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Articles

Reinvented: Futuristic Toilet Extolls the Health Benefits of Squatting

An award-winning design for the toilet of the future makes it easier to switch to a more natural posture

This Computer Algorithm Can Tell If You’re a Hipster

One day, they could help flash ads for single-speed bikes when you walk by

Student Olivia Persons of George Washington University jumped at the chance to help the National Museum of Natural History develop a new education facility.

A New Education Lab Called Q?rius Aims to Be the Mother of All Curiosity

It’s a quirky way to spell curious, but at Natural History’s Q?rius, the kids are lining up to get in

Stores are using sensors to make sense of the madness.

How Are Stores Tracking the Way That We Shop?

More and more are using sensors to follow the cell phone signals of customers to understand how they behave

A composite photo shows the shower of the Geminids.

Friday Night Lights: The Geminid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight

For prime meteor shower viewing tonight, stay up late until the Moon sets

How One Chinese Corporate Spy Dodged the FBI to Steal Inbred Corn Seeds from Iowa

Mo Hailong faces a decade in prison for allegedly trying to steal millions of dollars-worth of corn seeds

Charles "Pete" Conrad stands with the United States flag on the lunar surface on November 19, 1969.

The Moon Belongs to No One, but What About Its Artifacts?

Experts call on spacefaring nations to protect lunar landing sites, not to mention Neil Armstrong’s footprints

An 800-year-old medieval bridge spans the subterranean River Roch beneath Rochdale, England.

This River And Medieval Bridge, Paved Over for 100 Years, Will Soon Return to the Light

Local artists were recruited to help determine the river’s ultimate design, and developers say the project could be completed by 2015

Using interpretive dance, Cedric Tan, a biologist at the University of Oxford, explains his PhD thesis, "Sperm competition between brothers and female choice.

Art Meets Science

This is What Happens When You Ask Scientists to Explain Their PhDs in Dance

Watch this year’s winners of the “Dance Your Ph.D” contest animate sperm competition, cell division and sleep deprivation

Can Bees Be Trained to Sniff Out Cancer?

A British artist has designed Bee’s, a glass diagnostic tool that aims to make screening as simple as breathing into a bowl

James Bond’s Martini Consumption Would Have Compromised His Physical, Mental and Sexual Abilities

The authors postulate that the spy’s preference for shaken, not stirred vodka martinis may indicate a case of shaky hands caused by alcohol-induced tremors

How America’s Most Popular Potted Plant Captured Christmas

On National Poinsettia Day, the third generation behind the Ecke Family Ranch talks about how his family developed a hundred varieties of the plant

Peruse the Weird Medical History of Every Single U.S. President

From John Adams’s baldness to James Madison’s frostbite to Herbert Hoover’s handshake problems, learn about the ailments of the presidents

Playing an Instrument Won’t Make Your Kid Smarter

Music can, however, boost children’s creativity and teach them important life skills such as discipline and concentration—but so can other hobbies

Some Animals Don’t Get Weaker With Age

Some animals actually get more fertile and less prone to dying as they hit their upper years

Allergies Can Be So Specific That a Person Can React to a Egg’s Yolk But Not Its Whites

Food allergies can be quite specific, triggered by a single species rather than entire genre such as “seafood”

To Fight Superbugs, FDA Goes After Antibiotic Overuse on Farms

The FDA is pushing for a voluntary end to the use of antibiotics on farms as growth promoters

Manuscripts from when Timbuktu was a vibrant commercial and academic crossroads at the edge of the Sahara were in danger of being looted and potentially destroyed.

The Race to Save Mali’s Priceless Artifacts

When jihadists overran Timbuktu last year, residents mounted a secret operation to evacuate the town’s irreplaceable medieval manuscripts

Valentina Tereshkova, first woman in space, and Yuri Gagarin

Soviet Russia Had a Better Record of Training Women in STEM Than America Does Today

Perhaps it’s time for the United States to take a page from the Soviet book just this one time

Would You Eat A Holiday Dinner in a Can?

British designer Chris Godfrey dreams up a tinned, nine-course meal for gamers glued to their consoles

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