Meghan Holohan

Joined: Nov 21, 2012

Meghan Holohan lives in Pittsburgh close to two universities where she pesters doctors and scientists about their research. Even her physician friends tire of telling her about teratomas and bug infestations in open wounds. Meghan plays dodgeball on a competitive intramural team and impresses friends with her ability to diagram sentences, a skill scared into her by Catholic school teachers. She spends a great deal of time spoiling her pets.

Looking at Instagrams of Food Makes Eating Less Enjoyable

The Real-Life Neuroscience Behind Zombies

Harry Potter's Sorting Hat is Right in Real Life, Too

Are Beards Hotbeds for Bacteria?

Why Having a Drink Makes You Better Looking

Zombie Simulator Tells You The Best Place To Hide In Case Of Outbreak

Science Says Dogs Can Tell If You're Happy or Sad

Just How Dirty are Public Restrooms?

Scientists in Sweden Hide Bob Dylan Lyrics in Their Papers

The researcher who successfully sneaks the most Dylan lyrics into papers before retirement wins a free lunch.

Hug a Tree—They Help Keep You Healthy

Nebraskan Julius Sterling Morton believed that planting trees could save America, and he convinced the state to celebrate Arbor Day in April 1872. By planting trees, Morton hoped to prevent erosion, preserve the topsoil, and break some of the raging winds

Middle Initials Make You Seem Smarter

George R.R. Martin sure seems smart. It might not be the hundreds of characters and complicated plots in the Song of Ice and Fire series (Game of Thrones to neophytes) that make him seem so intelligent, though—it might be his middle initials. A recent stu

Men and Women Have Very Different Types of Nightmares

In the middle of a pleasant dream, something lurks in the shadows. Soon, the nonsensical reverie takes a dark turn and something starts stalking you. What is it? You wake, heart racing, breathing rapidly. That nightmare felt horrible, but was the terrible

Playing Scrabble with Victor, the Gamebot

“I have legs,” Nick says. “My head alone is twice your worth,” Victor replies. Victor likes to trash talk when he plays Scrabble. My friend Nick does, too. Only Victor is a robot. A trash-talking, Scrabble-playing robot.

Is the Five-Second Rule Real?

Fans of MythBusters will point out that Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage proved several years ago that five seconds on the floor was enough for tasty morsels to attract all sorts of bacteria—but a new study finds that, depending on the type of food and the f

Can Dogs Understand Human Emotions?

Whenever I cry, my beagle, Sadie, jumps into my lap and nudges me with her nose. Is Sadie’s intuitiveness unique, or can dogs really understand human emotions?

Sensory Fiction: Read Your Books and Feel Them Too

In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, good citizens attend the feelies—movies that allow them to feel the warmth of a bear rug or the flutter of a kiss. While it might seem as if this can only exist in the fictional world of 2540, researchers at MIT’s Media