All year long, I’ve followed the incredible science news coming out of Baltimore’s research universities. I’ve learned about the end of the world, broken hearts, and innovative new treatments for cancer and Alzheimer’s. Here are some of the best things that I’ve learned in 2012 — some of them may surprise you!
- It’s okay to try to slam a spaceship into an asteroid just to see what happens — as long as you’re a scientist.
- A kind of pacemaker — but for the brain, not the heart — might be a step toward curing Alzheimer’s.
- Older doctors make fewer mistakes.
- The popular crowd from high school will probably make more money than the rest of us nobodies. No fair.
- Pregnancy is stressful…. for men.
- You can actually die of a broken heart.
- Children from immigrant families outperform their peers in school — and beyond.
- Sometimes there’s an upside to bullying. We still don’t recommend it, though.
- There actually is a “right” way to swim — if you’re in the Olympics, at least.
- Birds commit adultery, too.
- More bad bird news: there’s arsenic in your chicken!
- Johns Hopkins astronomers know when and how the world is going to end, in case you were curious.
