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Science / Mind & Body

Can a lab-made gel, added to foods, actually make it possible to munch your way to a trimmer figure?

Eating This Gel Might Help You Lose Weight

It’s not a diet pill, but researchers have developed an edible substance that makes you feel fuller longer

A memory-weakening drug has shown promise in mice. Could Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind someday be a reality?

A New Drug Could Help You Forget Long-Term Traumatic Memories

The drug has allowed mice to replace old anxiety-filled memories with new, harmless ones

Hiroshi Nagashima and Hiromitsu Nakauchi aim to genetically engineer pigs that grow human organs.

Will Japanese Researchers Grow Human Organs Inside Pigs?

A controversial technique to develop body parts from stem cells may someday save countless lives, but will society allow it?

Moving to An Area With More Green Space Can Improve Your Mental Health for Years

A new study finds that the mental benefits of greenery are immediate and long-lasting

There are 40 ground-up crickets in every bar.

Are You Ready For Protein Bars Made From Crickets?

They’re good for you and the environment, but are they good enough to eat?

The finger pads of a person with adermatoglyphia are entirely smooth.

Curious Conditions

Adermatoglyphia: The Genetic Disorder Of People Born Without Fingerprints

The extremely rare disease causes no problems—apart from occasional difficulties with the authorities

Lego men.

Art Meets Science

See the Inner Anatomy of Barbie, Mario and Mickey Mouse—Bones, Guts and All

Artist Jason Freeny transforms familiar childhood characters into realistic anatomical models

Five Reasons Why You Should Probably Stop Using Antibacterial Soap

As the FDA recently noted, antibacterial products are no more effective than soap and water, and could be dangerous

Your Complete Guide to the Science of Hangovers

Here’s what we know, what we don’t know, and how you can use this information to minimize your suffering

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The Coolest Science of 2013, in GIFs

This year, we saw dissolving electronics, flying meteors, gravity-defying chains and rotting pineapples

It’s a Myth: There’s No Evidence That Coffee Stunts Kids’ Growth

The long-held misconception can be traced to claims made in advertisements for Postum, an early 1900s coffee alternative

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

One of the ancient human fossils found in Spain's La Sima de los Huesos.

Scientists Just Sequenced the DNA From A 400,000-Year-Old Early Human

The fossil, found in Spain, is mysteriously related to an ancient group of homonins called the Denisovans, previously found only in Siberia

The Toxins That Affected Your Great-Grandparents Could Be In Your Genes

Biologist Michael Skinner has enraged the chemical community and shocked his peers with his breakthrough research

Electronics That Can Melt in Your Body Could Change the World of Medicine

John Rogers, a revolutionary materials scientist, is pushing the boundaries of the medical world

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Why Brain Size Doesn’t Correlate With Intelligence

We can nurture growth, but never really control it

Resurrection Bay, Alaska (1939), by Rockwell Kent

Art Meets Science

Art Chronicles Glaciers As They Disappear

The Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Washington, is exhibiting 75 works of art pulled from the past two centuries—all themed around ice

It’s time to give thanks for your taste buds.

10 Things We’ve Learned About Taste

Do following rituals before a meal make the food taste better? What about the ambience of the room in which you’re eating it?

A mounting body of research shows that the circumstances and chronic stresses of poverty interrupt the development of the brain.

How Growing Up in Poverty May Affect a Child’s Developing Brain

A mounting body of research shows that the circumstances and chronic stresses of poverty interrupt the development of the brain

Art Meets Science

Should We Use Body Painting to Teach Anatomy?

Artist Danny Quirk’s paintings on the skin of willing friends show in textbook-like detail the muscle, bone and tissue that lie underneath

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