Science

Some commonly recommended tactics for managing anger, including hitting a punching bag, jogging and cycling, aren’t effective at helping people cool off. That’s the key takeaway of our new review of 154 studies that looked at how activities that increase versus decrease physiological arousal affect anger and aggression.

Arousal is how researchers like us describe how alert and energized someone is. When you’re in a state of high physiological arousal, you’ll have increased heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate and skin conductance due to sweat gland activity. Anger is a negative emotion associated with high physiological arousal.

Global temperatures "smashed" heat records last year, as heatwaves stalked oceans and glaciers suffered record ice loss, the United Nations said Tuesday -- warning 2024 was likely to be even hotter.

The annual State of the Climate report by the UN's World Meteorological Organization confirmed preliminary data showing 2023 was by far the hottest year ever recorded.

The mystery of so-called Havana Syndrome, which struck down dozens of US diplomats, deepened Monday as new research found no tangible evidence of brain injury in those affected.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) acknowledged that ongoing symptoms including migraines, chronic dizziness, and depression are still very much real -- even if they cannot yet be explained.

By harnessing light, my colleagues and I designed a wireless, ultrathin pacemaker that operates like a solar panel. This design not only eliminates the need for batteries but also minimizes disruptions to the heart’s natural function by molding to its contours. Our research, recently published in the journal Nature, offers a new approach to treatments that require electrical stimulation, such as heart pacing.

Pacemakers are medical devices implanted in the body to regulate heart rhythms. They’re composed of electronic circuits with batteries and leads anchored to the heart muscle to stimulate it. However, leads can fail and damage tissue. The location of the leads can’t be changed once they’re implanted, limiting access to different heart regions. Because pacemakers use rigid, metallic electrodes, they may also damage tissue when restarting the heart after surgery or regulating arrhythmia.

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

Their stories are divided into before and after.

First, those long years of pain which flooded every moment -- school, relationships, work.

For the third time in less than a year, Arizona Republican lawmakers listened intently and offered no pushback during a special hearing at the state Senate that was billed as examining the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic but was instead rife with conspiracy theories, misinformation and fear-mongering about vaccines and public health.

In May 2023, the Novel Coronavirus Southwestern Intergovernmental Committee featured testimony from a group of supposed health experts who spread misinformation about vaccines and the pandemic during the committee’s time. Then, in October 2023, the committee met again, bringing some of the same “experts.”