Bret Stetka, Scientific American

Bret Stetka

Scientific American

New York, NY, United States

Contact Bret

Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.

Start free trial

Recent:
  • Unknown
Past:
  • Scientific American
  • NPR
  • WHYY
  • Wiscons Public Radio
  • KUOW
  • 89.3 KPCC
  • 90.1FM WABE
  • WBUR
  • knkx public radio
  • MPR News
  • and more…

Past articles by Bret:

Brainstorming on Zoom Hampers Creativity

Turning off the camera when trying to hash out new ideas might help → Read More

NPR

How a hyperactive cell in the brain might trigger Alzheimer's disease

Microglia are amoeba-like cells that scour the brain for injuries and invaders. But sometimes the usually helpful cells go into overdrive and damage the brain, researchers say. → Read More

NPR

To Keep Your Brain Young, Take Some Tips From Our Earliest Ancestors

Without a cure for Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, prevention is paramount. Habits that helped early humans thrive still make sense: a varied diet, exercise and an engaging social life. → Read More

An IBM AI Debates Humans—but It’s Not Yet the Deep Blue of Oratory

The give-and-take of formal arguments is still outside of a machine’s “comfort zone”—at least for now → Read More

NPR

How Humans Domesticated Themselves

Duke anthropologist Brian Hare argues that humans evolved in a way that left us more cooperative and friendlier than our now extinct human cousins, like Neanderthals and Denisovans. → Read More

Our Brain Is Better at Remembering Where to Find Brownies Than Cherry Tomatoes

Humans’ spatial recall makes mental notes about the location of high-calorie foods → Read More

Bird Brains Are Far More Humanlike Than Once Thought

The avian cortex had been hiding in plain sight all along. Humans were just too birdbrained to see it → Read More

Ancient Teeth Reveal Social Stratification Dates Back to Bronze Age Societies

Humans have a history of status division stretching back at least 4,000 years → Read More

Lab-Grown “Mini Brains” Can Now Mimic the Neural Activity of a Preterm Infant

The so-called organoids are not capable of complex thought but could be used to study neurological diseases → Read More

New Method for Tackling Stroke Restrains an Overactive Immune System

Shutting down an inflammatory molecule could potentially provide treatment days after onset → Read More

Our Brain Uses a Not-So-Instant Replay to Make Decisions

Neural processing centers repeat recent sequences of events to lay down new memories used for abstract thought → Read More

A Genetic Risk Score Tries to Predict Whether A Child Will Become Obese

A still-controversial test could be administered to toddlers to gauge their chances → Read More

New Strategies Take On the Worst Cancer--Glioblastoma

Among the various malignancies that can afflict the human body, few bring with them the dour prognoses of brain tumors → Read More

Researchers find a web of factors behind multiple sclerosis

We now know that MS is not infectious in the true sense of the word. It is not contagious in the way, say, the flu is. But infection does likely play a role in MS. → Read More

Researchers Find A Web Of Factors Behind Multiple Sclerosis

As the story goes, nearly 80 years ago on the Faroe Islands - a stark North Atlantic arc → Read More

"Superhuman" AI Triumphs Playing the Toughest Board Games

Will a general algorithm that masters chess, go and shogi succeed as well for games with less-defined rules? → Read More

"Superhuman" AI Triumphs Playing the Toughest Board Games

Will a general algorithm that masters chess, go and shogi succeed as well for games with less-defined rules? → Read More

"Gambling Brain" Studies Make Clear Why It's Hard to Stop Rolling the Dice

Neural regions underlying risk-taking and regret may one day point toward treatments for compulsive betting → Read More

"Gambling Brain" Studies Make Clear Why It's Hard to Stop Rolling the Dice

Neural regions underlying risk-taking and regret may one day point toward treatments for compulsive betting → Read More

NPR

Infectious Theory Of Alzheimer's Disease Draws Fresh Interest

Money has poured into Alzheimer's research, but until very recently not much of it went toward investigating infection in causing dementia. A million dollar prize may lead more scientists to try. → Read More