Life Science

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 sprang up all over Europe and America. But the trend was soon debunked.

By Jennifer Walker-Journey

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?

By Jennifer Horton

Whether you're a procrastinator or a workaholic, you can improve your time management. How? With a timer, scheduled breaks and some serious discipline.

By Carrie Whitney, Ph.D.

The Kobayashi Maru simulation puts future Starfleet commanders in a classic "no-win" scenario. It's so accurate, even the U.S. military uses the exercise to test the measure of a good leader.

By Mark Mancini

It's one of those words that might remind you of certain gender-bending musicians from the '80s, but what does it mean today?

By Michelle Konstantinovsky

With cemetery space at a premium and the increasingly evident environmental drawbacks to traditional burial, what better way to memorialize your beloved pet, or a beloved person, than to turn their remains into a tree?

By Michelle Konstantinovsky

Cute little balls of moss, called glacier mice, have been known to move up to an inch a day, all at the same time, like a herd of mice, but how and why?

By Katie Carman

The part of your cells that helps you recover from a hangover is shaped like a maze of tubes and is made of two parts — the rough endoplasmic reticulum and the smooth endoplasmic reticulum.

By Jesslyn Shields

Commensalism is a form of cooperation among species in which one species benefits from another without the first one suffering any harm from the relationship.

By Jesslyn Shields

Ashwagandha, sometimes called Indian ginseng or Indian winter cherry, is one of the most prized herbs in the Indian Ayurvedic science of life.

By Katie Carman

Most people throughout the world are right-handed. So can they teach themselves to use their left hands, too and become ambidextrous?

By Patty Rasmussen

Prokaryotic cells are like single-room efficiency apartments while eukaryotic cells are like mansions with many rooms — and they are the only two kinds of cells in the world.

By Jesslyn Shields

Found along beaches and in the mangrove swamps of tropical climates, the fruit of the manchineel tree was called the 'little apple of death' by Spanish conquistadors.

By Katie Carman

A single-celled algae, barely visible to the eye, plankton contributes to some of the world's most important resources and is essential to the food chain that supports all life.

By Stephanie Vermillion

We make a big deal about modern humans being smarter than Neanderthals, but, really, are we?

By Jesslyn Shields

You could be excused for thinking that, of course, all animals breathe oxygen to live. Because it wasn't until very recently that scientists discovered the only multicellular animal that doesn't. Meet Henneguya salminicola.

By Jesslyn Shields

Influenza, Ebola and COVID-19 are all viruses. Find out what a virus does to your body and how to decrease your chance of exposure.

By Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D. & Patrick J. Kiger

Viruses need hosts to replicate and reproduce. So if a virus has no host, how long can it survive? It depends on a lot of factors.

By Carrie Whitney, Ph.D.

Epigenetics – instructions on how your genes are read and whether they are expressed or not – proves that your body is not permanently set on a specific course from the moment you're born.

By Michelle Konstantinovsky

If you engage in constant self-talk, it may surprise you that some people think in pictures instead or do nothing at all. And the number of people truly having an inner monologue may not be as great as you think.

By Nathan Chandler

People often make vision boards at the start of the year. Some swear by vision boards for making their dreams come true. But is there any science to back that up?

By Alia Hoyt

Requiring little care and upkeep, daffodils are bright, showy perennials that symbolize rebirth and new beginnings.

By Wendy Bowman

Cork is the go-to material for wine stoppers and bulletin boards. So are we really running out of it? And if so, what happens?

By Wendy Bowman

We all know what it feels like to be burned out. But does that really mean that our brain is tired? And is it the same as when other muscles tire out?

By Carrie Whitney, Ph.D.

On Johns Island, South Carolina, stands an oak tree so big and beautiful that people come just to stand under its branches and feel the magic.

By Patty Rasmussen