12 days of Christmas

Enlarge / Peoples' tendency to assume others think the same way they do could be influenced by social network structures.piermichelemalucchi/Getty Images Social perception bias is best defined as the all-too-human tendency to assume that everyone else holds the same opinions and values as we do. That bias might, for instance, lead us to over- or…

Enlarge / Vannevar Bush seated at his desk, circa 1940-1944. During President Franklin Roosevelt's administration, Bush built a national science policy based on a new structure for innovating quickly and effectively. Few people these days are familiar with the name Vannevar Bush, an engineer who played a significant role in fostering the developing of key…

Enlarge / The final approximation of the Incan girl dubbed "Juanita" wearing clothing similar to what she was wearing when she died. Dagmara Socha There's rarely time to write about every cool science-y story that comes our way. So this year, we're once again running a special Twelve Days of Christmas series of posts, highlighting…

Enlarge / A reconstruction of the cosmic web— a vast network of filamentary structures of matter spanning the universe—modeled on the growth patterns of slime mold. Joseph N. Burchett et al./AJL There's rarely time to write about every cool science-y story that comes our way. So this year, we're once again running a special Twelve…

There's rarely time to write about every cool science-y story that comes our way. So this year, we're once again running a special Twelve Days of Christmas series of posts, highlighting one science story that fell through the cracks in 2023, each day from December 25 through January 5. Today: how applying magnetic forces to…

Enlarge / A recent study by University of Michigan researchers found evidence of Turing patterns in the movement of Azteca ant colonies on coffee farms in Mexico. Azteca ants build their nests in shade trees, and it's relatively common to find other nests in trees nearby. But these clusters of ant nests are often separated…

Enlarge / These might look like your standard leather-bound texts, but they are actually bound in human skin—a practice known as "anthropodermic bibliopegy." All five are housed in the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia.Mütter Museum/College of Physicians of Philadelphia) There's rarely time to write about every cool science-y story that comes our way. So this year,…

Enlarge / The 1861 notebook of Sir William Crookes, containing all his data on thallium samples. SSPL/Getty Images There's rarely time to write about every cool science story that comes our way. So this year, we're running a special Twelve Days of Christmas series of posts, highlighting one story that fell through the cracks each…

Video courtesy of Improbable Research Christmas just wouldn't be the same for lovers of science without the annual Christmas issue of the British Medical Journal (BMJ). The tradition began in 1982, originally as a one-off attempt to bring a bit of levity to the journal for the holidays. While the papers selected for inclusion evinced…

Enlarge / SEM image of a nanoscale snowflake self-assembled from zinc dissolved in a liquid gallium solvent.Waipapa Taumata Rau/University of Auckland There's rarely time to write about every cool science-y story that comes our way. So this year, we're once again running a special Twelve Days of Christmas series of posts, highlighting one science story…