HowStuffWorks Newsletter
From the smallest microbe to the largest mammal, Life Science explores the origins, evolution and expansion of life in all its forms. Explore a wide range of topics from biology to genetics and evolution.
Topics to Explore:
Footprints unearthed at White Sands National Park in New Mexico were made some 23,000 years ago. That's much earlier than scientists have previously placed humans in the Americas.
CRISPR is the genius behind innovations that seemed impossible a decade ago. Could you grow tomatoes with the kick of hot sauce or ferment wine that doesn't cause a hangover? That's just two of the things scientists are looking into.
Does it bug you when people around you fidget? If it does, you have something called misokinesia and you are not alone because one-third of those studied felt the same way.
By Todd Handy & Sumeet Jaswal
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Even if you've never seen a saguaro in person, when you think "cactus," you're probably thinking "saguaro."
Researchers from the University of California, Santa Cruz determined that only about 1.5 to 7 percent of the modern human genome is unique to humans. The rest we share with our relatives the Neanderthals and the Denisovans.
Batesian mimicry is an evolutionary strategy used by vulnerable species to look like a dangerous species so predators will leave them alone. But it only works under the right circumstances.
They might look like piles of goop, but slime molds can think and seemingly make decisions without a brain.
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The marshmallow test is all about delayed gratification in children, but can other animals pass it too? And why would they?
Mold is a type of fungus, and it's everywhere — indoors, outdoors and even in the air. But is black mold worse than the rest?
The U.S. has been a nation in mourning for more than a year. But the normal rituals for mourning deceased loved ones have been anything but normal. How do we move on and when?
By John Donovan
One of the weirdest organisms on Earth has a predictably quirky method of deciding where to go and what to do.
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The question of exactly what is human consciousness and how it came to be in the human mind has raged forever between philosophers, religious scholars and scientists, but does the theory of the bicameral mind explain it?
By Robert Lamb
Erosion and weather can combine to make rock formations look like all kinds of things, from human faces to animals. They're called mimetoliths and we've taken a look at four of the most famous.
Do we owe the emergence of language and self-reflection to the ancient and sustained consumption of psilocybin mushrooms?
By Robert Lamb
Organisms not related to each other can develop similar physical attributes without even exchanging notes.
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We see faces in clouds, on buildings — heck, in grilled cheese sandwiches. But why is that? And how is this a help to our survival?
By Dave Roos
Niels Bohr proposed the model of the atom that we still learn in school today, even though it's technically incorrect.
We are who we are because of the genes our parents pass to us, but what happens when both parents contribute the same version of a specific gene?
This new form of sound therapy takes advantage of the fact that a different frequency in each ear yields a third frequency that can allegedly calm you down or improve your focus. Does it really work? Our writer tried it out.
By Alia Hoyt
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Nitrogen is essential to living things, but it also plays hard to get.
Ever feel like others are out to get you, or that you're in danger even though there's no clear threat? Is this normal in today's crazy world or is paranoia creeping in?
Centrioles are spindles that create the pathways for chromosomes to follow during cell division.
Heuristics are rule-of-thumb strategies that help us shorten decision-making time and solve problems quickly and effortlessly.
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Phrenology, the belief that you could determine personality from the shape of someone's skull, was so popular in the Victorian era that phrenology parlors sprung up all over Europe and America. But the trend was soon debunked.
Autumn rolls out its very own red carpet to make a fashionable arrival. So why do falling leaves change colors to vibrant hues of crimson, yellow and orange?