Life Science

Actually it doesn't. You may think you're skilled at "multitasking" but chances are you aren't working on two things at exactly the same time. What's really going on and why is multitasking not a good idea?

By Alia Hoyt

Researchers have shown that THC in marijuana alters the structure of the brains in older mice to be more like brains of younger mice. Could the same be true for humans?

By John Perritano

It's all connected! Recent rodent research suggests that immune responses and social behavior may be more intertwined than we realized.

By Julia Layton

The newly developed family tree of Earth's 2.3 million species is a first draft of the 3.5-billion-year history of evolution.

By Patrick J. Kiger

The real story about the roots of infidelity and monogamy is far more complicated than whether you have the "cheating gene."

By Dave Roos

Dust traveling over the Atlantic from North Africa feeds both phytoplankton that makes the oxygen we breath and the bacteria that could kill us.

By Jesslyn Shields

Tetragametic chimerism occurs when a single organism has two genetically distinct types of DNA.

By Laurie L. Dove

The Scandinavian countries tend to come out on top in the World Happiness Report. But the report doesn't actually ask participants if they're happy. When that question is included, the country rankings are quite different.

By Dave Roos

What do Donald Trump, Bob Dole and LeBron James have in common? A tendency to talk about themselves in the third person. But is it just egotism or is there a hidden benefit to saying your name rather than "I"?

By Dave Roos

Some kids have a lot of talent in music, art or math. Then there are those who are gifted beyond belief.

By Dave Roos

New research shows that homo sapiens weren't the first folks to decorate their caves with artwork. Neanderthals actually did it thousands of years earlier.

By Alia Hoyt

How did life on Earth begin? Theories abound, but one popular one posits that it started spontaneously from primordial ooze on our planet, while another holds that it literally came from outer space. Who's right?

By Josh Clark

When you see someone yawning, even in a picture, chances are a yawning urge will come over you, too. But is this also true of sneezing, and if so, why?

By Laurie L. Dove

There are many myths and stigmas associated with leprosy, almost all completely incorrect. It's not a very contagious disease, and it's easily treatable. What else is wrong in the common beliefs about Hansen's disease?

By Maria Trimarchi

Are trees and shrubs as cute as pandas? As awe-inspiring as whales? Maybe not, but many are in danger of going the way of the dodo - just like countless leafy greens before them. Learn about some amazing plants we lost to history.

By Clint Pumphrey

You're deep in dreamland when you hear an explosion so loud you wake up. But there's nothing outside or inside your house making the noise. What just happened?

By Sean Russell

A new study shows that IQ levels have been falling since 1975, reversing a 20th-century trend.

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

Ever walked from your kitchen to the living room to find your phone and then forgotten what you were looking for once you got there? Researchers think your brain is hard-wired to undergo precisely that process of forgetting.

By Nathan Chandler

Researchers say that Otzi, the ancient man found in the Alps in 1991, lived on a diet loaded with fat to maintain warmth and energy in his cold, high-altitude environment.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Poison sumac is even more toxic than its cousins, poison ivy and poison oak, in its ability to cause allergic reactions and respiratory problems.

By Alia Hoyt

Maybe. A study that wasn't even about kissing turned out to (sort of) give the answer.

By Michelle Konstantinovsky

The flightless Aldabra rail lives exclusively on the Aldabra Atoll in Madagascar. But it appears to have descended from birds that soar.

By Mark Mancini