Science Versus Myth

Straitjacket sales may be low, but people still make them, and they definitely still use them.

By Adrian Rogers

Blood-sucking vampires and brain-munching zombies tend to hog all the undead credit, but we think ghouls deserve a macabre article all their own. Read it -- if you dare.

By Robert Lamb

Made of plain pine or shaped like a shoe, mourners may inter them, suspend them or set them ablaze. How much do caskets and coffins differ?

By Allison Wachtel & Desiree Bowie

Move over, mediums. Lots of people say they talk to the dead, including the bereaved. Ready to meet a few others?

By John Perritano

It's a 15-foot man-beast with glowing eyes, doglike teeth, a long tongue and no lips. Gray skin sags off its skeletal frame. We're talking about the wendigo. And it's coming to get you.

By Laurie L. Dove

A key ingredient of horror films, junior-high slumber parties and occult practices, the Ouija board has been fascinating and scaring people for more than a century. But does it really contact the spirit world, or is there a more logical explanation?

By Julia Layton

We all eat things we probably shouldn't, and that's OK from time to time. But there are some foods that are such nutrition bombs that even occasional indulgence isn't exactly wise.

By Maria Trimarchi

You know you can't believe everything you see or hear. But between the misinformation on the Internet and our natural propensity to believe what we're told, it can be hard to tell fact from fiction. Here are 10 ways to avoid being conned.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Einstein showed us a mind-blowing way the universe works, while Max Planck and his gang showed us how particles on the atomic and subatomic levels work. But one doesn't explain the other. So there must be a larger theory encompassing them ... or not?

By Kate Kershner

Of course you wash your hands after you use the restroom or work the room at a networking event. But what about after you play beer pong? Or cuddle a duckling?

By William Harris

A "law of miracles," you say? What, are people going to get fined for practicing miracles without a license? Is there even a certification program for becoming a miracle worker? No, it's a mathematical law?

By Kate Kershner

We humans have no problem dreaming up superpowers we wish we had. There's flight, invincibility and super strength. But what about pyrokinesis or starting fires with our minds? Is that a real-life thing or comic-book fantasy?

By Kate Kershner

Would you like to be able to leave your body at will and travel to other countries and planets? Astral projection promises you can do that. But what does science say about this?

By Nathan Chandler

The best photograph can't touch one. A death mask, in all its 3-D glory, is the last likeness of a loved one that a family can own. After all, it vividly preserves what some consider to be the very essence of a person -- the face.

By Erin Wright

A cryptid is an animal whose existence is unproven, meaning no corpse or live specimen has ever been documented by the scientific community. But believers still persist.

By Mark Mancini & Nicole Antonio

Hummmmmm. Annoyed yet? Imagine if you heard that sound every night no matter what you did. Likened to a diesel engine idling in the distance, the Hum is a sound some people can never get away from. It's even caused suicide. But is it real?

By Dave Roos

It's a massive book that no one can read, and it has fascinated scientists, historians and cryptographers for decades. Is it a textbook, an encyclopedia ... or an elaborate hoax?

By Nathan Chandler

In 1977, SETI volunteer Jerry Ehman saw a transmission so exciting he circled it on paper and wrote the word "Wow!" It seemed to indicate a message from outer space. But what was it really?

By Dave Roos & Austin Henderson

The mysteries of Stonehenge have captivated us for centuries: Who built it and why? How did they move those giant stones? Though archaeologists and other researchers have replaced old theories with new ideas, many questions remain.

By Jane McGrath

Was Anna Anderson really Anastasia Romanov? Does the Bermuda Triangle really exist? Wonder no more: We have the answers to these and other formerly unsolved mysteries.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Solar flares disrupt Earth's magnetic field when they hit the planet, causing issues with power and GPS. But if a major solar storm hit Earth, the consequences could be catastrophic.

By Laurie L. Dove & Desiree Bowie

If you don't recycle, you should. If you do recycle, you should do more. And what if everybody in the world started to recycle? At the very least, it would help us attack that enormous plastic patch in the middle of the ocean.

By Laurie L. Dove

It's a strange thing to think about, but have you ever wondered what would happen if the ozone layer suddenly wasn't there? Here's a hint: Getting a bad sunburn would be the least of your problems.

By Laurie L. Dove

Remember learning about photosynthesis when you were a kid? Let's pretend for a moment that this vital process could somehow permanently stop. How tough would it be to continue to live on this Earth?

By Laurie L. Dove

Picture the smells of a warm, sunny day in July. To your left, a neighbor is barbecuing. To your right, someone has put a warm apple pie on the windowsill to cool down. Smells great, right? So how does sunshine factor into all of this?

By Kate Kershner