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We know how to fight wildfires effectively. Why don't we do it?
The West is burning. A spate of wildfires in California killed 10 people on Monday, in addition to the 8.5 million acres of the western United States …
Biodiversity doesn't just arise out of healthy ecosystems. It helps create them
The human race is currently conducting the largest-scale biodiversity removal experiment to date. By stripping tropical and temperate forests of …
Life is evolving through a hurricane of human pollution
No other species pollutes the way humans do. Many pollutants, like dioxins, phenyls, hydrocarbons, and some pesticides, are so slow to degrade that …
Boobies of the Galápagos are replacing their disappearing food source with junk fish
No hot shower? Sleeping in a tent on the ground? No fresh veggies, alcohol, or even – gasp – <i>ice cream,</i> for three months straight? For some, this …
Can Hawaii's waterfall-climbing fish survive when mountain rains change?
Here in Hawaii, not only are there rainbow sightings daily and dramatic mountain vistas obscured by clouds: we even have fish that can climb …
What ancient corn farmers can teach us about engineering crops for climate change
There are more than 50 strains of maize, called landraces, grown in Mexico. A landrace is similar to a dog breed: Corgis and Huskies are both dogs, …
The most cost-effective ways to fight climate change are literally under our feet
In 2015, most of the world came together in a rare act of collaboration and set an ambitious goal to limit global temperatures from rising no more …
EcologyCan termites teach us to build environmentally friendly communities?
They each stood four Burj Khalifas tall, contained a population the size of San Francisco, and plugged into a network of tunnels sweeping the face of …
Does modern neuroscience really help us understand behavior?
Lately, some neuroscientists have been struggling with an identity crisis: what do we believe, and what do we want to achieve? Is it enough to study …
The science Nobel Prizes are sexist, racist, and misleading. Let's rethink them
It’s Nobel Prize week, the one week every year when people from all walks of life and from all corners of the globe celebrate science, read about …
PhysicsCan MDMA help people with autism overcome social anxiety?
For the nightly news and cop shows, Ecstasy is the scourge of music festivals, the substance of interest in raves and DEA raids. For veterans of war, …
How does the developing brain learn to perceive the world before it can see it?
Every day, within the belly of a towering concrete building at the University of California, Berkeley, researchers in the lab of neurobiologist Marla …
Here's what happened when researchers raised monkeys who never saw a face
A small patch of the brain’s surface is a battleground in a centuries-old debate: do we get our cognitive abilities from our inherited “nature” or …
How shaving mice led to an accidental discovery about our sense of touch
The average human lifespan is around 80 years, but the cells in our bodies live, die, and grow again along much shorter lifespans. Cells turnover at …
Massive's New Brain Waves 👋
We’ve been experimenting here at Massive with new ways of working with scientists to encourage public discussion. We want to foster a community that …
NeuroscienceHere's what happens to hamster brains when they don't get enough play
Over the last half century, the US and other industrialized nations have seen a dramatic decrease in the free time that children have to play. This …
Want to learn how brains go awry? First, we must learn how they work
I still vividly remember the day in 2013 when Dr. Euiseok Kim, a postdoctoral researcher at the Salk Institute, stepped into the lowly graduate …
How scientists are mapping the brain networks that connect our childhoods to everyday behaviors
In his 1855 sermon, “Partaking in Other Men’s Sins,” Reverend Henry Melvill of the Church of England made a remark about the nature of human …
NeuroscienceWill it ever be possible to measure subjective experience?
Nadja is one of the co-founders of Massive. She is a science media producer, documentary filmmaker and former research scientist in neuroscience and …
ConsciousnessDreaming and wakefulness are two ways of being yourself
Massive sat down with Elizaveta Solomonova, a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Montreal, to talk about the complicated boundaries between …
Neuroscientists proved the brain regenerates. Now they’re trying to figure out how.
In 1962, Dr. Joseph Altman published a study titled “Are New Neurons Formed in the Brains of Adult Mammals?” which sparked a 30 year debate by …
Neurons die with grace
<b>Emily Lowry</b>, a postdoctoral researcher in the Wichterle Lab at Columbia University, sat down to discuss her research on neurodegeneration with us as …
Can the right microbes really solve all your health problems?
In addition to being delicious, kombucha, kimchi and yogurt all have something in common: they are all teeming with microorganisms. This sounds like …
BiologyWhy you shouldn't worry about the bacteria in your sponges
Clocking in at just over half the microbial density of your own intestines, kitchen sponges are teeming, festering, living piles of bacteria. They …
MicrobiologyWe're beginning to understand the 'tumor microenvironment' that makes cancer so resilient
Scientific research has made remarkable breakthroughs in understanding the human brain and treating diseases that affect it, including epilepsy, …
UC San DiegoHow do mosses reproduce? By spreading their seed on everything
Mosses are a ubiquitous part of our environment, growing on trees, sidewalks, and in storm drains, coating rotting logs and forest floors. But even …
BiologyThe soil microbiome could change agriculture—if we can understand it
If social media feels overwhelming these days, it’s nothing compared to the chatter going on beneath your feet. Pick up a handful of soil and you’ll …
FarmingA scientist explains why you should approach exciting microbiome news with caution
You’ve probably heard about “the microbiome,” the trillions of bacteria and other microbes that live on and inside of our bodies in a microscopic …
Machine LearningThese tiny methane-eating organisms have an outsize impact on our climate models
Human industries and their output—oil fields, smokestacks, and cars—are usually thought of as the largest contributors to greenhouse gases. But …
Global WarmingFive facts about Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space
1. She came from nothing<p>For decades, Valentina Tereshkova represented to Russia a version of the Soviet dream: born in poverty, raised during the …
Space Exploration