Author: Lori Jia
STAT, July 11, 2016
Delving into my genome, I learned a lot about how genetic variants influence my health, putting me at risk of some disorders and protecting me from others. But I also wanted to search inside my DNA for my history — my own ancestry, and that of our entire species.
I am hardly alone in my curiosity. Many people are sending their spit to testing companies so that they can learn about their origins.
STAT, July 11, 2016
On a recent trip to Boston, I had breakfast with a scientist named Manolis Kellis. He met me in the little dining room at my hotel, and we grabbed plates to load with food. Immediately, Kellis was enchanted by the waffle iron. He started pouring a waterfall of batter onto the hot metal and piled up a mound of waffles on his plate.
“You have to help me eat these,” Kellis announced when we sat down. He spoke with a vestige of an accent; he was born in Greece as Manolis Kamvysselis, and came to the United States in 1995 to go to MIT for college. He never left; today he’s a waffle-loving professor of computer science there.
The New York Times, June 20, 2016
A reader asks: Scientists seem to be calling members of a 3-foot-tall species whose fossils were recently found in Indonesia “hobbits” conversationally. When did this term come into existence? Before or after Tolkien? And how might the “real” hobbits have been similar to or different from the ones Tolkien created?
Carl Zimmer, who writes the Matter column for The Times’s Science section, considers the question.
The New York Times, April 8, 2016
Misconception: It’s just a theory.
Actually: Theories are neither hunches nor guesses. They are the crown jewels of science.
One day, it’s Megyn Kelly who has a theory about why Donald J. Trump hates her.
Another day, the newly released trailer for the next Star Wars movie inspires a million theories from fans about who Rey’s parents are.
The New York Times, December 28, 2015
Throughout the day, a clock ticks inside our bodies. It rouses us in the morning and makes us sleepy at night. It raises and lowers our body temperature at the right times, and regulates the production of insulin and other hormones.
The body’s circadian clock even influences our thoughts and feelings. Psychologists have measured some of its effects on the brain by having people take cognitive tests at different times of day.
As it turns out, late morning turns out to be the best time to try doing tasks such as mental arithmetic that demand that we hold several pieces of information in mind at once.