New research published in the journal Science uncovers how scratching aggravates inflammation and swelling in a mouse model of a type of eczema called allergic contact dermatitis.

“At first, these findings seemed to introduce a paradox: If scratching an itch is bad for us, why does it feel so good?” said senior author Daniel Kaplan, M.D., Ph.D., professor of dermatology and immunology at the University of Pittsburgh.

“Scratching is often pleasurable, which suggests that, in order to have evolved, this behavior must provide some kind of benefit. Our study helps resolve this paradox by providing evidence that scratching also provides defense against bacterial skin infections.”

Death by heartbreak doesn’t just happen in stories. In real life, severe stress can cause the sometimes-fatal takotsubo syndrome.

Interacting elements with hysteresis store a sequence of amplitudes in a unique way, functioning as a combination lock.

“The eruptions are pretty big,” said a volcanologist at Oregon State University.

A 2024 study is facing skepticism, so the people behind that study are diving back underwater.

Monterey Bay Whale Watch said on Facebook that their scouting boat spotted the dolphins when it went out to “perform a survey on the coast south of Monterey,” about a 120 miles southwest of San Francisco.

The tour agency said its team counted 33 gray whales, 1,500-plus Risso’s dolphins and three northern right whale dolphins as they undertook the 60-mile roundtrip from Monterey to Point Sur.

The default mode network (DMN) is implicated in cognition and behavior. Here, the authors show that the DMN is cytoarchitecturally heterogeneous, it contains regions receptive to input from the sensory cortex and a core relatively insulated from environmental input, and it uniquely balances its output across sensory hierarchies.

A minor earthquake has hit Yellowstone National Park, and some people in the region experienced a tremor. The magnitude 3.9 earthquake struck near Norris Geyser Basin, which has a history of quakes.

Babies are like little detectives, constantly piecing together clues about the world around them. If you’ve ever noticed your baby staring at you while you talk, it’s because they’re picking up on more than just sounds – they’re learning how those sounds are made.

Our recent study, published in Developmental Science, shows this amazing process starts as early as four months old, shaking up the old belief that babies learn these patterns only after tuning in to their native language between 6 and 12 months of age.

It also gives us an earlier window to help children who might be at risk of speech or language delays.

New Cornell University led-research challenges the long-standing belief that active volcanoes have large magma bodies that are expelled during eruptions and then dissipate over time as the volcanoes become dormant.

Researchers used seismic waves to identify magma chambers beneath the surface of six volcanoes of various sizes and dormancy within the Cascade Range, which includes half of the U.S. volcanoes designated by the U.S. Geological Survey as “very high threat.” The team found that all of the volcanoes, including dormant ones, have persistent and large magma bodies.

The study, led by postdoctoral researcher Guanning Pang, was published in Nature Geoscience and co-authored by Geoffrey Abers, professor in geological sciences.