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Articles

New research shows that a molecule in Szechuan peppers activates your cells’ touch receptors, making them feel like they’ve been vibrated rapidly.

Why Szechuan Peppers Make Your Lips Go Numb

Research shows that a molecule in the peppers activates your cells’ touch receptors, making them feel like they’ve been rapidly vibrated

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Top 10 Biggest Roadside Foods in America

Where is the world’s biggest pistachio?

Nobody Knows How to Interpret This Doomsday Stonehenge in Georgia

We know where they are and what they say, but everything else is all hotly debated

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Energy Innovation

Could Panda Poop Be the Secret to More Efficient Biofuel?

Unique microbes in a panda’s gut efficiently break down bamboo—mass producing these microbes could help scientists make sustainable biofuels

“The Rape of the Sabine Women,” Pietro da Cortnoa

Ask 10,000 Men About “Forced Sex,” And Rape Statistics Start to Make Sense

When asked, one in four men admitted to committing sexual assault

Mooncakes Are China’s Fruit Cake—Traditional Holiday Gifts No One Actually Wants

Last year, China threw away 2 million of them

Egyptian military helicopters

In Case You Forgot, Egypt Is Still in the Midst of a Major Conflict

What started a month ago with protests-turned-deadly has not gone away

Watch As Taxonomists Painstakingly Clean And Assemble a Bat Skeleton

This is basically an Apple commercial for bat preservation

Yes, Astronauts Are Afraid to Go to Space

Actual astronauts never seem afraid to piece the atmosphere and plunge into the icy depths beyond our planet, but they are

The ocean’s most wanted: The Snake

INTERPOL Is After “the Snake,” a Notorious Illegal Fishing Vessel

Norway requested that INTERPOL bestow the Snake with a Purple Notice, information-gathering the agency uses to compile details on criminal activities

The smokiness behind your favorite whiskey might all be thanks to chemistry.

How Chemistry Can Explain the Difference Between Bourbon and a Tennessee Whiskey

The unique flavor of a whiskey or scotch might be more than pure luck—it might be a science

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A 1928 Yiddish-English-Hebrew Dictionary May Be the First Official Record of “Meh”

The term “meh,” defined as “an expression of indifference or boredom,” entered the Collins English Dictionary in 2008

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This Next-Generation Bug Spray Could Make You Invisible to Mosquitoes

Researchers are analyzing chemicals naturally present on human skin that disrupt mosquitoes’ ability to smell us

Obama Isn’t the First Peace Prize Laureate to Support a War

This isn’t the first time a Peace Prize winner has pushed for war

Build Your Very Own Incredible, Wind-Powered Creature

Your next rainy day, you now have no excuse to be bored. You’re welcome

Here’s How Researchers Determined a Long-Lost Van Gogh Painting Is an Original

Two years of intense research were required to give the painting the final stamp of approval

For $100,000, You Can Have the Most Valuable Pokemon Card Ever

This is by far the most anyone has asked for a trading card like this

Blackboard Jungle

Crossing the Line Between Art and Science

New York artist Steve Miller melds the computer models and scientific notes of a Nobel-winning biochemist into a series of paintings now on display in D.C.

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These Beautiful 16th Century Watercolors Illustrate the History of Comets And Meteors

Today, studying comets and meteors involves billions of dollars worth of equipment and teams from all over the world

When the heart’s electrical system fails, death is imminent.

Why Does Cardiac Arrest Often Strike in the Morning?

Studies show that the amount of a specific molecule in human hearts fluctuates on a daily cycle, helping to explain the decades-old observation

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