"Why do some people need just four to six hours of sleep?"

Views expressed in this science and technology update are those of the reporters and correspondents.  Accessed on 18 December 2024, 0239 UTC.

Content and Source:  https://www.scientificamerican.com.

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Russ Roberts (https://hawaiisciencejournal.blogspot.com).

 

Scientific American

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Why Do Some People Need Just Four to Six Hours of Sleep?

Sleep deprivation leads to severe consequences

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Short sleepers cruise by on four to six hours a night and don’t seem to suffer ill effects. Turns out they’re genetically built to require less sleep than the rest of us

How the Vagus Nerve Could Influence Physical and Mental Health

100+Scientific American Content / 10h

The healing potential of the brain’s most interconnected nerve intrigues researchers

Great Apes Joke Around, Suggesting Humor Is Older Than Humans

48Scientific American Content / 10h

Studies of great apes hint at why and when clowning behavior evolved

Today

The Human Brain Operates at a Stunningly Slow Pace

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The brain is sometimes called the most complex machine in the known universe. But the thoughts that it outputs putter along at a trifling 10 bits per second, the pace of a conversation

United Airlines Will Help Monitor U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions

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United Airlines is partnering with NOAA as part of a wider federal strategy to better keep tabs on the country’s greenhouse gas emissions

Book Review: The Surprising Comeback of Our Least Appreciated Sense

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The nose knows more than we thought

Delicious Bacon Highlights Food That Enraptures Our Senses but Endangers Our Health

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Some foods, no matter how simply prepared, contain many substances linked to disease

Ape Jokes, Vagus Nerve Hopes and a Mystery Planet

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The searches for Planet Nine, bat viruses, life on Jupiter’s moon Europa and lucid dreams

If Planet Nine Exists, We’ll Find It Soon

40Scientific American Content / 10h

If there’s a hidden world in the solar system, a new telescope should find it

How Earth’s Biggest Mass Extinctions Stack Up

24Scientific American Content / 10h

Earth’s deadliest mass extinctions have important commonalities—and significant differences

The Next Viral Pandemic Is Coming. Here’s How We Can Stop It

21Scientific American Content / 10h

A new combo of climate and habitat crises, along with immune system stress, is driving more bat-borne viruses to afflict us

Math Puzzle: Move the Tower

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Transport the disks in this math puzzle

Contributors to Scientific American’s January 2025 Issue

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Writers, artists, photographers and researchers share the stories behind the stories

January 2025: Science History from 50, 100 and 150 Years Ago

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The J particle; a nitroglycerin engine

Book Review: In a Drowning New York City, Can All of Natural History Be Saved?

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In the often-gloomy genre of climate fiction, a new novel hits a high-water mark for its empathy

Book Review: This Relationship Shaped Rachel Carson’s Environmental Ethos

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The connection between queer love and the power to imagine a more sustainable future

Science Crossword: Out of Sight

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Play this crossword inspired by the January 2025 issue of Scientific American

Engineering Lucid Dreams Could Improve Sleep and Defuse Nightmares

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Scientists are learning to manipulate lucid dreams in ways that could ease nightmares, enhance sleep and improve overall health

Readers Respond to the September 2024 Issue

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Letters to the editors for the September 2024 issue of Scientific American

It’s Never Been a Better Time to Look Up

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Astronomy is a bright spot amid turbulence on Earth

How to Make Your Christmas Tree Last

25Scientific American Content / 13h

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, where’s your instruction manual? Here’s how to make the most of your Christmas tree

Silicon Valley Is Reviving the Discredited and Discriminatory Idea of ‘Race Science’

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Scientific racism today must be seen and rejected for what it truly is—a hollow attempt to dress discrimination in the garb of science and reason

Wildest Things Science Learned about the Human Body in 2024

Scientific American Content / 13h

From periods of rapid aging in our 40s and 60s to ancient brains that don’t decompose, here are some of the year’s most intriguing stories about human biology

Yesterday

Poem: ‘Cardiac Knotting’

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Science in meter and verse

No, It’s Not a Good Idea to Shoot at New Jersey ‘Mystery Drones’

Trump demands answers on drones

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67Scientific American Content / 1d

Surging reports of strange drones in the skies over New Jersey and other parts of the northeast U.S. have spurred calls to shoot down the unidentified objects. But that’s a very bad idea

Ferns’ ‘Backward’ Evolution Reveals Life’s Meandering Path

Ferns can evolve backward insights

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66Scientific American Content / 1d

Evolution is often depicted as a steady forward march from simple to complex forms. But new research shows that certain ferns can evolve ‘backward’

Anthony Fauci Tells SciAm about the Biggest Health Threat We Face

400+Scientific American Content / 1d

Scientific American sat down with physician-scientist Anthony Fauci, who recently published a memoir, to discuss COVID mistakes and successes, bird flu concerns and political divisions

The 6 Most Hilarious Things We Learned about Animals in 2024

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From a comb jelly with two butts to wing-slapping ants, this animal research made us laugh this year

The Perfect Beer Glass Shape, according to Math

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A mathematician has calculated the ideal shape for a beer glass to keep the liquid inside as cool as possible

AI and Other Emerging Technologies Are Expanding Conservation Studies

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Conservationists have access to massive amounts of data on wildlife—and machine learning is helping them make meaning out of them.