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A woman sits at a computer, video chatting with her young son while she gently pats an interface on a separate screen. In response, a wireless patch on the child’s back vibrates in a pattern that matches his mother’s fingers, allowing him to “feel” her physical touch. The new patch is a type of haptic device, a technology that remotely conveys tactile signals. A common example is video game controllers that vibrate when the player’s avatar takes a hit....

Despite the enormous efforts of clinicians and researchers, our limited insight into psychiatric disease (the worldwide-leading cause of years of life lost to death or disability) hinders the search for cures and contributes to stigmatization. Clearly, we need new answers in psychiatry. But as philosopher of science Karl Popper might have said, before we can find the answers, we need the power to ask new questions. In other words, we need new technology....

To outsiders, the field of physics may seem like a neat and tidy affair. What fundamental discoveries are left to make, right? Wrong. In fact, physicists are pushing into the extreme ends of the universe as we know it—from invisible particles and colliding massive black holes to the most crushing gravitational forces ever detected and spooky quantum entanglement. The 14-billion-year-old tale of our universe is far from over. Innovative projects are hunting the smallest units of matter....

Despite decades of research, disorders of the brain have proved especially difficult to treat. Consider Alzheimer’s disease. To date, every single clinical trial of a treatment for Alzheimer’s has failed to halt its progress. In January, Pfizer announced that it had ended research on drugs for it, as well as for Parkinson’s disease. Autism has been similarly frustrating. Then there is schizophrenia, which has not seen a breakthrough for more than 60 years, since the discovery of chlorpromazine (brand name: Thorazine)—which happened largely by chance....

Neutron stars are among the densest things in the universe. They are dead stars where matter has been packed so tightly that the protons and electrons in atoms essentially fuse together to create matter made almost purely of neutrons. To discuss why these objects are so fascinating and useful for astronomy, astrophysicist Victoria Kaspi of McGill University in Montreal will present a public lecture tonight at 7 P.M. Eastern time that will be broadcast live here on this Web page....

Toby lies in his crib watching his mother, Claudia, as she does housework. He babbles happily and kicks his legs with delight as one piece of clothing after another disappears into the washing machine. “I wonder if he realizes that I am intentionally picking up this T-shirt to put it into the machine?” Claudia asks. “And does he consciously control his movements?” Parents aren’t the only ones who wonder. Researchers have been asking similar questions in studies during the past two decades....

To forewarn tourists of disease threats in Brazil, a new study led by Harvard University scientists has assessed the illnesses most often contracted during journeys to the South American nation. Researchers studied the case reports of 1,600 people who became sick after returning from Brazil between 1997 and 2013 to offer a snapshot of what people might soon encounter at the World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. Three big clusters of disease emerged: Feverish blights such as dengue virus and malaria are no strangers to the tropics, yet they landed in third place on the list....

“Uh-oh”–or another, less family-friendly phrase–is probably the first thing drivers utter when the “check engine” light flashes on. It may not mean that the engine is about to explode, but it still demands attention. Odds are, the vehicle will not pass the emissions test required for registration. Having recently bought a new car, I was eager to try a device similar to those used by mechanics to diagnose the problems that trigger the check engine light....

Editor’s Note: Mark Fischetti wrote the following article in 2000, shortly after completing the co-authored book, Weaving the Web, with Tim Berners-Lee. It is a cool morning in April 1999, and 1,500 computer scientists, university faculty, and industry CEOs are streaming into a vast fieldhouse at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, outside Boston. They grab coffee and seat themselves for a keynote speech that will cap the 35th anniversary celebration of M....

The United States could soon become the first country to approve the commercial use of a common bacterium to fight the spread of mosquitoes that can transmit viruses such as Zika, dengue and Chikungunya. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reviewing an application from the biotechnology start-up MosquitoMate to use the bacterium Wolbachia pipientis as a tool against the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus). The company plans to market Wolbachia as a pesticide — one that kills only mosquitoes, and leaves other insects untouched....

Shortly before 5 A.M. Eastern time on Friday, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft will gently fire its thrusters for a few minutes and begin a 14-hour descent to Comet 67P, a mountain-size, snowy dust ball drifting through the darkness that reigns more than half a billion kilometers from the sun. Starved of solar power, Rosetta’s mission is coming to an end after more than a decade of operations, concluding with a crash into the comet it has shadowed through deep space for two years....

You can tell a lot about a person from their body. And I don’t just mean how many hours they spend at the gym, or how easy it is for them to sweet-talk their way out of speeding tickets. For the past several decades researchers have been studying the ways in which the body reveals properties of the mind. An important subset of this work has taken this idea a step further: do the ways our bodies relate to one another tell us about the ways in which our minds relate to one another?...

As anyone who has ever had one can attest, passing a kidney stone is something you’re not likely to forget … or remember fondly. Although dietary measures are not 100% effective in preventing stones, they can definitely reduce your risk. What causes kidney stones? Kidney stones can form when compounds that are normally found in urine form crystals and start to clump together. They may be as small as a grain of sand or as large as a small pebble....

A small scrap of brown papyrus paper, about the size of a business card, has ignited a red-hot argument that spans all of Christendom. The papyrus document, known as the “Gospel of Jesus’ Wife,” was unveiled in 2012 and instantly set off a debate over its authenticity. Perhaps its most controversial elements are lines that suggest Jesus had a wife. But a recent announcement from the Harvard Divinity School that the document is probably genuine has rekindled the disagreement over its provenance and meaning....

A fish swims into an enclosure and disappears, while the pondweed behind remains perfectly visible. A cat climbs into a glass box and vanishes, and again the scene behind the box remains visible through the glass. This latest addition to the science of invisibility cloaks is one of the simplest implementations so far, but there’s no denying its striking impact. The ‘box of invisibility’ has been designed by a team of researchers at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, led by Hongsheng Chen, and their coworkers....

Confused about the difference between rejuvenating solitude and fear-driven avoidance? Here are questions to ask yourself and some tips to try: Is Wanting to Be Alone a Problem? 1) How do you feel when the phone rings? Likewise, how do you feel when you are invited to an event? When someone wants your company or attention, pay attention to your reaction. If you experience dread, resistance, or physical symptoms like a racing heart, shallow breathing, or a clenched stomach, these may be signs of social anxiety or past trauma....

We all experience the occasional life-changing event—a new baby, a cross-country move, a serious injury. In rare cases, such events can precipitate a mental disorder. The problem is compounded because people often assume their suffering is par for the course after such upheaval. In reality, relief is probably a short treatment away, via therapy or medication. The flashbacks, nightmares and sleep problems that mark post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are usually associated with combat or other violent experiences....

In March 2020, just as COVID-19 cases began to surge in Boston, Massachusetts, Esther Freeman noticed something peculiar—a deluge of people with discoloured toes requesting appointments. Freeman, director of global health dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital, had seen these kinds of toes before. The itchy red and purple patches are a classic sign of chilblains, a skin condition that typically appears in cold weather. But usually, she would see one or two cases each winter....

People, dogs and about 4,000 other species of placental mammal are distinguished by the ability to nurture a fetus within the body for extended periods of time. This vital adaptation permits the slow development of big brains. Now, a study of gene expression in early pregnancy, when the embryo implants in the uterus, suggests that placental mammals evolved the ability to turn an inflammatory attack on the embryo into an advantage....

By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. health officials are now recommending people avoid contact with the semen of Ebola survivors after a woman in Liberia contracted Ebola through sexual intercourse with a survivor of the disease. In a report issued on Friday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a review of the 44-year-old woman’s case now suggests that the Ebola virus persists longer in semen that previously thought....