Science Versus Myth

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

By Adrian Rogers

You're talking with a group of people when, with no apparent warning, everyone stops talking. Is it just an awkward silence or a pregnant pause? Or is this silence something more?

By William Harris

When you're a kid, this frightening rumor burns through the playground like wildfire. After all, what could be worse than your own eyes exploding out of your head? But does it have any truth to it?

By Amy Hunter

Though they're indispensable to any construction project, nails have a nasty habit of getting hammered into thumbs and puncturing tires. Is a rusty nail even more dangerous?

By Molly Edmonds

Fire will turn a human's teeth to dust. But what about a dragon's?

By Robert Lamb

Would they be a mating display? A fierce weapon to defend against lions?

By Robert Lamb & Desiree Bowie

Tourists may not be the only ones to enjoy the beauty of the famous palace.

By Diana Brown

We've yet to find intelligent life outside of planet Earth. But instead of space, should we be looking right here but in other dimensions?

By Diana Brown

A surprising percentage of Americans believe that Big Pharma is hiding the cure for cancer because there's a lot of money to be made treating the disease. Experts explain why this isn't true.

By Dave Roos

If you're considering a hobby or career as a "ufologist" or paranormal investigator, there are a handful of routes that don't involve being personally abducted or applying to a secret government shadow agency.

By Dave Roos

From plane crashes and deaths to sports superstitions and hexagrams, many people believe that the number 23 possesses magical properties.

By Patrick J. Kiger

You've heard this bit of hair care advice before, but is it true?

By Kristen Hall-Geisler

Whether you call it a contrast shower, a Scottish shower or a James Bond shower, it's guaranteed to wake you up. Here's why people are trying it.

By Kristen Hall-Geisler

If mental strain caused a bloody nose, academic testing sites would be awash in crimson. So why do we still see psychic nosebleeds from "Stranger Things" to "Scanners"?

By Laurie L. Dove

Is 'Jim Wilson' really a code name airlines use to refer to a corpse being transported on a plane? Or just an urban myth?

By Kristen Hall-Geisler

Dragon fire is an awe-inspiring thing, but exactly how would it happen? Real-world clues from nature point the way.

By Laurie L. Dove

Thousands of years ago, the Babylonians created the zodiac and dropped a constellation when it didn't quite fit into their schematic. Its name? Ophiuchus. Should it be part of our horoscope?

By Kate Kershner & Kathryn Whitbourne

Humans have only been bipedal for a sliver of history. What if we returned our spines to their original position and quit walking upright? What would that world be like?

By Julie Douglas

A bunch of Yale physicists decided to give Schrodinger's cat not one but two boxes. And that, strangely enough, could eventually prove handy for quantum computing.

By Julia Layton

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

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

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

It may shock you, but there's never been a widespread study conducted on the sanitation or the necessity of the courtesy flush. Can this practice inflict grievous bodily harm on your hindquarters — and the environment? HowStuffWorks weighs in.

By Kate Kershner

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