuring personality in non-human animals is a challenge.