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We are Electric book cover
The Skin Battery
The “wound current” has intrigued scientists for more than a century. It could turn out to be the key to healing catastrophic injuries.
The Skin Battery
The Skin Battery

The “wound current” has intrigued scientists for more than a century. It could turn out to be the key to healing catastrophic injuries.

The “wound current” has intrigued scientists for more than a century. It could turn out to be the key to healing catastrophic injuries.

Reading Frames

silhouette of woman's head with lights inside it
Book Excerpt from The Phantom God
John C. Wathey | Jan 2, 2023 | 4 min read
In Chapter 1, “Why Is God Two-Faced?,” author John Wathey argues that the answer to this question is the key to an ethological understanding of religion.
Book cover of The Phantom God by John C. Wathey
Opinion: Neuroscience Could Help Demystify Religious Experience
John C. Wathey | Jan 2, 2023 | 4 min read
If we ask the right questions, modern tools could help researchers solve mysteries such as why many people believe in a God that both provides unconditional love and levies eternal damnation.
Modified from the cover of <em >The Sounds of Life</em>
Opinion: Listening to the Biosphere Is Key Step in Saving It
Karen Bakker | Dec 12, 2022 | 4 min read
New insights into the functionality of nonhuman sound may help us conserve nature and protect ourselves from excessive noise.
Cover of <em>Pests.</em>
Opinion: Are Cats Friends or Fiends?
Bethany Brookshire | Nov 14, 2022 | 4 min read
In Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains, I explore what it is that makes an animal a pest—and it has nothing to do with their behavior, but rather our own desires and beliefs about the natural world.
Cover of <em>Pests.</em>
Book Excerpt from Pests
Bethany Brookshire | Nov 14, 2022 | 5 min read
In a chapter on cats, author Bethany Brookshire explores the thorny issue of felines that live freely.
Brightly colored birds resting on a tree
Book Excerpt from The Creative Lives of Animals
Carol Gigliotti | Oct 17, 2022 | 3 min read
In the book's introduction, author Carol Gigliotti makes the case that intricate behavioral patterns can be just as important to conserve as species’ genomes.
Brightly colored birds resting on a tree
Opinion: Biodiversity Loss Worsened by Extinguishing Animal Innovators
Carol Gigliotti | Oct 17, 2022 | 4 min read
When species disappear, more than their genomes are lost. The potential for their creative innovation to benefit ecosystems vanishes as well.
3d render Blood cells (depth of field)
William Harvey Revolutionized Our Understanding of Circulation
Dhun Sethna | Sep 12, 2022 | 4 min read
A puzzle for millennia, the movement of blood through the body was solved by an English physician in the 17th century, paving the way for modern medical technologies.
Cover of When Animals Dream: A colourful illustration of an octopus.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;
Book Excerpt from When Animals Dream
David M. Peña-Guzmán | Aug 25, 2022 | 3 min read
In Chapter 1, “The Science of Animal Dreams,” author David M. Peña-Guzmán relays the history of researchers digging into the mental realities of nonhuman brains.
Cover of When Animals Dream: A colourful illustration of an octopus.<br><br>
Opinion: Animal Dreaming Should Give Us Ethical Pause
David M. Peña-Guzmán | Aug 15, 2022 | 4 min read
Research shows that humans aren’t the only animals whose imaginations run wild while they sleep.
Photo of several diet foods
Book Excerpt from Anxious Eaters: Why We Fall for Fad Diets
Janet Chrzan and Kima Cargill | Jul 25, 2022 | 5 min read
In Chapter 1, “Why We Love Fad Diets,” authors Janet Chrzan and Kima Cargill explain the American propensity to take shortcuts to weight loss.
Photo of several diet foods
Opinion: Why We Fall for Fad Diets
Janet Chrzan | Jul 18, 2022 | 5 min read
Human beings are susceptible to the latest nutritional trends, regardless of their actual biological value.
Surgery tools from World War 1
An excerpt from The Facemaker
Lindsey Fitzharris | Jun 13, 2022 | 5 min read
This new book tells the fascinating story of plastic surgery’s unlikely origin on WWI battlefields.
A fossil imprint of the stridulatory apparatus from an extinct cricket species
Listen to Extinct Crickets Chirp
David George Haskell | May 16, 2022 | 4 min read
The land’s first known singer may have sounded like a raspier version of today’s familiar insect fiddlers.
A fossil imprint of the stridulatory apparatus from an extinct cricket species
Book Excerpt from Sounds Wild and Broken
David George Haskell | May 16, 2022 | 5 min read
In a chapter entitled “Predators, Silence, Wings,” author David George Haskell explores the soundscapes of bygone eras of animal communication.
Between Ape and Human book cover
Book Excerpt from Between Ape and Human
Gregory Forth | Apr 18, 2022 | 8 min read
In Chapter 7, “More Remarkable Encounters,” author Gregory Forth relays a story told to him by Tegu, a Lio man who says he found and disposed of a dead organism that might fit the description of an "ape-man."
Between Ape and Human book cover
Opinion: Another Species of Hominin May Still Be Alive
Gregory Forth | Apr 18, 2022 | 4 min read
Do members of Homo floresiensis still inhabit the Indonesian island where their fossils helped identify a new human species fewer than 20 years ago?
Book cover of Why We Love: The New Science Behind Our Closest Relationships
Opinion: Can Science Capture Love?
Anna Machin | Mar 14, 2022 | 4 min read
Researchers who study the phenomenon in humans should incorporate subjective experiences into data on love.
Book cover of Why We Love: The New Science Behind Our Closest Relationships
Book Excerpt from Why We Love
Anna Machin | Mar 14, 2022 | 5 min read
In Chapter 1, “Survival,” author Anna Machin describes the health benefits of strong human bonds.
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