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Men marry younger women and women prefer to marry older men, in general. But is it culture, genetics or the environment that drives such a choice—and is there an optimal age difference? New research shows that, at least for the Sami people of preindustrial Finland, men should marry a woman almost 15 years their junior to maximize their chances of having the most offspring that survive. “We studied how parental age difference at marriage affected [families’] reproductive success among Sami people who married only once in their lifetime[s],” says ecologist Samuli Helle of the University of Turku in Finland....

Although she’s technically Canadian, atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe might understand America’s polarized attitudes toward science better than anyone. Her bona fides have serious range: she is co-director of the Climate Science Center and a political science professor at Texas Tech University, CEO of a climate-impact consulting group, creator of the myth-busting Web series Global Weirding and an electric-car-driving evangelical Christian. Self-described as “on the fringes of many tribes,” Hayhoe is equally adept at presenting to church groups and speaking on panels alongside people like Barack Obama and Leonardo DiCaprio....

The annual Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting brings a wealth of scientific minds to the shores of Germany’s Lake Constance. Every summer at Lindau, dozens of Nobel Prize winners exchange ideas with hundreds of young researchers from around the world. Whereas the Nobelists are the marquee names, the younger contingent is an accomplished group in its own right. In advance of this year’s meeting, which focuses on physics, we are profiling several promising attendees under the age of 30....

By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) - Six years after dramatic weight loss on the TV show “The Biggest Loser,” most contestants in a recent study had regained the pounds - and on top of that, their metabolism had slowed and they were burning fewer calories every day than they did before their stint on the show. Researchers studied 14 contestants who participated in the 30-week competition, which involves intensive diet and exercise training....

It has been known for 72 years—and demonstrated in a range of organisms, including yeast, fruit flies, mice and dogs—that a restricted diet, typically amounting to less than half of the usual number of daily calories, can increase life span. The biological mechanism underlying this effect, however, has continually eluded longevity researchers. A new study involving roundworms appears to have isolated one gene—a transcriptional factor (or gene that controls the regulation of other genes in the genome)—that appears to be an essential member of the pathway that translates reduced caloric intake into a longer life span....

These are dark times, and I take solace where I can get it. Lately I’ve gotten it from The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, by anthropologist David Graeber, who died shortly after finishing the book, and archaeologist David Wengrow. Dawn is both a dense, 692-page scholarly inquiry into the origins of civilization and an exhilarating vision of human possibility. Graeber and Wengrow, whom I’ll henceforth call the Davids, mount a rousing assault on determinism, the idea that biological and environmental factors make certain features of our existence inevitable....

German researchers have discovered Neandertals apparently had the human variant of a gene that is linked to speech and language. A team of scientists, primarily from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, made the discovery during efforts to reconstruct a full genome of the extinct hominid. The findings push back the estimated timing of the FOXP2 gene’s selective sweep (rapid spread of a gene mutation due to the survival advantage it conferred) from 200,000 to 350,000 years ago, when the common ancestor of Neandertals and humans roamed the earth....

To the list of cocaine’s many dangers, health officials have added at least one more: purpura, a rash caused by internal bleeding from small blood vessels. Two recent papers in major medical journals have documented cases of cocaine users showing up in emergency rooms with patches of blackened, dying skin on the ears, face, trunk or extremities. The condition causes scarring and sometimes requires reconstructive surgery. Noah Craft, a dermatologist at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center who co-authored a paper on the condition published online by the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology in June, says he now sees about one case per month: “It’s become almost routine....

Philae, the plucky comet lander from the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission, was confirmed today as alive and well, but in a precarious position. After Philae hit its target on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on November 12, its harpoons failed to deploy, leaving the lander unsecured. The data it beamed back to Rosetta — which is orbiting the comet and relays information to mission control — suggested that it had bounced twice before coming to a rest....

What does culture have to do with creativity? The answer could be “a lot.” For decades psychologists trying to understand the roots of creative imaginations have looked at the way two kinds of cultures affect artistic and inventive efforts. Individualistic (sometimes called “cowboy”) cultures encourage people to prioritize their own interests, even if doing so costs the group overall. Collectivistic cultures are based on relationships and duties to other people, often sacrificing individual wants for the needs of others....

U.N. officials say record numbers of desert locust swarms have spread from the Horn of Africa to the Persian Gulf region—despite efforts to contain the infestation through mass chemical spraying. As worrisome is that new swarms have been detected in the African countries where the outbreak originated. “The situation remains extremely alarming in the Horn of Africa, specifically Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia where widespread breeding is in progress and new swarms are starting to form,” the U....

After being tossed about and damaged by the tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan on March 11, Japan’s drilling ship the Chikyu has been given an especially fitting assignment: to drill into the fault zone and take temperature measurements near the epicentre of the magnitude-9.0 Tohoku earthquake that caused the tsunami. It will be the first time that researchers have drilled into an underwater fault soon after a quake. The aim of the exercise is to solve a decades-old mystery about the part that friction plays in such an event....

Dear EarthTalk: I’ve heard that increasing eco-awareness around the world has now extended itself to the afterlife, whereby burials can even be “green.” Is that true? – Mary Lewis, Duxbury, MA Modern western-world burial practices are arguably absurd, all things considered: We pack our dearly departed with synthetic preservatives and encase them in impenetrable coffins meant to defy the natural forces of decomposition that have been turning ashes to ashes and dust to dust for eons....

WHEN Pulitzer Prize–winning music critic Tim Page was in second grade, he and his classmates went on a field trip to Boston. He later wrote about the experience as a class assignment, and what follows is an excerpt: “Well, we went to Boston, Massachusetts, through the town of Warrenville, Connecticut, on Route 44A. It was very pretty, and there was a church that reminded me of pictures of Russia from our book that is published by Time-Life....

Weather isn’t always predictable. If it were, daily forecasts would be spot-on, hurricanes anticipated, and picnics safe from abrupt summer downpours. Instead, climate systems are complex, and tornadoes are no exception. So, whereas guessing the direction of a tornado’s torque is possible, like any weather prediction the forecast will only be correct most of the time. It’s true that tornadoes tend to revolve counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere....

This story is a supplement to the feature “Why Migraines Strike” which was printed in the August 2008 issue of Scientific American. Unlike most headaches, migraine has distinct stages, although not all sufferers experience each one—a perplexing facet of the disorder. PRODROME – 60% Reported to Experience Typical features: Difficulty concentrating, yawning, fatigue, and sensitivity to light and noise. Duration: A few hours to a few days AURA – 30% Reported to Experience Typical features: Visual illusions of sparks and lights, often followed by blind or dark spots in the same configuration as the earlier bright hallucinations....

To say it has been a tough year would be a gross understatement, and reading the news—even on a science-focused Web site—can be a little depressing. But while Scientific American has been providing in-depth coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, devastating natural disasters and the presidential election’s implications for science, we have also shared stories that show how the fun side of science still thrives. Here, we’ve gathered some of our favorites from the year, from the truly amazing to the downright weird and quirky....

By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) - Florescent lotion and black light revealed that health care workers often contaminate their skin and clothing while removing their protective gear, researchers say. “It was surprising for the participants in the study to see that they frequently contaminated themselves during (personal protective equipment) removal,” said senior author Dr. Curtis J. Donskey of the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center. “Most of the participants appeared to be unaware of the high risk for contamination and many reported receiving minimal or no training in putting on and taking off (personal protective equipment),” he told Reuters Health by email....

The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. Hurricane Ida hit the Louisiana coast with 150 mph winds on Aug. 29, 2021, 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans on nearly the same path. Ida was one of the most intense tropical storms on record in the state. Its storm surge was less than Katrina’s, but it quickly flooded streets and homes outside the levee system where many residents were under mandatory evacuation orders....

As any smoker can tell you, quitting is relatively easy. The hard part is avoiding relapse—the urge to light up weeks or even months after you have supposedly kicked the habit. The patch, the gum and all the other tricks smokers use to get through the first few months are often powerless against those later urges. That is one reason why an antinicotine vaccine now wending its way through clinical trials has public health officials so excited....