Allison Parshall
@parshallison.bsky.social
Mind and brain news editor at Scientific American. Follow for weekly science quizzes! Views are my own.
My feature is on the cover of @sciam.bsky.social !!
This is one of the more fascinating, maddening, mind-boggling stories I've reported in a long time. Please come on this journey with me.
This is one of the more fascinating, maddening, mind-boggling stories I've reported in a long time. Please come on this journey with me.
On the cover of our new issue--will brain science deliver answers about consciousness or hit another wall?
Inside the incredible, infuriating quest to explain consciousness
Will brain science deliver answers about consciousness or hit another wall?
www.scientificamerican.com
January 20, 2026 at 7:56 PM
My feature is on the cover of @sciam.bsky.social !!
This is one of the more fascinating, maddening, mind-boggling stories I've reported in a long time. Please come on this journey with me.
This is one of the more fascinating, maddening, mind-boggling stories I've reported in a long time. Please come on this journey with me.
Reposted by Allison Parshall
Lost in the Stock
Figuring out what’s actually in a box of chicken stock shouldn’t be that hard. Right?
www.eater.com/23552129/wha...
--> A wonderful look at the reality of reporting, as well as a insightful plunge into the abyss of Big Food. Answers all your questions about canned broth.
Figuring out what’s actually in a box of chicken stock shouldn’t be that hard. Right?
www.eater.com/23552129/wha...
--> A wonderful look at the reality of reporting, as well as a insightful plunge into the abyss of Big Food. Answers all your questions about canned broth.
What’s in Store-Bought Chicken Stock, and Why Are Brands so Secretive About It?
A long, winding journey to find out why companies treat their chicken broth recipes like state secrets.
www.eater.com
December 9, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Lost in the Stock
Figuring out what’s actually in a box of chicken stock shouldn’t be that hard. Right?
www.eater.com/23552129/wha...
--> A wonderful look at the reality of reporting, as well as a insightful plunge into the abyss of Big Food. Answers all your questions about canned broth.
Figuring out what’s actually in a box of chicken stock shouldn’t be that hard. Right?
www.eater.com/23552129/wha...
--> A wonderful look at the reality of reporting, as well as a insightful plunge into the abyss of Big Food. Answers all your questions about canned broth.
Reposted by Allison Parshall
It's been thought since the early 70s that eukaryotes (basically any life with a cell nucleus) wouldn't survive above 62C and no complex life had been shown living above 60C. Until the "fire amoeba"... 🧪
(These are some of my favorite stories to write, just weird neat stuff we're learning.)
(These are some of my favorite stories to write, just weird neat stuff we're learning.)
This Tiny ‘Fire Amoeba’ Just Redefined Life’s Limits
It was thought that complex cells couldn’t survive above a certain temperature, but a tiny amoeba has proven that assumption wrong
www.scientificamerican.com
December 5, 2025 at 4:18 PM
It's been thought since the early 70s that eukaryotes (basically any life with a cell nucleus) wouldn't survive above 62C and no complex life had been shown living above 60C. Until the "fire amoeba"... 🧪
(These are some of my favorite stories to write, just weird neat stuff we're learning.)
(These are some of my favorite stories to write, just weird neat stuff we're learning.)
Happy Halloween 🦇🦇🦇 Horror movie music can be deeply unsettling. Here's how composers achieve that effect www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-... 🧪
Why Horror Movie Music Sends a Chill Up Your Spine
Horror movie composers use musical tricks to hijack your nervous system and put you on edge
www.scientificamerican.com
October 31, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Happy Halloween 🦇🦇🦇 Horror movie music can be deeply unsettling. Here's how composers achieve that effect www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-... 🧪
Reposted by Allison Parshall
Horror movie composers use musical tricks to hijack your nervous system and put you on edge
Why Horror Movie Music Sends a Chill Up Your Spine
Horror movie composers use musical tricks to hijack your nervous system and put you on edge
www.scientificamerican.com
October 31, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Horror movie composers use musical tricks to hijack your nervous system and put you on edge
Reposted by Allison Parshall
A special class of immune proteins protect us from pathogens but also drive inflammation and cell death
Cells Have a Death Switch That Protects Us from Viruses but Also Leads to Aging
A special class of immune proteins protect us from pathogens but also drive inflammation and cell death
www.scientificamerican.com
October 20, 2025 at 1:36 PM
A special class of immune proteins protect us from pathogens but also drive inflammation and cell death
On today's @sciam.bsky.social science quiz, we've got space shuttles and cryptography puzzles. Share your score below! 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/game/scienti...
October 17, 2025 at 8:49 PM
On today's @sciam.bsky.social science quiz, we've got space shuttles and cryptography puzzles. Share your score below! 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/game/scienti...
Reposted by Allison Parshall
Your brain gets used to wrongdoing. It can also get used to doing good
How to Train Your Brain to Act Morally
Your brain gets used to wrongdoing. It can also get used to doing good
www.scientificamerican.com
October 15, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Your brain gets used to wrongdoing. It can also get used to doing good
Reposted by Allison Parshall
Congratulations to bicyclists: you're one of the most efficient movers in the animal kingdom! 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-hu...
The Most Efficient Traveler Isn’t a Bird or a Fish—It’s You on a Bike
A famous graphic, now updated, compares locomotion in the animal kingdom
www.scientificamerican.com
October 15, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Congratulations to bicyclists: you're one of the most efficient movers in the animal kingdom! 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-hu...
Reposted by Allison Parshall
We used @sciam.bsky.social's 180th anniversary as an excuse to revisit an old favorite. Familiar with the efficiency of locomotion chart from the March 1973 issue? Here it is again, reimagined for 2025 by DTAN Studio, w/text by @parshallison.bsky.social 📊 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-hu...
The Most Efficient Traveler Isn’t a Bird or a Fish—It’s You on a Bike
A famous graphic, now updated, compares locomotion in the animal kingdom
www.scientificamerican.com
October 15, 2025 at 3:54 PM
We used @sciam.bsky.social's 180th anniversary as an excuse to revisit an old favorite. Familiar with the efficiency of locomotion chart from the March 1973 issue? Here it is again, reimagined for 2025 by DTAN Studio, w/text by @parshallison.bsky.social 📊 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-hu...
Steve Jobs loved this original @sciam.bsky.social graphic and cited it constantly in interviews, calling computers "bicycles of the mind" for how they let us operate with max efficiency.
Turns out, though, bikes are so efficient because they make us more like... fish? Check it out 🧪
Turns out, though, bikes are so efficient because they make us more like... fish? Check it out 🧪
A famous graphic, now updated, compares locomotion in the animal kingdom
The Most Efficient Traveler Isn’t a Bird or a Fish—It’s You on a Bike
A famous graphic, now updated, compares locomotion in the animal kingdom
www.scientificamerican.com
October 14, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Steve Jobs loved this original @sciam.bsky.social graphic and cited it constantly in interviews, calling computers "bicycles of the mind" for how they let us operate with max efficiency.
Turns out, though, bikes are so efficient because they make us more like... fish? Check it out 🧪
Turns out, though, bikes are so efficient because they make us more like... fish? Check it out 🧪
Reposted by Allison Parshall
The science is in: COVID boosters are worth it, even if you've been vaccinated and/or infected before. Stay safe out there, friends!: 🧪 🛟 www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-...
Annual COVID Vaccines Save Lives, New Study Shows
A new study shows that receiving an updated COVID vaccine reduced people’s risk of severe disease and death in all age groups, regardless of immunity from prior infection or vaccination
www.scientificamerican.com
October 8, 2025 at 9:22 PM
The science is in: COVID boosters are worth it, even if you've been vaccinated and/or infected before. Stay safe out there, friends!: 🧪 🛟 www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-...
Reposted by Allison Parshall
"Accessing the supports my autistic son needs can be brutally difficult, especially as he and his peers transition into adulthood. But unlike grievance parents, I believe my son deserves respect and understanding—not grievance parents’ relentless exploitation of their children as burdens."
The @nytimes.com has a new article on " #ProfoundAutism," featuring the same grievance parents they always feature—and minimal autistic input. Pls counter with our explanation of why autistic kids deserve better representation than parents who resent them.
thinkingautismguide.com/2022/11/grie...
thinkingautismguide.com/2022/11/grie...
Grievance-Based Parent Organizations Are Autism's MAGA Movement — THINKING PERSON'S GUIDE TO AUTISM
Horrified by the misinformation peddled by MAGA truthers? You should be just as concerned about grievance-based autism parent orgs.
thinkingautismguide.com
October 1, 2025 at 7:37 PM
"Accessing the supports my autistic son needs can be brutally difficult, especially as he and his peers transition into adulthood. But unlike grievance parents, I believe my son deserves respect and understanding—not grievance parents’ relentless exploitation of their children as burdens."
Reposted by Allison Parshall
Memorizing this
October 2, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Memorizing this
Reposted by Allison Parshall
After yrs of disappointment scientists have made a genuine advance in treating Huntington's. The new gene therapy slowed disease progression by 75%. But it's still experimental and will likely be $$, @parshallison.bsky.social reports for @sciam.bsky.social: www.scientificamerican.com/article/firs...
How Scientists Finally Found a Treatment that Slows Huntington’s Disease
After years of heartbreak, researchers have found an experimental treatment that can slow the progression of Huntington’s disease, according to early results from a small clinical trial
www.scientificamerican.com
October 1, 2025 at 5:35 PM
After yrs of disappointment scientists have made a genuine advance in treating Huntington's. The new gene therapy slowed disease progression by 75%. But it's still experimental and will likely be $$, @parshallison.bsky.social reports for @sciam.bsky.social: www.scientificamerican.com/article/firs...
Reposted by Allison Parshall
Today on Science Quickly for @sciam.bsky.social: @drdemetre.bsky.social on how the CDC has decayed from a trusted source of health information to "an ideology propaganda machine that’s Orwellian"—and what we can do about it
www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/epis...
www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/epis...
Demetre Daskalakis Saw the CDC Change from the Inside—And He’s Sounding the Alarm
The former director of a CDC center reveals how political ideology is undermining science, threatening vaccine policy and endangering public health across the U.S.
www.scientificamerican.com
October 1, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Today on Science Quickly for @sciam.bsky.social: @drdemetre.bsky.social on how the CDC has decayed from a trusted source of health information to "an ideology propaganda machine that’s Orwellian"—and what we can do about it
www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/epis...
www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/epis...
On this week's @sciam.bsky.social science quiz, we've got earth wind and fire. (Kinda.) Can you get 6/6? www.scientificamerican.com/game/science... 🧪
September 26, 2025 at 6:20 PM
On this week's @sciam.bsky.social science quiz, we've got earth wind and fire. (Kinda.) Can you get 6/6? www.scientificamerican.com/game/science... 🧪
"They say he was the composer's composer." Indeed.
A museum exhibit in Australia lets visitors hear music generated by brain cells derived from the blood of a dead composer.
Experimental Music Meets Neuroscience in a Haunting New Installation
A museum exhibit in Australia lets visitors hear music generated by brain cells derived from the blood of a dead composer.
www.scientificamerican.com
September 26, 2025 at 5:44 PM
"They say he was the composer's composer." Indeed.
Reposted by Allison Parshall
A museum exhibit in Australia lets visitors hear music generated by brain cells derived from the blood of a dead composer.
Experimental Music Meets Neuroscience in a Haunting New Installation
A museum exhibit in Australia lets visitors hear music generated by brain cells derived from the blood of a dead composer.
www.scientificamerican.com
September 26, 2025 at 11:32 AM
A museum exhibit in Australia lets visitors hear music generated by brain cells derived from the blood of a dead composer.
Every new thing I learn about Alvin Lucier is cooler than the last. He used his brainwaves to make music in the '60s--and he found a way to keep it up, even after his death. "If anyone was gonna pull off immortality, it was him," his daughter, Amanda Lucier, told me.
Enjoy the episode!🧪
Enjoy the episode!🧪
Today on @sciam.bsky.social's Science Quickly, our unofficial music correspondent @parshallison.bsky.social tells us how one experimental composer is continuing to make music from beyond the grave www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/epis...
Experimental Music Meets Neuroscience in a Haunting New Installation
A museum exhibit in Australia lets visitors hear music generated by brain cells derived from the blood of a dead composer.
www.scientificamerican.com
September 26, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Every new thing I learn about Alvin Lucier is cooler than the last. He used his brainwaves to make music in the '60s--and he found a way to keep it up, even after his death. "If anyone was gonna pull off immortality, it was him," his daughter, Amanda Lucier, told me.
Enjoy the episode!🧪
Enjoy the episode!🧪
Reposted by Allison Parshall
Today on @sciam.bsky.social's Science Quickly, our unofficial music correspondent @parshallison.bsky.social tells us how one experimental composer is continuing to make music from beyond the grave www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/epis...
Experimental Music Meets Neuroscience in a Haunting New Installation
A museum exhibit in Australia lets visitors hear music generated by brain cells derived from the blood of a dead composer.
www.scientificamerican.com
September 26, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Today on @sciam.bsky.social's Science Quickly, our unofficial music correspondent @parshallison.bsky.social tells us how one experimental composer is continuing to make music from beyond the grave www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/epis...
Reposted by Allison Parshall
Wound up cutting this, but Jennifer Cook (Love on the Spectrum) had a great quote for all mothers freaked out by Monday's presser:
"Trust your doctor. You’re going to be ok. If you’re child is autistic, it’s not going to be a death sentence, it’s just a difference."
www.statnews.com/2025/09/25/a...
"Trust your doctor. You’re going to be ok. If you’re child is autistic, it’s not going to be a death sentence, it’s just a difference."
www.statnews.com/2025/09/25/a...
Autistic moms feel shamed and stigmatized by Trump’s Tylenol warning
Trump's remarks linking Tylenol to autism are a return to an era when mothers were blamed for children developing the disorder.
www.statnews.com
September 25, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Wound up cutting this, but Jennifer Cook (Love on the Spectrum) had a great quote for all mothers freaked out by Monday's presser:
"Trust your doctor. You’re going to be ok. If you’re child is autistic, it’s not going to be a death sentence, it’s just a difference."
www.statnews.com/2025/09/25/a...
"Trust your doctor. You’re going to be ok. If you’re child is autistic, it’s not going to be a death sentence, it’s just a difference."
www.statnews.com/2025/09/25/a...
Reposted by Allison Parshall
I participated in a @nytopinion.nytimes.com @nytimes.com roundtable and they asked me what a better world for #ActuallyAutistic people would look like if Trump and RFK Jr. didn't focus so much on Tylenol or vaccines. This was my honest-to-God response.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/o...
September 25, 2025 at 8:43 PM
I participated in a @nytopinion.nytimes.com @nytimes.com roundtable and they asked me what a better world for #ActuallyAutistic people would look like if Trump and RFK Jr. didn't focus so much on Tylenol or vaccines. This was my honest-to-God response.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/o...
Reposted by Allison Parshall
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Thanks for tuning in each week to hear host Rachel Feltman and our guests dive into fascinating conversations about the science that shapes our world 💜
🗳️ Support us by casting your vote before October 9: bit.ly/3W5wCLb
Thanks for tuning in each week to hear host Rachel Feltman and our guests dive into fascinating conversations about the science that shapes our world 💜
September 24, 2025 at 7:32 PM
🎉 Science Quickly is a Signal Awards Finalist! 🎉
🗳️ Support us by casting your vote before October 9: bit.ly/3W5wCLb
Thanks for tuning in each week to hear host Rachel Feltman and our guests dive into fascinating conversations about the science that shapes our world 💜
🗳️ Support us by casting your vote before October 9: bit.ly/3W5wCLb
Thanks for tuning in each week to hear host Rachel Feltman and our guests dive into fascinating conversations about the science that shapes our world 💜