Innovation

Salt is something most of us use without thinking about it. But with so many options available, how do we know what's best?

By Shaun Chavis

Humans routinely break the sound barrier in supersonic aircraft. Could everyone's favorite hedgehog do it, too?

By Robert Lamb

The blog Retraction Watch released an online database of more than 18,000 papers and conference materials that have been retracted since the 1970s.

By Oisin Curran

Algae represents big money to some investors and could provide protein to help solve the problem of world hunger.

By Stell Simonton

Robots are starting to show up in the restaurant industry, but their developers say they're designed to work alongside human workers, not replace them.

By Patrick J. Kiger

A Rube Goldberg machine is intentionally designed to perform a simple task in the most indirect and circuitous fashion possible. Meet the funny man behind these one-of-a-kind contraptions.

By Stell Simonton

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

By Diana Brown

Dimethylpolysiloxane has many uses, not the least of which might be curing baldness.

By Jesslyn Shields

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

Although spending time upside down can be good for overall health, doing so eventually can be fatal under the right conditions.

By Jesslyn Shields

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

It's almost like making food out of air.

By Tracy Staedter

In this week's roundup of HowStuffWorks podcasts and articles, a neurological disorder causes an addiction to joking, and slug mucus inspires surprisingly strong glue for biological tissues.

By Yves Jeffcoat

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

Food spoilage is an urgent issue for the millions of people with unreliable electricity — or no electricity at all. A supercool $35 fridge could change that common scenario.

By Tracy Staedter

With antimicrobial resistance a worldwide threat, researchers develop a new antibacterial dressing using the shells of crustaceans.

By Alia Hoyt

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

By Shelley Danzy

The set of pioneering real-life scientists beat out other fan proposals including "Voltron," "Star Wars" and "Spaceballs" characters.

By Jesslyn Shields

President Donald Trump has proposed cutting the agency's Earth science budget. But doing so could negatively impact construction, farming and infrastructure projects.

By Patrick J. Kiger

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

The app aims to make the school cafeteria a kinder and more welcoming place for all students. But will it work?

By Karen Kirkpatrick

Paper airplanes are much more than child's play.

By Laurie L. Dove