Surprising Science

N.A.S.A.’s Messenger spacecraft, which entered orbit around Mercury on March 17, sent its first images of the hot planet’s surface, including its previously unseen southern pole, back to Earth.

Mental health remains a huge concern for the space industry, whether considering humanity’s eventual colonization of other worlds or merely the price of a space tourism weekend.

The co-founder of Field String Theory explains why the universe has 11 dimensions rather than any other number.

Amazon getting the jump on Google and Apple with the launch of its digital music locker service has prompted closer looks at legality and whether licenses should be paid for streaming.

The human heartbeat could be used to power an ipod after scientists developed a tiny chip which uses the body’s own movement to generate power, the Telegraph reports.

As Middle East regimes try to stifle dissent by censoring the Internet, the U.S. faces an uncomfortable reality: its companies provide much of the technology used to block websites.

People who experience the “impostor phenomenon” believe their successes are undeserved—and they live in constant fear of being unmasked despite consistently good performance.

Two psychology researchers at Wilfrid Laurier University say they have come up with a simple test that reveals whether two friends will have a tempestuous relatoinship or not.

If you think you determine the course of your life, you’re more likely to work harder toward your goals. If you think you don’t, you’re likelier to behave in ways that fulfill that prophesy.

Scientists report in a new study that a male mouse’s desire to mate with either a male or a female is determined by the brain chemical serotonin, which regulates other sexual behaviors.

Researchers studying the most ancient yet least understood of the five senses—smell—have discovered a previously unknown step in how odors are detected and processed by the brain.

With the increasing cost of health care and the constant threat of litigation, doctors and hospitals are under enormous pressure to keep patients and their families happy.

Whether right or left-handed, people associate “good” with their dominant side. But if that displeases you, it can be changed. Our minds are perhaps more easily influenced than we think.

Empathy is one of our most powerful emotions yet society has all but ignored it. Autism expert Professor Simon Baron-Cohen reveals the science behind “the world’s most valuable resource”.

Researchers are finding strong evidence that parts of the brain are involved in gaining control over smoking and nicotine addiction, and that different areas may be important for each individual.

Neuroscientists at M.I.T.’s Picower Institute of Learning and Memory have uncovered why relatively minor details of an episode are sometimes inexplicably linked to long-term memories.

The F.D.A. has recently approved the drug Yervoy, which is the first treatment shown to extend the lives of late-stage melanoma patients. There are indications it may even cure some.

Although women go under the knife in the name of beauty in larger numbers, a new report from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons shows an increase in operations among men in 2010.

People with Tourettes struggle with uncontrollable physical tics and verbal outbursts, but a new study reveals that they also have highly developed cognitive control over their reactions.

A new study conducted by the University of Colorado has found that people living at higher altitudes have a lower chance of dying from heart disease and tend to live longer than others.

Only a fraction of what physicians do is based on solid evidence from randomized, controlled trials; the rest is based instead on weak or no evidence and on subjective judgment.

When you consider that the first human genome was completed a decade ago for billions of dollars, D.N.A. sequencing has come a long way, fast. Now robots sequence genes for less.

While only a subset of patients responds to targeted cancer drugs, scientists are starting to figure out how to make those drugs work more effectively in a larger number of patients.

Brian Cox’s vision of science is dispassionate. “People don’t need to know when the universe began; people need to know how science works. …I want Britain to be more reason-based.”

In 100 years, people will look back and say, “People used to drive their cars? Are they insane?”

For the first time viable mouse sperm have been grown outside the testes. If the technique can be repeated with human sperm, it could lead to new ways of treating infertile men.

A U.S. national lab plans to unveil a “Titan” supercomputer in 2012 that would dwarf the computing speeds of the latest record holder from China, as well as all previous competitors.

Researchers have come up with a simple, low-cost way of studying cellular proteins using a laser. The method may help to develop new drugs intended to treat disease in humans.

A new cell phone app developed by Microsoft researchers uses overlapping snapshots to build a photo-realistic 3-D model that can be spun around and viewed from any angle.

Researcher at Rice University, Krishna Palem has found that “pruning” away the little-used circuits on microchips can double the energy efficiency and computing speed of the chips.