Innovation

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

Ancient Babylonian trigonometry, a mysterious, unidentified corpse and chakrams all make an appearance in this week's roundup of our podcasts and articles.

By Yves Jeffcoat

It's almost like making food out of air.

By Tracy Staedter

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

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

It's not quite a robot butler, but two companies hope their real-life appliances will cross one tedious laundry chore off your list.

By Laurie L. Dove

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

This week, we bring you stories on the fascinating history of women and whiskey, frogs' debt to dinos and odd U.S. presidential habits. Read on!

By Yves Jeffcoat

Scientists have created a nano-sized anti-reflection film inspired by moths' eyes, potentially making electronic screens easier to read in bright sunlight.

By Patrick J. Kiger

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

Check out stories about paid protesters, brain hacking and the insane amount of U.S. food waste in this week's roundup of articles and podcasts.

By Yves Jeffcoat

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

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

By Alia Hoyt

MIT has created a system capable of 3-D printing the basic structure of an entire building, cutting time and money costs — with an eye on Antarctica, and even Mars.

By Patrick J. Kiger

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

Check out a compilation of the coolest new podcasts and articles at HowStuffWorks, featuring barbers who use fire as clippers and a venomous mammalian ancestor.

By Yves Jeffcoat

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

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