Nautilus

In the past few decades or so, multitasking has morphed from a novel psychological concept for workaholics into a demanding way of life for all of us. With our attention constantly divided among screens, social media platforms, and notifications, it’s even invaded our leisure time—and doubly so if you’re a parent who works from home. That may be one reason that women, who still do most of the childcare, have long been credited with superior multitasking skills.

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Last November, I broke my foot. I was at a coffee shop after a morning surf in San Diego where I live. My rubber flip flops twisted awkwardly as I stepped down some stairs, and I found myself face down on the pavement, a ribbon of pain running up my left foot. Suddenly, I was immobilized and anticipating months on the couch. I had been surfing three or four mornings a week, paddling into the waves at sunrise at my local break, and going for regular runs. Now, I couldn’t even walk.

Humans have remarkably large brains for our bodies (no offense), but why? One theory, the social brain hypothesis, says we owe our massive noggins in part to the evolutionary pressure exerted by the demands of large social groups. Because we needed to keep a running tally of friends and foes to navigate thorny hierarchies and shifting alliances, we had to have brains that were up to the task (which is why this theory is also known as the Machiavellian intelligence hypothesis).

By about 16,000 years ago, humans were living in the Americas. Whether the Clovis people of North America centered in New Mexico, or the Fishtail Projectile Point people of South America concentrated in Patagonia, humans spread rapidly throughout the continents. But how? For decades, anthropologists have debated whether these early peoples subsisted by taking down the massive mammals of the time or foraged on a mix of whatever they could find.

If you’ve ever experienced a feeling of unease in a spooky building at night, it might be caused by infrasound. These low frequency sound waves (below 20 hz) can come from furnaces, generators, ventilation systems, and more. While infrasound waves are technically outside of the human range of hearing, there’s plenty of evidence we can perceive them. In fact, previous research has shown that listening to infrasound played with music sends people’s cortisol levels up and makes them feel irritable.

The Ediacaran Period marked the first time something on Earth became recognizable as life. During this era, which lasted from around 635 to 535 million years ago, microscopic single-cell life transitioned to macroscopic multicellular organisms and animals started to develop rudimentary sensory organs and began moving around for the first time. Now, according to a new paper published in Scientific Reports, we can add another Ediacaran first to the list: handedness.

Deep beneath the ocean where the African and South American tectonic plates meet lies the Doldrums Fracture Zone. Judging by its name alone, you might guess it’s not a particularly interesting area of the ocean floor, but a recent scientific expedition to the region revealed it’s anything but boring.

As pit vipers go, the most widespread genus in Asia is Ovophis, whose nine known species span from Nepal to Japan. All Ovophis snakes in China were historically called Chinese mountain pit vipers (Ovophis monticola), but a 2023 study found that the grouping belied the genetic diversity of the genus, suggesting hidden species. To that end, a new study published in Asian Herpetological Research reports a novel species of pit viper from China that brings the total Ovophis species to 10.

The fact that you’re able to read this right now is a true marvel of evolution. And being able to translate abstract marks into cogent thoughts is just one of the magnificent functions our brains perform for us on a daily basis. But what exactly makes our brains so uniquely capable of these wonders? Considering the spectrum of brain sizes the animal kingdom offers, ours aren’t especially large (although they’re big relative to our bodies).