A new method for detecting disease-causing bacteria in food could eventually help keep tainted products from landing on diners’ plates.  Read more at NOVA Next.

The original Z151 lived in a pond in Lancashire, England. She spent her days the way most microscopic animals of her species do, munching on the pond’s algae and using her eight translucent legs to shamble from one clump of pond scum to another, until November 13, 1987, when a fellow named Bob McNuff scooped her up as part of a water sample. Full Article »

Here’s a challenge: Close your eyes and then try touching your nose with your finger.  Did you do it? Even without using any of the five famous senses—sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell—you most likely found your nose without any trouble.  How does this happen?  Find out in Eben Bein’s story in the Atlantic.

While honey has been used as a natural remedy for millennia, its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties are increasingly embraced by conventional medicine, especially in light of recent studies suggesting honey can fight antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. Kendra Pierre-Louis reports at Motherboard.

Neuroscientists have known since the 1960s what nerves tell a person’s legs to step off the curb to cross the street. But until now, they had no idea which hold the person back to avoid getting hit by a car.  Margaux Phares reports on NOVA Next.

Can this new technology stop pet cats from killing local birds?  Conor Gearin reports in the Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/12/accessories-for-your-murderous-pet/419601/

We know hypothermia as something that people die from, but can it help save them as well?  Margaux Phares reports on NOVA Next.

When early hominins—the chimp-like forerunners of modern humans—moved from the forest to the savannah, they also started hearing a bit more like modern humans, according to a study in the September 25th issue of Science Advances. Full Article »

You wake up one morning with stomach pain and chills and assume you have food poisoning from some bad fish. However, over the next few days your symptoms take a turn for the weird. You are still nauseous, but now hot showers feel freezing cold, and your teeth feel loose. You finally drag yourself to the doctor, and after a battery of tests you are diagnosed with ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP). Wait, what? Full Article »