Stories by Gary Stix

In hindsight, 2020 witnessed a disproportionate mental health burden on women and young people

Symptoms subsided for one woman after a carefully targeted neural circuit was stimulated

Recent findings have implications for the design of prostheses. Care for a third thumb, anyone?

Persistent rumination may be an attribute that lets us think our way out of despair—a process enhanced through talk therapy

This winter the novel coronavirus may kill more people than heart disease, cancer, stroke, Alzheimer’s or diabetes

It has been a tough year, but science still brought us some weird, cool and quirky findings

I’m not certain the antibodies it contains are any more therapeutic than Trump’s favorite unproven drug, hydroxychloroquine

It kills more people than the flu, contrary to Trump’s claims, and also surpasses stroke, Alzheimer’s and diabetes

Artificial intelligence still needs to bridge the “sim-to-real” gap. Deep-learning techniques that are all the rage in AI log superlative performances in mastering cerebral games, including chess and Go, both of which can be played on a computer. But translating simulations to the physical world remains a bigger challenge.

A robot named Curly that uses “deep reinforcement learning”—making improvements as it corrects its own errors—came out on top in three of four games against top-ranked human opponents from South Korean teams thatincluded a women’s team and a reserve squad for the national wheelchair team. (No brooms were used).

One crucial finding was that the AI system demonstrated its ability to adapt to changing ice conditions. “These results indicate that the gap between physics-based simulators and the real world can be narrowed,” the joint South Korean-German research team wrote in Science Robotics on September 23. 

The preeminent sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild discusses the control over one’s feelings needed to go to work every day during a pandemic

Usage patterns shape biases worldwide, whether in Japanese, Persian or English

An outbreak of typhus in the densely packed walled enclosure was countered by adopting all-too-familiar public health measures

June 10 is a day off from “business as usual” for non-Black academics and a day of rest for Black students, staff and faculty

An epidemiologist points to new stresses in the U.S. mental health system that may persist from the novel coronavirus pandemic

Some nominally high-risk individuals may have a lower chance of developing dementia than once thought

Harvard medical students created a free curriculum to give their peers and others a physician’s-eye view of the pandemic

Batting down conspiracy theories about disease outbreaks such as that of the new coronavirus may prove counterproductive to public health efforts

Particular antioxidants in fruits and vegetables may lower chances of getting the disease

Research by the neuroendocrinologist into the effects of cortisol and other hormones marked a major contribution 

An ability to read and write, even with little or no schooling, could offer protection

The organization’s anniversary comes at a time when some scientists have been barred from attending its annual meeting because of the U.S. travel ban

Small tweaks, not deep physical insight, can lead to a better mousetrap

Posts made by the @realDonaldTrump account demonstrate how the president’s linguistic style changed as he advanced toward the White House

Neuralink says it can robotically implant more than 3,000 flexible-polymer electrodes in a rat or monkey brain. The device is still a long way from routine human use, however