Everyday Science

Rodents fed capsaicin voluntarily exercised more than their furry friends on a lower-heat diet. Karen Hopkin reports

Although clinical guidelines assume just two years for hot flashes and night sweats, a large study finds a median symptom duration of more than three times that length. Dina Fine Maron reports 

 

Research shows the power of mid-day stroll

Whether you’re single or partnered up this Valentine’s Day, psychology has all sorts of tips for you on how to find your next great love or improve your existing relationship with the one you’ve got.

Today is Valentine’s Day. In love? Or just the opposite? Express how you feel with physics-inspired Valentines—and anti-Valentines for those who perhaps aren’t huge fans of the holiday.

Users of the K-cup coffee company’s products have counterattacked against its efforts to restrict the brands that their new machines can brew. Larry Greenemeier reports

 

Some random historical facts about the number 13 may be behind some people's irrational aversion to Friday the 13th. Karen Hopkin reports.  

 

The Arctic is changing fast

A Valentine's Day chemistry challenge from Science Buddies

Scientists believe that idealizing one's partner can work as a self-fulfilling prophecy, where illusion eventually becomes reality. That is to say, people can help to create the partners they wish they had, by exaggerating their virtues and minimizing their faults in their own minds.

Fifteen million unwanted pregnancies in 35 low- and middle-income countries could be avoided if women had access to and freedom to use contraception. Cynthia Graber reports     

 

What causes obesity? Advertising junk food to kids? Cheap soda? The demise of physical education in public schools? Too much screen time? Or maybe, it's one of the little boxes in this Obesity System Influence Diagram, developed in 2007 by British researchers for their government's Foresight Project: Holy cow, I believe are the words you're [...]