Life Science

According to DNA research, we may all have a common ancestor, an African woman who lived thousands of years ago. How did scientists reach this conclusion? Is it even possible?

By Josh Clark & Desiree Bowie

In the past, applying electricity to the brain was a painful measure of last resort. Now with lower power and electrodes surgically planted deep within the brain, it could be the answer to many debilitating diseases.

By Isaac Perry Clements

If you could control your dreams, what would you do? Grow wings and fly, travel to ancient Rome, dine with Marilyn Monroe, open opera season at the Met? It could be possible.

By Katie Lambert & Sascha Bos

Everyone's familiar with the green-eyed monster called jealousy. But why do people have those feelings?

By Alia Hoyt & Sascha Bos

Have you ever done something for someone else just because it was a nice thing to do? Do people perform unselfish acts because it feels good or is it just something society wants us to do?

By Josh Clark

Researchers are working on ways to engineer viruses to attack cancer cells, killing the disease without radiation, medicine or surgery. How do the viruses know what to kill?

By Josh Clark

Symbiosis is crucial to the survival of many species. In fact, you're a symbiote yourself.

By Ed Grabianowski

One of the top-prescribed sleeping pills may cause you to shuffle out of bed and sleepwalk to the fridge. Could Ambien be making you sleepy and hungry?

By Cristen Conger

When Australia became separated from the other continents, its species evolved in isolation. And yet, some of the Australian animals evolved in exactly the same way as the other animals in the world. How?

By Ed Grabianowski

Memory is your only personal record of the past and of who you are as an individual. What if you woke up one morning and your memory was gone?

By Cristen Conger

Can your mirror lie? Though loved ones reassure you that your appearance is normal, all you see is your flawed, monstrous reflection. This is life with body dysmorphic disorder.

By Jessika Toothman

You may vaguely remember hurting your knee at the age of 3, but do you recall the moment your body burst into the world? Most likely not. Why are our first years devoid of memories?

By Cristen Conger

Can you be bored to death? Sometimes it feels that way but has someone ever really died of boredom? You might be surprised at the ways boredom can shorten your life.

By Cristen Conger

People with schizophrenia can experience delusions, hallucinations and paranoia. But they don't have to suffer social isolation. Find out what successful treatments can help people with the disorder.

By Jane McGrath

In the wild, are brains better than brawn? Find out when your fight-or-flight response is your friend and when it's your enemy.

By Cristen Conger

TV shows, movies and books depict characters that have suffered a bad injury to the head and have lost their memory. But could it really happen that fast? And will their memory ever return?

By Katherine Neer

Ten-tier wedding cakes, bagels slathered with cream cheese and slim, crusty baguettes -- we owe them all to wheat. What's the story behind this ancient, ubiquitous food crop?

By Robert Lamb

Have you ever suspected your neighbor was up to something illegal? He's always home and he gets midnight deliveries. Doesn't he have a job? Maybe he does, just not the kind you think.

By Robert Lamb

If wisdom teeth are so wise, why do they keep sprouting in the gums of people who don't need them anymore? Should a lack of wisdom teeth give you bragging rights as a highly evolved human?

By Molly Edmonds

It sounds kind of great, right? Imagine everything you and yourself could get done. You'd be masters of the world -- wouldn't you?

By Robert Lamb

Brain mapping attempts to provide a complete picture of the brain's structure, but few know how brain mapping works. Learn how brain mapping works.

By Susan L. Nasr & Sascha Bos

If bigger is better, then some of us have the advantage when it comes to brainpower. Human brains (and noggins) don't all look the same. Does size really matter? And if it does, who comes out on top?

By Molly Edmonds

Given the choice, would you rather have been born with a different eye color, hair color or skin tone? Of course, you didn't have these options, but could you have them for your own children?

By Kevin Bonsor & Julia Layton

Every animal you can think of -- mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians -- all have brains. But the human brain is unique. It gives us the power to think, plan, speak and imagine.

By Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D. & Robynne Boyd

While most psychologists believe that brainwashing is possible under the right conditions, some see it as improbable or at least as a less severe form of influence than the media portrays it to be. So how does someone get brainwashed?

By Julia Layton & Alia Hoyt