Stephen Chew

The tuned cortex: Convergent expertise-related structural and functional remodeling across the adult lifespan Neuroplasticity is a defining property of the brain. Structural and functional brain changes arise soon after learning and are particularly evident following years of practice that underpin expert per...

Bird watching and brain development. www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...

Deep-sea fish break the mold with novel visual system For more than a century, biology textbooks have stated that vision among vertebrates - people included - is built from two clearly defined cell types: rods for processing dim light and cones for brigh...

Rods, cones, and that third option: www.reuters.com/science/deep...

Mutually Satisfied Mediocrity: When Indifferent Teachers Meet Indifferent Students There is an elusive win-win in teaching in which both teachers and students truly enjoy a class together. The teachers find pleasure and satisfaction in educating students, and the students are fully ...

My latest essay for The Teaching Professor: "Mutually Satisfied Mediocrity: When Indifferent Teachers Meet Indifferent Students" Subscription required. www.teachingprofessor.com/topics/stude...

Opinion | What a Baby’s Laugh Actually Tells Us A kid’s first joke reveals a complex mind.

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com

“Laughter and humor are fundamental to how babies learn about and participate in the world,” the developmental psychologist Gina Mireault writes.

Memories of childhood trauma may shift depending on current relationships Most people think memory is like a video recording, but new research suggests otherwise. A study shows that young adults remember their childhoods differently depending on how well they get along with their parents right now.

Memories of childhood trauma may shift depending on current relationships

(PDF) The Last of the Statistical Curmudgeons PDF | Students with a deep understanding of what the statistics mean, how they are computed, and how they might be misunderstood or misused will have a... | Find, read and cite all the research you ne...

My essay, "The Last of the Statistical Curmudgeons" for
The Teaching Professor now freely available on
ResearchGate The Last of the Statistical Curmudgeons. www.researchgate.net/publication/...

(PDF) Richard Feynman: How a Genius Approached Teaching PDF | How did Feynman approach teaching? Feynman had scribbled his philosophy of teaching in a note to himself in 1952: “First figure out why you want... | Find, read and cite all the research you nee...

My essay "Richard Feynman: How a Genius Approached Teaching" for The Teaching Professor now freely available on
ResearchGate.
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
.

(PDF) What I've Learned About Using Educational Technology PDF | Sometimes technology creates affordances that make our lives easier but not better, and we need to find ways of resist or constrain these affordances. | Find, read and cite all the research you ...

My essay, "What I've Learned About Using Educational Technology" for The Teaching Professor, now freely available on @ResearchGate.
www.researchgate.net/publication/...

It's the foundation of psychiatric diagnosis. And it's about to get a makeover The current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual is known as the DSM-5. What will the next version be called? That's one of several open questions as the "Bible of psychiatry" goes online.

The current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual is known as the DSM-5. What will the next version be called? That's one of several open questions as the "Bible of psychiatry" goes online. n.pr/49LG0vk

Spider monkeys pool their knowledge to find the best fruit When spider monkeys want to tell others about the best fruit trees in the forest or ones they've missed, they do so by changing their social groups to share what they know, according to a new study pu...

phys.org/news/2026-01...

Black man who was executed in Texas 70 years ago is cleared in case marked by racial bias Tommy Lee Walker was executed in the electric chair in May 1956 for the rape and murder of 31-year-old Venice Parker.

www.nbcnews.com/nbcblk3/blac...

No Link Between Water Fluoridation, Birth Weight, Study Shows www.medpagetoday.com/obgyn/pregna...

No bull: This Austrian cow has learned to use tools First evidence for tool use in cattle includes a skill previously seen only in humans and chimpanzees

About a decade ago, a baker in a small mountainous village in southern Austria noticed his cow doing something unusual... My latest for @science.org about the first documented case of tool use in cattle!

Researchers identify tool use in a pet cow, indicating livestock might be smarter than thought | CNN A new study is the first to describe tool use in a cow. It could be evidence that livestock has higher cognitive capabilities than once thought, researchers say.

www.cnn.com/2026/01/19/s...

The Last of the Statistical Curmudgeons I’m a statistical curmudgeon. When I teach statistics, I allow students to use only handheld calculators. I neither teach nor allow statistical software. I’m pretty sure I’m among the last of my kind....

My latest essay for The Teaching Professor, The Last of the Statistical Curmudgeons. Subscription required.
www.teachingprofessor.com/topics/stude...

The pandemic may have caused a songbird’s beak to change shape, scientists find | CNN Songbirds on the UCLA campus changed beak shapes during the pandemic, according to a new study. Researchers suspect it might be a case of rapid evolution.

www.cnn.com/2026/01/12/s...

Rapid evolutionary response in bird beak length in response to COVID-19.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Venomous snake strikes captured in extreme detail through high-speed videos for first time Over 100 videos of venomous snake strikes reveal three different types of attacks, with some biting down several times "to prolong the venom flow into their prey."

www.livescience.com/animals/snak...

Is your state legislator smarter than a college freshman?

Vesuvius Eruption Turned a Victim's Brain to Glass. Here's How. A man who died in the catastrophic eruption of Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago seems to have found a unique way to shuffle off this mortal coil.

www.sciencealert.com/vesuvius-eru...

Experts who once backed 'shaken baby' science now fight to free imprisoned caregivers A growing number of medical experts and law enforcement officials are reversing testimony that put parents behind bars. But they face an uphill battle.

www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

“Don’t Hold Back”: Swearing Improves Strength Through State Disinhibition psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...

A medical examiner's testimony put a father behind bars for life. Now he says he 'made a mistake.' Dr. Bruce Levy's finding that Alex Maze died of shaken baby syndrome was critical in the murder conviction of his father, Russell Maze. Decades later, Levy says he believes Maze is innocent.

www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

New Species of Tiny Pumpkin Toadlet Discovered in Brazil's Cloud Forests Deep in the mountains of southern Brazil, a bright orange frog, just over a centimeter long, hops into the spotlight.

Spray tan gone wrong.
www.sciencealert.com/new-species-...

Undiagnosed depression in cancer patients is one of the biggest gaps in treatment Depression, anxiety and other psychiatric conditions often go undetected and undiagnosed in patients. The neglect takes a significant toll on survival.

Depression, anxiety and other psychiatric conditions often go undetected and undiagnosed in patients. The neglect takes a significant toll on survival.

Want Good Info on Epilepsy Treatment? Don't Ask Dr. TikTok www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcover...

Richard Feynman: How a Genius Approached Teaching For many, Richard Feynman (1918–1988), the Nobel Prize–winning physicist turned cultural icon, is the prototype of a creative genius (Gleick, 1992). Beyond physics, he became renowned for his impish p...

My latest essay for The Teaching Professor: "Richard Feynman: How a Genius Approached Teaching" Subscription Required.
www.teachingprofessor.com/topics/profe...

Analyses of the Ancient Chinese Report on the Total Solar Eclipse in 709 BCE: Implications for the Contemporaneous Earth’s Rotation Speed and Solar Cycles Analyses of the Ancient Chinese Report on the Total Solar Eclipse in 709 BCE: Implications for the Contemporaneous Earth’s Rotation Speed and Solar Cycles, Hayakawa, Hisashi, Owens, Mathew J., Jin, Me...

Analyses of the Ancient Chinese Report on the Total Solar Eclipse in 709 BCE: Implications for the Contemporaneous Earth’s Rotation Speed and Solar Cycles
doi.org/10.3847/2041...
via @ioppublishing.bsky.social

Longitudinal Insights into Sensorineural and Noise‐Induced Hearing Loss in Adolescents Aged 13‐18 Years Objective To describe the prevalence of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and probable noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) among 18-year-olds, and to examine changes in prevalence and severity between...

Longitudinal Insights into Sensorineural and Noise‐Induced Hearing Loss in Adolescents Aged 13‐18 Years - Reijers - 2025 - Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery - Wiley Online Library aao-hnsfjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Dogs Given CBD Showed Lower Aggression Over Time, Unlike Dogs That Never Received It Learn how years of data from more than 47,000 dogs revealed a clear split in aggression between CBD-treated and untreated pets.

Good study to analyze in a research methods course.

www.discovermagazine.com/dogs-given-c...