Eating junk food may disrupt the hippocampus, which affects memory and appetite control in the brain, causing people to overindulge, according to findings published in Royal Society Open Science. Researchers recorded changes in appetite control in study participants within one week of starting a junk food diet.

Methane emissions from fossil fuels may have been underestimated by as much as 40%, according to data gathered globally as far back 1750, and published in Nature. Each ice core melted by the research team for sampling weight around 1,000 kilograms.

Fossils of several species of fish have been found in the Sahara desert and likely populated lakes that existed there between 10,200 and 4,650 years ago, according to findings published in PLOS ONE. Researchers say people and animals who populated the area at that time ate a diet that included catfish and tilapia before climate change dried up the lakes, swamps and ponds.

The NIH has awarded a $1.6 million grant to Dr. Prakash Chinnaiyan of Beaumont Health and the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine in Michigan. The funds will go toward a study of glioblastoma and the role metabolites play in brain cancer development.

A Texas school district is enrolling high schoolers in its newest career and technical education program, manufacturing engineering. The program launched in response to a national need for more engineers.

Welding students at a Tennessee high school are constructing battering rams that will be used by the local sheriff's department. Students now are building five more devices, which take a couple of weeks to complete.

Scotland is investing in restoring its peatlands, which can store large amounts of carbon and are viewed as a critical environmental resource in the battle against climate change. Restoration is a challenging task, with biogeochemist Roxane Andersen noting, "It's so easy to break an ecosystem, and it's so hard to bring it back."

Some conservationists are advocating for a ban on the global wildlife trade, which might be linked to the coronavirus outbreak in China. The government has already enacted a temporary ban, but that could be lifted after the epidemic passes.

Google Maps displays certain geographic features and political borders differently for people in different countries, observers say. This article examines the country's approach to displaying disputed regions such as Kashmir.

A Massachusetts district's students are applying their STEM skills and knowledge to solve problems. At one school, seventh-graders taking a required engineering course were challenged to come up with devices that would help people with disabilities, and some will be shown to hospitals for professional evaluation and feedback.