Science &THE IDEAS JOURNAL
Science. Systems. Possibility.
Explore questions across science, from everyday observations to the ideas and methods that help explain them. Clear reading for a curious mind.
Yes, electric cars emit EMF, but the exposure inside the cabin is low-frequency magnetic field measured in microteslas, and it sits far below the safety limits set by public-health bodies.
Read the story ↗
Inside the tools of discovery ↗Yes, a hiatal hernia can cause anemia, but only in specific circumstances. The hernia itself does not destroy blood cells or suppress production.
Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia survival rate by age is not a single number: median overall survival runs roughly 12–24 months across contemporary series, but age-stratified figures span from more than 5 years in younger, lower-risk…
No, fibroids do not reliably shrink after a miscarriage, and some keep growing. A miscarriage removes a pregnancy, not the hormonal and genetic drivers of a fibroid. Most fibroids stay stable or continue their pre-pregnancy trajectory.
Yes, a urinary tract infection can cause delirium, especially in older adults. The mechanism is indirect: immune signals triggered by bladder or kidney infection reach the brain and disrupt attention, awareness, and thinking.
Yes, people with leprosy (Hansen's disease) feel pain — but the disease strips away the protective pain sensation in skin and extremities first.
No—feet do not need to “breathe” in the sense of taking in oxygen through the skin to survive; the skin’s oxygen supply comes overwhelmingly from blood, not air.
Yes. Flamingos live in wetlands, and they do so as obligate inhabitants rather than casual visitors. Every wild flamingo on Earth depends on shallow wetlands for food, breeding, and rearing chicks.
Do bed alarms actually prevent falls? On their own, no—and the best clinical guidance treats them as one component of a multifactorial fall-prevention program, not a standalone safety device.
Gladiolus grow from corms, not roots. A corm is a swollen, underground stem base that stores starch and carries the bud that becomes next season's flower spike. The stringy roots you see are absorbent organs, not propagules.
Most grackles do not migrate in the strict sense. Common grackles, great-tailed grackles, and boat-tailed grackles are largely resident across their breeding range, but northern populations of the common grackle are partial migrants that…
Yes, all women who live long enough go through menopause, but not all reach it the same way or at the same age.
Yes, some people with paralysis can walk again, but only a small subset, and usually not because a severed spinal cord regrew.
Yes, most dogs appear to like it. Dogs orient toward human speech, prefer dog-directed speech over adult-directed speech, and show measurable neural and behavioral responses to it.
Yes, bivalves show cephalization, but far less than snails, octopuses, or vertebrates.
Yes, fats regulate hormones, and they do so through at least four distinct mechanisms: cholesterol serves as the literal molecular backbone of steroid hormones, dietary fat type shifts cell-membrane receptor behavior, fat-derived signaling…
Yes, humans hunted mammoths, but hunting was rarely the primary driver of mammoth mortality or human diet.
Do cows need help giving birth? Usually no. Most beef cows calve unassisted within two to six hours of labor beginning, and heifers raised on pasture typically need no human involvement at all.
The most common problems with katsura tree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) are leaf scorch from heat and dry soil, chlorosis from high soil pH, frost damage to early-emerging growth, and vascular wilt diseases that cause sudden canopy collapse.
Yes, a urinary tract infection can contribute to constipation, though usually indirectly.
Yes, for many people with hearing loss and tinnitus, hearing aids reduce the perceived loudness of tinnitus and its intrusion on daily life.
Yes, dogs have kneecaps. They are called patellae, and virtually every domestic dog has two, one on each hind leg.
No, a bobcat cannot have a long tail. The bobcat (Lynx rufus) is defined by a short, stubby tail that rarely exceeds about 6 inches, and a genuinely long tail on a wild cat in North America signals a different species entirely.
Yes, a hemorrhoid can last for months. External thrombosed hemorrhoids usually resolve in 2 to 8 weeks, but internal hemorrhoidal disease is chronic by nature: the cushioning tissue is part of normal anatomy, so it does not disappear, only…
AI-generated editorial images · Image policy