CDC: Vitamin E acetate is ‘closely associated’ with vaping lung injuries

For months, the CDC has warned people against vaping until it could determine the cause of a mysterious vaping-related lung injury. Now, the CDC confirms speculation that vitamin E acetate is "closely associated" with EVALI, or e-cigarette, or vaping...

Researchers create bone-inspired 3D-printed building materials

You may not think of your bones as buildings, but researchers do. A team from Cornell University, Purdue University and Case Western Reserve University believes that by studying the internal structure of bones, they may be able to 3D-print stronger c...

Narbis smart glasses punish distraction by turning opaque

Operant conditioning is a well known psychology principle -- in which "good" behavior is rewarded and "bad" behavior is punished. While positive reinforcement has found its way into everyday life, formal operant conditioning is usually left to profes...

Study: Americans believe social networks make the news worse

You're not alone if you think social networks are degrading the quality of news. A Pew study indicates that 62 percent of American adults believe social media companies have "too much control" over news, and 55 percent believe these companies have c...

Researchers are using drones to study the Amazon rainforest’s health

Researchers from Harvard University are using drones to better understand the Amazon rainforest. With drone-based sensors, the researchers hope to determine the unique "fingerprint" of different rainforest ecosystems. That could help them monitor the...

NASA ramps up its efforts to understand space weather

This week, NASA selected three proposals for missions that could help us better understand the Sun-driven space weather that occurs near Earth. Space weather, like solar flares, can impact spacecraft and astronauts, and it has the potential to disabl...

An independent report on Facebook’s alleged liberal bias tells us nothing

Conservatives have long lamented that Facebook has a liberal, or anti-conservative, bias. Since the 2016 election, the company has been grilled on the issue by the White House more than once. In an attempt to clear the air, Facebook enlisted an indep...

Uber and Lyft admit they’re making city traffic worse

Uber and Lyft may be competitors but as the two major ridesharing companies, they also have a lot in common -- including the challenges they face. To better understand their role in city traffic patterns, the companies jointly sponsored a study to de...

Scientists used phone accelerometer data to predict personality traits

Our phones contain a disturbing amount of information about us. While calls, messages, app usage and location logs have all been used to profile users, phone accelerometers contain key information, too. Researchers from the Royal Melbourne Institute...