Cara Santa Maria

How Old Is Life On Earth, And How Do We Know?

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 05.24.2012

Read More: Radioisotopes, Earth Age, Video, Half-Life, Paleontology, Talk Nerdy to Me, Carbon-14, Radiocarbon Dating, Science, Evolution, Cara Santa Maria, Science News, Fossils, Carbon Dating, Science News

The Earth is 4.54 billion years old; 3.8 billion years ago, the very first life form came into existence; 225 million years ago, dinosaurs came on the...

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WATCH: Is Stem Cell Treatment As Advanced As You Think?

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 05.21.2012

Read More: Video, Stem Cell, Pluripotent Cells, Talk Nerdy to Me, Cara Santa Maria, Stem Cell Research, Stem Cell Scams, Medicine, Embryonic Stem Cells, Stem Cell Treatment, Stem Cell Tourism, Biomedical Research, Induced Pluripotent Cells, Science News

In the future, stem cells may hold the key to treating some of mankind's most challenging diseases. Unfortunately, the future is not now. And stem cell scammers know this all too well.

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A Real-Life Doctor Frankenstein?

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 05.16.2012

Read More: Video, Galvanism, Isaac Newton, Electricity, Talk Nerdy to Me, Corpse Reanimator, Luigi Galvani, Mad Scientist, Mad Science, Giovanni Aldini, Electroconvulsive Therapy, Deep Brain Stimulation, Cara Santa Maria, Frankenstein, Electrophysiology, Science News

Giovanni Aldini may not be a household name, but his contributions to science cannot be ignored. Neither can his macabre demonstrations of the power of electricity on the human body.

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How To Make A Digital Human

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 05.14.2012

Have you ever wondered just how they make digital characters like Benjamin Button? Apparently, the trick is all in the lighting.

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Is Cannibalism Good For You?

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 05.09.2012

Read More: Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy, Video, Neuroscience, Flesh Eating, Kuru, Brain, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, Talk Nerdy to Me, Prions, Cannibalism, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, Cara Santa Maria, Mad Cow Disease, Science News

Is eating people dangerous? Nutritional? Healthy? What actually happens, physiologically, when human flesh is consumed?

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WATCH: Liberal, Conservative: Are You Born That Way?

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 05.07.2012

Read More: Politics, Democrat, Video, Neuroscience, Progressive, Personality, Brain, Talk Nerdy to Me, Republican, Chris Mooney, Science, Conservative, Liberal, Cara Santa Maria, Science News, The Republican Brain, Ideology, Science News

Do we have traits that can be used to reliably predict whether someone is liberal or conservative in nature?

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WATCH: Asteroid Mining, The Republican Brain, Science Education On 'The Point'

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 05.05.2012

Read More: Video, Linda Darling-Hammond, Max, Talk Nerdy to Me, Lugavere, Chris Mooney, The Young Turks, Tim Lee, Science, Cara Santa Maria, Phil Plait, Asteroid Mining, The Republican Brain, The Point, KC Cole, Science News

I was recently invited to guest host "The Point," presented by "The Young Turks'" YouTube channel, TownSquare. As the Science Correspondent (and resid...

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WATCH: Virtual Humans In The Wild Wild West

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 05.04.2012

Read More: Virtual Humans, Science, Video, Adaptive Technology, Cara Santa Maria, Usc, Computer Science, Talk Nerdy to Me, Artificial Intelligence, Institute for Creative Technologies, Science News

Have you ever had a conversation with a computer that wasn't one-sided? Virtual humans are the newest attempt to cross the uncanny valley and present ...

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WATCH: Does Prayer Work?

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 05.10.2012

Read More: Tanya Luhrmann, Religion, Video, Talk Nerdy to Me, Does Prayer Work, Science, Prayer, Cara Santa Maria, Science News, Michael Shermer, Intercessory Prayer, Science News

An overwhelming 83 percent of Americans say that God answers prayers--which raises the question, does prayer work? Is it something that we can even be...

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WATCH: Is The Internet Changing Your Brain?

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 04.25.2012

Read More: Cognitive Overload, Neuroplasticity, Internet, Multitasking, The Shallows, Neuroscience, Video, Plasticity, Brain, Talk Nerdy to Me, Nicholas Carr, Science, Cara Santa Maria, Science News, Science News

Is the internet bad for our brains? Is it affecting our ability to remember things, form meaningful relationships, or make decisions?

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WATCH: Next Steps For Virtual Reality

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 04.23.2012

Read More: Video, Virtual Reality, Talk Nerdy to Me, Ict, Augmented Reality, University of Southern California, Science, Usc, Cara Santa Maria, Science News, Mixed Reality, Institute for Creative Technologies, Science News

The worlds we can now enter with virtual reality technology are so stunningly authentic, it's hard to tell where true life ends and the virtual landscape begins.

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WATCH: It's 4/20, Time For Stoned Science

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 04.23.2012

Read More: Video, Legalize It, Talk Nerdy to Me, Igor Grant, Marijuana, 420, Science, Medical Marijuana, Cara Santa Maria, Pot, Medicine, Legalization, Weed, Science News

I reached out to Dr. Igor Grant, the director of the University of California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research to get a scientific perspective on the benefits of medical marijuana.

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WATCH: Does Gender Define Us?

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 04.18.2012

Read More: Lgbt, Jenna Talackova, Intersex, Video, Transgender, Miss Universe, Glaad, Talk Nerdy to Me, Sex, Science, Caster Semenya, Cara Santa Maria, Anne Fausto-Sterling, Sexuality, Gender, Science News

What makes us male or female? What happens when our biological gender is out of sync with our gender identity?

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WATCH: Pain And Progress In Burn Care (NSFW)

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 04.09.2012

Read More: Recell, Self-Immolation, Video, Skin Graft, Tibet Protests, Talk Nerdy to Me, Health, Burn Care, Burn, Science, Cara Santa Maria, Burns, Fire, Technology, Medicine, Spray on Skin, Science News

What actually happens to the body when it catches fire, and what technological advances in burn treatment await on the horizon?

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WATCH: Can You Hear Colors, Taste Sound?

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 05.16.2012

Read More: Human Senses, Video, Neuroscience, Steffie Tomson, Taste, Synesthete, Brain, Talk Nerdy to Me, Smell, Science, Psychology, Cara Santa Maria, David Eagleman, Synesthesia, Science News

Synesthesia is a fascinating neurological condition that causes an individual to experience perceptual information through a sense modality that is unlinked to its source.

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WATCH: 'The Young Turks' Turns Heat Up On Climate Change

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 04.04.2012

Read More: Education, Video, The Heartland Institute, Talk Nerdy to Me, Cenk Uygur, The Young Turks, Science, Climate Change, Climate Change Denial, Creationsim, Evolution, Cara Santa Maria, Current TV, Global Warming, Science News

As the science correspondent for The Huffington Post, I am often afforded the opportunity to discuss science topics on television and radio. This week...

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WATCH: Are You Ready For The 'Big One?'

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 04.04.2012

Read More: Geophysics, Natural Disasters, California, S Wave, 1906, P Wave, Earthquake, Warning System, Video, Quake, Talk Nerdy to Me, Seismology, Seismograph, Cara Santa Maria, Northridge, San Francisco, Early Warning Systems, Science News

I spoke to Dr. Thomas Heaton to get a clearer picture of what early earthquake warning systems are and how they can save lives.

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WATCH: The Mind Of A Mass Murderer

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 03.28.2012

Read More: Mass Murder, Robert Bales, Personality, Science, Michael Koenigs, Murder, Video, Brain, Talk Nerdy to Me, Killer, Ut Sniper, Brain Damage, Cara Santa Maria, Charles Whitman, Mind, Science News

On August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman murdered his mother and his wife before traveling to the campus of the University of Texas, climbing inside the tower, and killing fourteen others.

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WATCH: Is The Near-Death Experience A Really Good Trip?

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 05.23.2012

Read More: White Light, Video, Dying, Talk Nerdy to Me, Soul, Near-Death Experience, Dmt, Out of Body Experience, Duncan McDougall, Tunnel, Cara Santa Maria, Death, Science News

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WATCH: Science And Sex On 'The Point'

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 03.23.2012

Read More: Sex Nerd Sandra, Science, Hypersexuality, Video, Monogamy, Talk Nerdy to Me, Sex, Christopher Ryan, Contraception, Cara Santa Maria, Nina Hartley, The Point, Science News

As the Science Correspondent here on HuffPost Science, I am sometimes offered the opportunity to appear on radio, television, and internet shows to ta...

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WATCH: Tennessee Passes Anti-Evolution Law

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 05.20.2012

Read More: Intelligent Design, Education, Video, Creationism, Talk Nerdy to Me, Tennessee, Scopes Trial, Anti-Evolution, Science, Cara Santa Maria, Evolution, Global Warming Denial, Legislation, Classroom, Science News

Monday evening, a new bill was approved by the Tennessee Senate that will protect teachers who wish to promote "alternate" scientific theories. What does this mean for the students?

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WATCH: Neil deGrasse Tyson Talks Origins, Aliens, And Multiple Dimensions

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 03.20.2012

Read More: Video, Astrophysics, Astronomy, Talk Nerdy to Me, Space, Intelligent Life, Physics, Aliens, Cara Santa Maria, Cosmos, Universe, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Multiple Dimensions, Science News

From intelligent alien life to our stellar origins, how to think outside of the three-dimensional box to what baffles one of the great thinkers of our time, this was a conversation I won't soon forget.

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WATCH: Of Multituberculates And Men

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 05.15.2012

Read More: Greg Wilson, Video, Cretaceous-Tertiary, Dentition, Multituberculate, Paleontology, Talk Nerdy to Me, K-T, Extinction, Mammal, Proto-Mammal, Science, Cara Santa Maria, Dinosaur, Teeth, Science News

Although humans never walked with dinosaurs (you hear that, Santorum?), some of our earliest ancestors seem to have done so.

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WATCH: Pi Maven's Amazing Feat Spotlights Celebrated Constant

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 05.13.2012

Read More: Pi Day, Video, Math, 3.14, Talk Nerdy to Me, Science, Cara Santa Maria, Daniel Tammet, Hard 'N Phirm, Pi, Science News

Today is March 14, also known as 3.14, also known as Pi Day. Geeks around the world will unite today to celebrate one of the most unique and beautiful constants in all of mathematics.

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WATCH: This Is Your Brain On Music

HuffingtonPost.com | Cara Santa Maria | Posted 05.09.2012

Read More: Spearman's G, Video, Neuroscience, Guitar Zero, Talk Nerdy to Me, Guitar Hero, Science, Gary Marcus, Psychology, Cara Santa Maria, Guitar, Musical Ability, Music, Learning, Critical Period, Science News

Do you want to learn how to play an instrument but think that you "can't teach an old dog new tricks?" Then you'd be interested in what Gary Marcus has to say.

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