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The Great Holocene Transformation: What Complexity Science Tells Us about the Evolution of Complex Societies Peter Turchin Beresta Books (2025)When Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico in 1519, he found monarchs, cities, roads, markets, schools, astronomers, law courts and much else that also existed in his native Spain. Put another way, two cultural experiments had been running in parallel for 15,000 years, and when they came into contact, each recognized the other’s institutions.It wasn’t just the civilizations of the Americas and Europe that resembled each other by that time. As biologist-turned-historian Peter Turchin observes in his tenth book, The…

For years, the health and fitness world has perpetuated the idea that “eating less and exercising more” is the holy grail for achieving a lean, strong physique. Abbie Smith-Ryan, Ph.D., a leading researcher in the field of metabolism, sports nutrition, and exercise performance, is here to tell you that this approach is outdated—and counterproductive.

A study headed by researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona has provided for the first time evidence that a single drug, already licensed for medical use, can stabilize nearly all mutated versions of a human protein, regardless of where the mutation is in the sequence. The researchers, Taylor Mighell, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, and Ben Lehner, PhD, ICREA Research Professor, group leader at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and CRG, reported on their work in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, in a paper titled “A small molecule stabilizer…

Scientists share who they thought will win the Nobel Prizes this year. Image credit:©iStock, Anton Skripachev​Every year in early October, scientists wonder whose phone will ring with a call from Sweden. This year, the Nobel Committee will announce the winners of the 2025 Nobel Prizes from October 6th to 13th. In anticipation of those reports, the editors at The Scientist asked researchers who they think might be honored this year.Who do you think will win a Nobel Prize this year?Claire Holt courtesy of The Rockefeller UniversityLi Zhao, evolutionary geneticist, The Rockefeller University There are so many deserving research contributions across diverse…

Take 10 minutes or less to make one of these inflammation-fighting breakfasts that align with one of the best-ranked eating patterns around. These recipes are packed with ingredients you’ll find in the Mediterranean diet, like eggs, dairy, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and healthy oils. These foods tend to have anti-inflammatory properties that can help you combat pesky symptoms of inflammation like joint stiffness or low energy. With easy recipes like our Chickpea & Kale Toast and our Blueberry-Peach Chia Seed Smoothie, breakfast can be nourishing and flexible to help you feel your best. Love any of these recipes? Tap “Save”…

What happens when you don’t eat? Risks include nutrient gaps, poor digestion and higher disease risk.Skipping meals can trigger stress hormones, leaving you anxious, irritable and low on energy.Ignoring hunger cues may disrupt hormones that regulate appetite, leading to overeating later. Whether you’re joining in on the intermittent fasting trend, working through lunch or skipping breakfast, going too long between meals can have some serious consequences. Food helps to power every system in our bodies, so pretty much every part of your body is impacted when you skip a meal or fast. We asked Christy Harrison, M.P.H., RD, CDN and…

Breakfast is your first opportunity of the day to feed your body foods that’ll help fight inflammation. But, all too often, we pile our breakfast plates with stuff that can cause an inflammatory response.While short-term, acute inflammation is a helpful tool that triggers the body’s defenses to attack foreign invaders (like to fend off the common cold or heal a wound), chronic inflammation is a larger problem, says Leslie Langevin, RD, author of ‌The Anti-Inflammatory Kitchen Cookbook‌.Chronic inflammation happens when the immune system becomes overactive to protect itself from threats (which can result from an inflammatory diet, among other things),…

Certain tastes and smells can bring back vivid, emotional memories from people’s childhoods, but scientists still don’t quite understand why or how.Image credit:©iStock, GaldricIn his million-word novel “In Search of Lost Time,” French author Marcel Proust described how a sip of lime blossom tea and a bite of madeleine cake transported him back to his childhood. Today, neuroscientists and psychologists still refer to such phenomena—how taste and smell can suddenly trigger vivid, emotional memories—as the “Proust effect.” Taste and smell are intimately linked, said Venkatesh Murthy, a neuroscientist at Harvard University. As many people can attest, respiratory illnesses, which typically…

A dinner that supports a healthy heart shouldn’t be hard to prepare. With low amounts of saturated fats and sodium, you can enjoy something delicious and satisfying that aligns with your goals. Plus, these recipes let your slow-cooker do the work so you can spend less time on cooking and cleanup. From Slow-Cooker Chicken & Brown Rice with Roasted Corn & Black Beans to Slow-Cooker Buffalo Chicken Chili, these four- and five-star rated dishes are sure to be equally nutritious as they are flavorful. Love any of these recipes? Tap “Save” to add them to MyRecipes, your new, free recipe…

The Mediterranean diet fuels brain health with vegetables, fruit, fatty fish, legumes, whole grains and low-fat dairy.This diet supports brain health by reducing inflammation, providing neuroprotective nutrients and supporting vascular health.To further support brain health, exercise daily, manage stress and always keep learning. Picture your future self: still curious, quick with a joke, following the plot twists of a great novel and sharp as ever. To increase your chances of staying sharp as you age, there are plenty of lifestyle habits you can start now—diet being one of the most influential. In particular, the Mediterranean diet has been associated with…