Where do phobias come from?

Animal phobias are likely the most common type of phobias, followed by an extreme fear of heights

Dr. Martin Antony, a Canadian expert on phobias and anxiety, says that fears of creepy, crawly animals like snakes, spiders, and mice are particularly common.

Animal phobias are likely the most common type of phobias, followed by an extreme fear of heights.

About 12.5% of US adults experience a phobia in their lifetime, a diagnosis that hinges on the intense fear interfering with daily life and persisting for at least six months.

An intense fear must persist for at least six months to be diagnosed as a phobia

Research suggests that both environmental and genetic factors can contribute to the onset of these intense, irrational fears. Often, they can stem from an early traumatic experience, but not always.

Doctors differentiate between a phobia and fear by asking patients whether their fear interferes with their day-to-day activities.

Fearology, or the study of fear, explores the difference between stress and fear

Our brains involuntarily respond to our environment and signal alarm when that isn’t always needed, triggering responses that include goose bumps. But understanding fear and how to talk our brains into calming down can improve daily life.

Lesser-known phobias include turophobia, or the fear of cheese, and nomophobia, the fear of being without your cell phone

19.2M Americans suffer from phobias, including extreme fears of spiders, snakes, heights, and flying.

Unlike milder fears, phobias may get in the way of proceeding with your life

Clinicians may recommend exposure therapy—exposing oneself to the thing triggering fears in some doses—as one way to help overcome a fear.

Lesser-known phobias include turophobia, or the fear of cheese, and nomophobia, the fear of being without your cell phone.

Brain conditions and surgery can cause some individuals to feel no fear

Fear is a survival mechanism that originates in the brain's amygdala, triggering the body's fight-or-flight response. However, in modern society, without the same natural dangers, fear can lead to anxiety and mental health issues when unnecessarily triggered. Understanding individuals without fear may help identify new methods to treat anxiety disorders.

Fear or disgust related to clusters of holes and cracks, called trypophobia, may stem from evolutionary processes to help us avoid pathogens.

Why does the body have a stress response?

When encountering a stressful situation, the human body typically goes into what is known as "fight-or-flight" mode. Because it evolved as a survival mechanism, the biochemical response enables people and other mammals to react quickly to life-threatening situations. The carefully orchestrated yet near-instantaneous sequence of hormonal changes and physiological responses helps someone to fight the threat off or flee to safety.

Fear or disgust related to clusters of holes and cracks, called trypophobia, may stem from evolutionary processes to help us avoid pathogens

This type of extreme reaction to harmless holes, dots, cracks, and seed collections can be debilitating for those who have it, but it is not an officially recognized disorder in the DSM-5.

Why some people have allergies

Why do some people have allergies while others don’t? One theory suggests allergies are a relic of our evolutionary past. Our immune system, once primed to fight parasites, now mistakes harmless substances for threats.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century'

The phobia's name is short for "no-mobile-phone phobia" and was first recognized as a result of 2010 UK government study that found men, in particular, were uncomfortable and anxious being away from their devices.

Why so many people love roller coasters even though they’re scary

When a threat arises, it triggers our bodies to go into fight-or-flight mode and prepare for danger. However, when no obvious threat to our safety is present, this natural high can become enjoyable. Some people are more likely to enjoy these thrills based on factors like individual brain chemistry or physical health.

Apeirophobia is the fear of everlasting life

The fear may stem from the human brain's inability to conceptualize the concept of anything happening beyond what it can project out, such as the concept of an infinite life.

See these 16 pieces of art evoking phobias of snakes, flying, spiders, and more. 

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

Apeirophobia is an overwhelming fear of living forever, perhaps stemming from the brain's inability to conceptualize an infinite life.

Panic attacks are intense fear episodes that often occur without a clear trigger

Unlike typical fear responses to real danger, panic attacks can mimic serious health problems, such as heart attacks. Sweating during a panic attack may seem random, but it's a leftover survival mechanism that made it easier for our ancestors to escape by slipping out of an attacker’s grasp.

Misophonia is a neurological disorder where sounds trigger strong emotions

The phenomenon is characterized by decreased tolerance to specific sounds, such as heavy breathing, pen clicking, and water dripping, which trigger a fight-or-flight response. The resulting emotions, which can range from irritation and disgust to anxiety and fear, can be overwhelming and uncontrollable.

Fevers are an immune response to create hurdles for pathogens

Substances called pyrogens prompt the brain to raise the body temperature to levels where bacteria and viruses struggle to survive. The higher temps also support immune cells fighting off the invaders.

How new research sheds light on why we dream

The theory of where dreams originate began shifting from ancient mystical explanations to modern scientific ones at the beginning of the 20th century. Now, scientists have the ability to track electrical activity in the brain, solidifying some of the field's softer science into observable data and giving rise to sleep labs.

Scholars trace existential anxiety back to early Hebrew scriptures

Paul Megna, a scholar of literature and philosophy, notes that the existentialist ideas of Kierkegaard (and, to a lesser extent, Sarte and Camus) had their roots in much earlier texts, which posited that "fear of the Lord" was "the beginning of wisdom."

An overview of extremophiles and the biochemical adaptations employed by various types

These organisms thrive in environments that would normally be inhospitable to most living things by using molecules that help counter deadly environmental factors. These include antifreeze-like proteins that prevent psychrophiles from freezing and rupturing in polar regions, and osmoprotectants that prevent some extremophiles from losing water to salty environments.

Explore 3D models of some of the most dangerous viruses

Everyone has come in contact with common viruses—typically something like influenza (the common flu)—but sometimes they encounter more dangerous strains. While we're familiar with the symptoms that manifest, it wasn't until the advent of advanced microscopy that scientists could pin down the exact structure and behavior of various viruses.

The origin of cyborgs

The term "cyborg" was coined in a 1960 academic paper discussing what alterations humans would need to undergo to survive in extraterrestrial environments, a venture far "more logical than providing an earthly environment" in space. According to authors Manfred E. Clynes and Nathan S. Kline, Cyborgs with a capital C have incorporated exogenous components that extend their ability to adapt to new environments. Read the paper here.

Where did zombies come from?

This 17-minute video dives into the origin of modern-day zombies. Zombies can be traced to early West African spiritual practices, specifically Vodou. Vodou evolved from the mixture of beliefs held by enslaved Africans in the French colony of...

Bird Flu is spreading—what does that mean for us and other species?

The rapid global spread of H5N1 bird flu—from remote Antarctic islands to US farms—shows how animal spillover, driven by human activity and ecological disruption, is accelerating pandemic risk across species long before sustained human transmission begins.

Behind the fascinating disguising mechanism of camouflage

Camouflage—nature's master game of hide-and-seek—is more complex than simply how things look. The disguising process required millions of years of evolution that have programmed how our brains take shortcuts. Watch this video to see examples of camouflage and understand how we process it.

Fireflies light up to provide mating signals and warnings to predators

Variations in the illumination patterns and flight paths while emitting light have been observed across firefly species. Some species instead rely on pheromones if they are primarily active during the day or have lost the ability to illuminate.

After 25 people used virtual reality headsets to practice flying with virtual wings—flapping their arms—their visual cortex responded to the wings almost as if they were real arms, treating them as body parts.

Why do flash floods occur?

Flash flooding can be more dangerous than traditional floods, occurring within the span of hours and exhibiting rapid currents. Here's how atmospheric conditions and geography combine to make some locations ripe for the disaster.

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

The concept of phantom limbs, the perception that amputated limbs are still present, dates back to a French military surgeon in the 16th century.

Larger animals like giraffes, elephants, and blue whales have developed a unique defense against cancer, a phenomenon known as Peto's Paradox

Some Pokémon have been named after real and fictional organisms, while some real-world species have been named after Pokémon, such as Chilicola charizard and Binburrum zapdos.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

An investigation suggests a Scottish island became awash in forever chemicals via seafoam and seaspray—raising questions about what that means for the safety of other coastal areas.

How the most famous Ebola book, The Hot Zone, which sold 3.5 million copies and was translated into 30 languages, got aspects of the disease so wrong.

Crows are believed to have intelligence on par with a seven-year-old child and demonstrate complex behaviors, from problem-solving with tools to recognizing human faces.

The animatronic shark from Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws,' the first modern blockbuster, was a complex underwater apparatus called 'Bruce.'

Experimental hantavirus vaccines and therapies, still under development, have long been funded by the US military.

While atoms are normally made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, exotic ones have been built with antimatter—alternate versions of normal matter that live for fractions of a second and are about a billion times as rare.

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

During the French Revolution, a botanist's letter asking about "dear Rhus" (poison ivy) was intercepted, leading authorities to suspect he was conspiring with the Russians.

The deadliest aspect of volcanic eruptions is often not lava, but pyroclastic flows—avalanches of ash, gas, and rock that can move more than half the speed of sound.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.