Science

Do animals think? It’s a question that has intrigued scientists for thousands of years, inspiring them to come up with different methods and criteria to measure the intelligence of animals. Bryan B Rasmussen navigates through this controversial question, showing how determining...

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Robotics is shaping up to be the next transformative technology of our time, says legal expert Ryan Calo, who argues in a new paper that we need laws to deal with the rise of robotics and artificial intelligence. “Technology has not stood still. The same private institutions that developed...

Science

Many anti-abortion activists have based their ideas in the belief that women who have abortions suffer from negative psychological effects and come to regret their decisions. However, according to a recent study from the University of California, San Francisco, 95% of women who have had an...

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Japan's Henn-na Hotel — which translates roughly to the 'Strange Hotel' in English — has some pretty unusual employees. The hotel in Sasebo, Japan, opens on July 17, and will be manned almost entirely by robots. What started as an effort to cut down on labor costs has...

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In his excellent article, Courage to Quit: How I’m Outgrowing Pornography and Waking Up to My True Self, Dan Mahle describes his experiences with on-line pornography and why he decided to quit the habit. “After a decade of porn use, I quit watching 2 years ago,” says Mahle....

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Biodegradable, wood-based computer chips can perform just as well as chips commonly used for wireless communication, according to new research. The inventors argue that the new chips could help address the global problem of rapidly accumulating electronic waste, some of which contains...

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The global amount of food wasted each year is an estimated 1.76 billion tons — that's $750 billion in terms of economic loss, according to the United Nations. The two most common reasons for such extensive food waste relate to mindless consumption: We buy or prepare more than we need,...

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The rejection of transplanted organs in hosts that were previously tolerant may not be permanent, according to new research. Using a mouse model of cardiac transplantation, the researchers found that immune tolerance can spontaneously recover after an infection-triggered rejection event, and...

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Around the world, women can expect to live longer than men. Why? And was this always the case? According to a new study, significant differences in life expectancy between the sexes first emerged as recently as the turn of the 20th century. As infectious disease prevention, improved diets,...

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Right at this moment, 3 billion miles from Earth, a spacecraft built by humans is flying by Pluto, a world we have never seen at close range. If all is going according to plan, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft should be making its closest approach with Pluto, at 7:49 a.m. EDT Tuesday. Data...

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The brain function that underlies anxiety and depression is inherited, a new study finds — but there is still plenty of space for experience and environment to reduce the risk of a full-blown mental disorder. The research focused on rhesus monkeys. Like humans, some young rhesus monkeys...

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f you’ve been to a restaurant in the last few years, you’ve likely seen the words gluten-free written somewhere on the menu. But what exactly is gluten, and why can’t some people process it? And why does it only seem to be a problem recently? William D. Chey unravels the facts...

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If you’re about to nuke your leftovers in a plastic container, you might want to dirty another dish. When heated, harmful chemicals in plastic can leach into your food, potentially increasing your risk of high blood pressure and insulin resistance, according to a series of new studies out of...

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Radio astronomers are watching a previously dormant black hole wake up in a dramatic display as material falls onto it for the first time in perhaps millions of years. Almost every galaxy, including our own, appears to have a black hole at its core. Most of the time they are quiet, with just...

Science

New studies link two chemicals increasingly used during manufacturing to strengthen plastic wrap, and containers for soap, cosmetics, and processed food to a rise in risk of high blood pressure and diabetes in children and adolescents. The compounds, di-isononyl phthalate (DINP) and di-isodecyl...