Growing food in space will be necessary to support the future of space exploration. And it won't be monoculture, either. Here's why astronauts will be growing whole ecosystems in space.

Most of us are stoked if we can get a stone to skip more than 3 or 4 times. The world record holder at skipping stones has 88 skips. Here's why science says that number is way too low.

Even though math and art feel like polar opposites, it turns out computer algorithms and calculations can help us see masterpieces in a new light. From using wavelet decomposition to study Van Gogh to using convolutional filters in...

What if the treatment for one of the most daunting psychological conditions were a party drug? New research suggests that might be coming.

Teeth are so well preserved in the fossil record that they make the best, most informative fossils we can find, from phylogenetic studies to learning about the evolution of the human brain.

We used to think neural circuits were rigid and robotic, but now we know that's not true -- thanks to crab stomachs.

Parasites give most of us the heebie-jeebies. But new research shows they're pretty dang important for ecosystems, and climate change is putting them in danger. So here's some of the reasons you should care about those guys!

From diabetes to Alzheimer's, there's a lot that we hope to be able to treat using stem cell therapies. But the stem cells we use tend to be hard to come by. But it turns out there's a new source of stem cells that has researchers...

Some of us can't get enough of that new car smell. But certain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that help create this aroma are linked to cancer. While this doesn't mean new car smell definitely increases your chance of getting cancer,...

Nature can be pretty noisy, but there's some stuff that's just quiet all the time - right? Well, thanks to advances in audio equipment, researchers are finding out that everything from plants to bacteria have a lot more to say that we...

We love trees, but the main problem is that they aren't exactly travel-sized. However, new technology wants to bring the fresh-air benefits of trees to places that the real deal just can't thrive, like dense urban areas!

Sponges might not look like particularly complex animals, but they've had billions of years to evolve their own special systems. And one of those systems might involve sending messages through their body in the form of light.

You'd think that the Northern and Southern Hemispheres would be basically symmetrical -- that since our planet is a ball, the climate, temperature, and weather patterns would be the same on top as on the bottom. But there are some...

If you picture a rocket launch, do you imagine it taking off from a hot air balloon? In this episode, we'll learn how using balloons to launch sounding rockets advanced our understanding of planet Earth, radiation, and how to keep...

Sometimes called "W-sitting," this popular way for kids to plop in front of the TV has been stigmatized for decades. For most people, research indicates it's just fine. But a small percentage of W-sitters do have a problem.

When someone gets a PET scan to detect tumors and how far a cancer has spread, that machine is actually detecting sugar. Because cancer has a sweet tooth, and this phenomenon, called the Warburg effect, may help us develop new cancer...

The World Health organization recently added aspartame, an artificial sweetener used in diet soda and tea, to its list of possibly carcinogenic substances. But will diet soda really give you cancer? We look at the science behind the...

Researchers have identified the processes that cause gray hair and have done experiments to reverse it. And believe it or not, we've had some of these options for decades.

Where would biology be without microscopes? But for a long time, in order to see the smallest bits of life, that life had to be dead. Then along came Atomic Force Microscopy, which let us observe things like DNA and proteins moving...

One reason the Bermuda Triangle has scared people for generations is the seaweed. And thanks to eutrophication and other human causes, that Sargassum seaweed is starting to travel the world. Here's how we're accidentally making more of...

Plagues of locusts have been documented since ancient times, and they affect the food supply of one in ten people today. How can we stop them? Well, computer models of locusts swarms tell us every locust is scared to death of its neighbors.

Whether it's solo or with a friend, young dolphins love to partake in a bit of play.

From the long extinct Stegosaurus, to tiny modern mice, all sorts of animals grow bits of bones inside their skin. These structures are called osteoderms, and they're often more than just a suit of armor.

Solving food shortages caused by droughts is a big challenge that may benefit from a tiny ally. Turns out that the microbes living in the soil around plants can give them a boost when water's scarce, which means more food for us, which...