New Research

A tickled rat.

What Tickling Giggly Rats Can Tell Us About the Brain

Their laughter manifests in a surprising region of the cerebral cortex

A purplish-mantled tanager, a species the study suggests should be listed at vulnerable

Is the Endangered Species List Missing Hundreds of Species of Birds?

A new study suggests the IUCN's methods are underestimating the risks to many species, but the organization say the research is flawed

Human and Neanderthal skulls

Why Humans Don't Have More Neanderthal DNA

The mutations humans acquired from Neanderthals are slowly being purged from the genome overtime

A U.S. Air Force pilot performs a pre-flight check. Perhaps one day, connecting electrodes to the scalp could be part of that routine.

U.S. Military Tests Brain Stimulation to Sharpen Mental Skills

Could electrodes one day replace pill bottles in the theatre of war?

Grégoire Courtine, an author on the new study, holds a silicon model of a primate’s brain, a microelectrode array and a pulse generator. The brain-spine interface consists of elements like these.

A New Wireless Brain Implant Helps Paralyzed Monkeys Walk. Humans Could Be Next.

One small step for monkeys, one potential leap for humans

Europe's Oldest Polished Axe Found in Ireland

The 9,000-year-old tool shows that Mesolithic people had sophisticated burial rituals and even cremated their dead

American TV Watchers Spend Over a Year of Their Life Channel Surfing

As options of shows and ways to watch them increase, so does the time it takes to find something to watch

Workers from the Kenya Wildlife Service carry elephant tusks from shipping containers full of ivory transported from around the country for a mass anti-poaching demonstration.

Most Ivory for Sale Comes From Recently Killed Elephants—Suggesting Poaching Is Taking Its Toll

Carbon dating finds that almost all trafficked ivory comes from animals killed less than three years before their tusks hit the market

On a majority of American roads, potholes and bumps are the norm.

These Places Have the Nation’s Worst Roads

Bumps and potholes are par for the course on more than two-thirds of America’s roads

Why Certain Songs Get Stuck in Our Heads

A survey of 3,000 people reveals that the most common earworms share a fast tempo, unusual intervals and simple rhythm

Hanging Out With Friends Makes Chimps Less Stressed

We all need somebody to lean on

Artist concept of a binary system similar to the one that originated the nova Sagittarii 2015 N.2.

Most Lithium in the Universe Is Forged in Exploding Stars

The recurring explosions of white dwarf stars produce the vast majority of this important element

Smoking leaves permanent scars on cells, new research finds.

Smoking a Pack a Day for a Year Leaves 150 Mutations in Every Lung Cell

Researchers quantify just how bad smoking is for you, molecularly

Region R18 in the Carina Nebula

Stunning Images Capture the Carina Nebula's "Pillars of Destruction"

Caught by ESO's Very Large Telescope, the ten pillars of gas and dust are a hazy star nursery 7,500 light years away

The Warryti Rock Shelter in the Flinders Range

Aboriginal Australians Lived In Country's Interior 10,000 Years Earlier Than Thought

Excavations at a rock shelter in the Flinders Range shows people were there 49,000 years ago, hunting megafauna and developing new tools

How does a lizard that looks like a rose stem mated with a cactus suck water out of the desert?

This Spike-Crested Lizard Drinks From Sand With Its Skin

The thirsty, thorny devils of Australia's deserts can’t quench their thirst with tongues alone

A black and white ruffed lemur in Madagascar's Vakona Forest Reserve. Worldwide, primates are particularly prone to overhunting, according to the first global assessment of bush meat hunting trends.

A New Report Says We're Hunting the World's Mammals to Death. What Can Be Done?

Solutions are multifaceted and region-specific, but conservation researchers have some ideas

A middle school devastated by the 1933 Long Beach earthquake

Oil Drilling Could Be to Blame for Devastating 1933 California Quake and Others

Human-induced earthquakes could be much older than once thought

Spinach: The Superfood That Could Help Detect Bombs

Now more than Popeye’s favorite food, carbon nanotubes are turning the leafy green into a bomb detector

Whoever dies with the most friends wins? It's complicated.

Facebook Might Help You Live Longer, According to Facebook Researchers

It depends on whether online social ties strengthen real-world social ties, which are known to be good for your health

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