Scientific Experiments

Toilets spew invisible aerosol plumes with every flush. How do we know? The proof was captured by high-powered lasers.

By John Crimaldi

A drone with some petri dishes attached is making research much less stressful for whales and scientists alike.

By Jesslyn Shields

From Isaac Newton to Ivan Pavlov, scientists have developed and tested hypotheses through carefully crafted experiments for centuries. Here are three groundbreaking hypotheses and the predictions they tested.

By Mark Mancini

A startup in California is touting the anti-aging effects of transfusing teenagers' blood on older people.

By Diana Brown

Why are we still performing scientific tests on live animals?

By Patrick J. Kiger

We might not be able to reanimate a corpse, but Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' has influenced the research and ethics of scientists for 200 years.

By Jesslyn Shields

A beta test of the online game "ArcheAge" revealed that people may be more helpful than harmful when an apocalypse looms.

By Shelley Danzy

HowStuffWorks explains the secrets of static electricity.

Neanderthals distilled tar more than 100,000 years before modern humans created glue; archaeologists compared three potential ways this ancient tech was used.

By Jesslyn Shields

You're going to be looking at the sky anyway, so why not use a citizen-science smartphone app to help NASA while you're at it?

By Jesslyn Shields

The Stanford Prison Experiment is one of the most well-known psychological studies, infamous for the participants' cruel behavior. But the whole story of the study is much more complex.

By Ed Grabianowski

We shouldn't discount a new Chinese breakthrough in photonic quantum teleportation, but we shouldn't overblow it, either.

By Jonathan Strickland

Read on to get the scoop on a $10 million ransom for Enzo Ferrari's corpse, Americans' biggest fear and the wonderful world of gastropods.

By Yves Jeffcoat

According to a new study, whole-body vibration has muscle and bone health benefits for mice.

By Shelley Danzy

Despite decades of research, we'd be just as well off flipping a coin, when it comes to estimating a person's likelihood to attempt suicide.

By Shelley Danzy

Around the world, in study after study, one color and one number always emerge as faves. Can you guess what they are?

By Karen Kirkpatrick

Critics worry that journals with lax standards are lowering the reliability of scientific literature — and exploiting the inexperience of young researchers.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Researchers have discovered a way to trigger and control a visual hallucination without drugs, illness or direct brain stimulation.

By Jesslyn Shields

After surveying thousands of published genetics papers, researchers found nearly one-fifth had errors caused by Microsoft Excel in their supplementary files. Uh-oh.

By Jonathan Strickland

Animal testing has a long, gruesome history, but it's also saved countless human lives.

By Oisin Curran

Science is forever uncovering the mysteries of our universe, but some questions remain elusive. What topics have us still scratching our heads?

By Nathan Chandler

While it might seem like the home only of Martha Stewart wannabes, Pinterest has a political side too.

By Alia Hoyt

Do people born on the 13th of a month have a lifetime of bad luck? Researchers examined whether an “unlucky” birthdate could impact employment, earnings and marriage.

By Laurie L. Dove

Some truly bizarre and troubling things have been done through the ages in the quest for scientific knowledge. The 10 experiments on this list all made humans into lab rats.

By Maria Trimarchi

From the looks of it, we don't have much in common with our mouse friends. But at a genetic level, we're closer than you might think. Close enough to make a difference in our health?

By Kate Kershner