Life Science
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.
Why do people sing in the shower?
10 Bizarre Treatments Doctors Used to Think Were Legit
Ancient Egyptian Pregnancy Test Survived Millennia Because It Worked
Can You Crack This Nuts Quiz?
The Science Behind Your Cat's Catnip Craze
Corpse Flower: When Nature Deceives
Hypertonic vs. Hypotonic Solutions: Differences and Uses
Your Phone Is a Germ Factory, So Stop Taking It to the Toilet
Why Even Identical Twins Have Different Fingerprints
Howstuffworks Interviews: Extinction Level Events with Annalee Newitz
What will the Earth look like in 50,000 years?
How did language evolve?
The Tallest People in the World Share These Curious Qualities
Who’s Your Daddy? The History of Paternity Testing
What are the likely outcomes of mankind's new knowledge of the human genome?
Differences Between Pet Training and Animal Conditioning
What Is Shadow Work and How Does It, Well, Work?
Why can't we remember being babies?
Learn More / Page 9
Most people would recall every detail of being held up in a bank robbery but not so well the details of their last birthday party. The brain is wired for recalling trauma for a very good reason.
We often throw around the word "insanity" for acts that seem to have no rational explanation (like a teacher giving an insanely difficult test). Legally speaking, though, it's actually a narrow term that's very difficult to prove in court.
By Chris Opfer
Most of us don't intuitively classify electroshocks as therapeutic, but this 1950s-era treatment has changed a lot since it was first introduced. When and why do mental health experts now turn to it?
Advertisement
Pollen grains are, in essence, plant sperm. But how do the grains get where they need to go, and what's the advantage of trusting your genetic future to the winds?
Alcoholism can be difficult to spot. Learn the difference between heavy drinking and alcoholism, how alcohol affects the body, what factors may lead to alcoholism and what treatments are available for this addiction.
What exactly is fear? In this article, we'll examine the psychological and physical properties of fear, find out what causes a fear response and look at some ways you can defeat it.
By Julia Layton
Twins are unique people who are also eerily similar to each other. Do twins really have ESP? Learn how twinning happens and what types of twins are out there.
Advertisement
Poison ivy is often very difficult to spot. But if you come into contact with it, you'll soon know by the itchy, blistery rash that forms on your skin. Learn how poison ivy causes that rash, and how to get rid of it.
If you've kept up with the news lately, you've probably heard dire warnings about avian flu, or bird flu. In this article, we'll review the basics of how viruses and influenza work, and we'll learn the answers to these and other questions about avian flu, including whether it is likely to cause a global flu epidemic.
While most flu sufferers moan and groan for about a week and then return to work, the flu season creates more than just discomfort and a costly loss of work days.
We hear about them on the news and we listen to politicians argue for and against them using them to treat disease. Learn all about stem cells and the research, challenges and controversy that surround them.
Advertisement
Dozens of people are frozen in cryogenic storage facilities, waiting to be revived when science is able to cure whatever killed them. But if they're dead, is revival from a frozen state even possible? Find out.
Dreams combine verbal, visual and emotional stimuli into mystifying storylines. Should we bother to interpret them? Are they random brain impulses, or do they offer insight into our waking lives?
You've just touched a hot stove -- and probably felt an immediate sharp pain, then a dull ache. How do we sense pain, and why does it eventually go away?
That man dressed in animal skins and running around Jerusalem trying to baptize people isn't alone. Tourists in Jerusalem sometimes suffer from a strange conviction that they are Biblical figures. Are they mentally ill or is there more to it?
Advertisement
Hand sanitizers can only get you so far in preventing a viral infection. Scientists are discovering how visible light can be used to destroy viruses. Learn about the laser technique and what it means for the future.
You may be familiar with the medieval "Black Plague," but did you know that bouts of plague still break out today? Find out what causes an outbreak, why plague still exists and how the plague has influenced history.
By Tracy V. Wilson & Alia Hoyt
Sleepwalking is an intriguing phenomenon. How can a person be unconscious but still coordinate his or her limbs? And how do we know when we're really awake?
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
Advertisement
How can spam e-mail help fight HIV? Find out how spam e-mail and HIV are linked and learn about new methods for HIV treatment.
By Josh Clark
Have you ever seen a baby with a tail? How about a whale with legs? Believe it or not, these things happen. They're called atavisms, and they might help us figure out evolution.
Ever since I took biology in high school I have wondered -- why do humans (and plants and animals) have two of every gene, and why is one "dominant" and the other "recessive"? How does my body know which one is dominant? How does it pick between the
Evolution is fascinating because it attempts to answer one of the most basic human questions: Where did life, and human beings, come from? The theory of evolution proposes that life and humans arose through a natural process.
Advertisement
The physical you is a result of your DNA, and your DNA is part of the human gene pool. Find out what the "gene pool" really is and what happens when it shrinks.
HIV continues to be a major global public health issue, having claimed more than 35 million lives so far.
By Kevin Bonsor & Oisin Curran