What is metabolic rate?

Is metabolism related to weight loss?

Read this article to better understand metabolism and why doctors say it's only one piece in the puzzle to managing weight. Metabolism breaks down and converts what we consume into energy, which provides fuel for all of our body's functions—both...

Spontaneous metabolism may give clues to origins of life

Read this article to learn more about the discovery that suggests that metabolism could have begun spontaneously on our planet—and why it means that scientists may need to rethink how we define life’s origins. A team of researchers at the...

The human brain only uses 5% more energy during active tasks versus resting

Despite only being 2% of the weight of a human body, the average adult brain consumes 20% of its energy, with the majority of it spent on maintaining homeostasis—the stable equilibrium conditions of temperature, acidity, blood sugar, and other properties in the body. For infants, the consumption is closer to 50%.

What is a calorie?

Today it may go without thinking that we measure food by calories...but where did this come from and what does it mean? A kilo-calorie (or, as we call it, simply "calorie") is the amount of heat energy needed to raise the temperature of one...

VO2 max measures the body's ability to use oxygen to produce energy

VO2 max is the maximum rate at which the body can use oxygen to aerobically produce energy—adenosine triphosphate—for use during intense exercise. Aerobic exercise increases VO2 max, counteracting age-related decline by increasing the body's capillary count and remodeling the heart's left ventricle, increasing the amount of blood it pumps.

How does your body turn food into energy?

Cells get energy via a process known as cellular respiration, which involves turning glucose into ATP or adenosine triphosphate. Breaking the phosphate bonds of ATP results in usable energy being released into cells, which can then use that energy to power biological processes. This 10-minute video explains how glucose turns into ATP, giving the body the energy it needs to survive.

The R0 value is how epidemiologists quantify disease contagiousness

The basic reproduction number indicates the average number of people a person with a disease will infect. Measles is the most contagious disease, with an R0 of 12-18, though vaccines have significantly reduced the number of susceptible individuals.

T. rex needed the same amount of calories as 80 people every day

Tyrannosaurus rex is the most extensively studied fossil creature ever known. Every year, new research is added to the towering list of papers that try to draw …

What is the gut microbiome?

The gut microbiome is a microscopic ecosystem that runs off the work of microbes in the digestive tract. These workers make getting energy from food possible. What and how that energy manifests depends on what building blocks these microbes have to work with, meaning their composition and functions are strongly influenced by diet. Gut microbes have their own genes, which affect how a person's genes act.

What it's like to live with insomnia

The biological process Shakespeare referred to as the chief nourisher of life's feast is necessary for the body and mind to rest and repair from the activities of daily life. As sleep evades the exhausted, sufferers also lose emotional stability, mental clarity, social connections, and more while simultaneously gaining waves of interrupted biological processes that can lead to disease and death.

Metastasis: When cancer cells begin to travel through the body

Metastatic cancer starts in one part of the body and moves to another over time. This is known as metastasis. Such cancers are much more harmful since they attack multiple parts of the body, adapting new metabolic changes to suit the various environments found throughout a body.

Runners typically burn 2,600 calories during a marathon

They also burn between 5-10 pounds of water weight, often feel more focused and elated (thanks to increased neurotransmitters), and, oddly enough, temporarily grow about a half-inch shorter due to back muscles tensing.

A caffeine calculator

This simple calculator takes your preferred caffeinated drink and your body weight to determine how much is the right amount, and how much might kill you. In case you've ever had the morbid curiosity about just how much of that tea you'd have to drink to doze off forever. Find out your moderate and lethal doses here, as well as some extra info on caffeine consumption.

Modern Monetary Theory 101

Modern Monetary Theory is a macroeconomic theory that says government spending should not be restrained by fears of rising debt. Here's a breakdown of how the theory works.

Since 1983, the meter has been defined based on the speed of light

The 1875 Metre Convention established the unit as the length between two lines inscribed on the surface of bars made by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. Advancements in the measurement of light redefined it as the distance light travels in 1/299,792,458 of a second.

An overview of bioremediation, which can help clean up oil spills, mining waste, and some plastics

The umbrella term refers to a variety of techniques that use organisms to remove harmful substances from an environment or break them down into nontoxic compounds. Because the availability of certain resources can limit the growth of these organisms and impair bioremediation efforts, nutrients such as fertilizers can be deployed to accelerate cleanup.

Bone marrow (soft tissue found inside certain bones) generates roughly 500 billion new blood cells each day

Studies suggest when you sleep is as important as how much you get, and syncing with your circadian rhythms may lead to less fatigue and improved long-term health outcomes

A battery management system determines the displayed battery percentage

The software in modern devices provides values by combining estimates based on voltage—akin to knowing how much air is left in a tire based on the pressure of the escaping air—and coulomb counting, where the rate of electrical current is calibrated to the ratio of remaining charge to full capacity.

Clinical burnout: prolonged exhaustion, mental distance, and persistent negative feelings

Burnout isn’t just stress—it’s a pervasive feeling of exhaustion that can start in the workplace and seep into everyday life. It causes feelings of dread and cynicism about work tasks. On top of emotional distress, there can be physical symptoms and a tendency towards addictive behavior.

Catalysts increase chemical reaction rates by providing a lower energy pathway

All chemical reactions must overcome an energy barrier, called an activation energy, to proceed. If insufficient thermal energy exists in the system to overcome the barrier, catalysts can effectively lower the activation energy, increasing the likelihood of reactions occurring.

Demographic definitions and key terms

This page provides a clear definition of demography and a glossary of demographic terminology. Demography is the science of populations. By investigating birth, migration, and aging, demographers seek to understand population dynamics. The Max...

Chronobiologists study the effect of time on biological cycles

Circadian rhythms were first observed in the 1700s, when French astronomer Jean-Jacques D'Ortous de Mairan put a plant in a dark room and watched it still respond to day and night cycles, setting off further studies about specific light-dark biological cycles, an area of inquiry that continues today with the human "clock proteins" at the molecular level.

An MBA return on investment calculator

On average, the total investment for an MBA degree is more than $200K, which includes tuition, living expenses, lost income, and potential interest on student loans. This calculator can help you figure out your own future MBA degree’s estimated ROI based on your unique situation.

Understanding the 1.5 degree Celsius climate benchmark

As more parts of the world are facing extreme weather, from high temperatures to increased natural disasters, there is much debate about what can be done. MIT News explores and explains the 1.5-degree benchmark for limiting the effects of climate change. Read to understand where the planet stands in relation to this threshold and what can be done at the global, regional, and personal levels to “keep 1.5 alive.”

Learn how your body is, scientifically, like a firework with its own slow, controlled burn.

Menstruation, which occurs monthly, is the release of an unfertilized egg

This routine vaginal bleeding is part of a woman's hormonal cycle and occurs after an egg is released by an ovary during ovulation and isn't fertilized. Also known as periods, this monthly occurrence can cause symptoms including cramping, fatigue, and mood changes.

Burning Man's DMV refers to the Department of Mutant Vehicles

There's a specific Burning Man lingo that can be hard to follow if you haven't attended before. MOOP essentially refers to litter, the playa is another word for Black Rock City, and a playa chicken is a mythical deadly chicken.

Use this calculator to find the dollar value of your mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care for your children.

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

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.

The boiling temperature of water decreases with increasing elevation because the molecules need less energy to overcome the lower atmospheric pressure associated with thinner air.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

While the sun's gravity keeps the planets in orbit, their gravity also pulls on the sun, causing it and everything else in the solar system to orbit around a mutual balance point called the barycenter—the true center of the solar system.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

See photos of Meteora, a mountainous site in central Greece, home to 14th-century monasteries perched atop soaring outcroppings.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

Scientists have struggled to pin down Ebola's natural reservoir species for decades, but the available evidence suggests that it's very likely fruit and insect-eating bats found in Africa.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

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

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.

The Ramones' 'Pet Sematary,' the theme song for the Stephen King novel of the same name, was written while the band was admiring the writer's collection of horror memorabilia.

Corals are themselves not coral reefs—the term refers to the tiny marine invertebrates that build the rigid reef.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.