It’s not enough for some people on this planet to say they have their mother’s eyes – they can now claim to have their great, great, great… (a few thousand greats later) …great grandmother’s saliva. A variation on the gene for our spit’s mucus shows signs of having been passed down from a distant ancestor.

Our brain waves can synchronise with others when we’re in conversation with them, according to new research. It’s not quite mind reading, but it could teach us more about the nature of language and relationships. Based on readings from electroencephalography (EEG) machines, the study shows remarkable similarities between brain activity as two people chat to

The question of when people first arrived in Australia has been the subject of lively debate among archaeologists, and one with important consequences for the global story of human evolution. Australia is the end point of early modern human migration out of Africa, and sets the minimum age for the global dispersal of humans.  

On July 14, Maryam Mirzakhani, Stanford professor of mathematics and the only female winner of the prestigious Fields Medal in Mathematics, died at the age of 40. In just a few hours, her name, both in her native Farsi (#مریم میرزاخانی) and English (#maryammirzakhani), was trending on Twitter and Facebook. Most major news agencies were

The thatched roof held back the sun’s rays, but it could not keep the tropical heat at bay. As everyone at the research workshop headed outside for a break, small groups splintered off to gather in the shade of coconut trees and enjoy a breeze. I wandered from group to group, joining in the discussions.

At least three quarters of the human genome consists of non-functional, ‘junk DNA‘, according to a new study, and the actual proportion is likely to be even greater than that. Ever since Watson and Crick discovered the double helix structure of DNA back in the 1950s, scientists have been debating what extent of the genome

The story of Rapa Nui or Easter Island and its earliest settlers may have to be rewritten after a new study of ancient remains on the island challenged the conventional thinking that the citizens recklessly destroyed their idyllic island environment. It turns out that the Rapa Nui people may have had a more diverse diet and taken

A new study on decision-making in people with autism spectrum conditions has found that they are more consistent in their choices when evaluating product options. Consumers are constantly bombarded with endless choices, often tailored specifically to influence their buying decisions. But now it looks like having traits on the autism spectrum can actually protect you

July 10 is the birthday of Nikola Tesla, who would have been 161 years old today. It’s a good time to celebrate the life of the Serbian-American engineer and physicist: Without Tesla, you might not be able to affordably power your home, let alone read this sentence.   Tesla filed more than 300 patents during

Archaeologists in China have made a stunning discovery, finding graves bearing the ancient remains of a ‘giant’ people buried approximately 5,000 year ago. The bones, uncovered during an excavation in Shandong Province in south-east China, reveal at least one male individual who would have reached 1.9 metres (6 ft, 3 in) in height, along with

The US has a long history of scientific discoveries. From the invention of the steam-powered boat engine in the 18th century to the sequencing of the human genome at the turn of the 21st, each state can claim its own scientific advancements.   To celebrate those achievements, we’ve compiled a list of important science discoveries in every state. Scroll through

Scientists in Canada have used commercially available genetic material to piece together the extinct horsepox virus, a cousin of the smallpox virus that killed as many as a billion human beings before being eradicated. The laboratory achievement was reported Thursday in a news article in the journal Science.   The lead researcher in Canada, David Evans,

It’s amazing what the best computer scanning technology can do these days – like revealing a hidden passageway beneath the Pyramid of the Moon near the ancient city of Teotihuacan in Mexico. The straight tunnel sits about 10 metres (33 feet) underground and is thought to represent a pathway to the underworld, giving us new

Dark triad personality (DTP) traits are narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. These traits manifest in people as excessive self-love, a manipulative attitude, and a lack of empathy. It’s unclear how many people in the population have these traits, but various studies and estimates put the number somewhere between 1 percent and 10 percent.   DTPs are

In theory, sleep takes up about 8 out of every 24 hours, one-third of our lives. But many of us don’t actually sleep that much and are tired all the time – more than a third of Americans don’t get the seven to nine hours of sleep a night that the CDC recommends. Yet we spend

Researchers have used new dating techniques to confirm that human fossils unearthed in Morocco are roughly 300,000 years old. The landmark discovery is forcing a rethink not only on how the first populations of Homo sapiens developed at least 100,000 years earlier than previously thought, but how these early human populations spread themselves across the

Motherboard has called Ray Kurzweil “a prophet of both techno-doom and techno-salvation.” With a little wiggle room given to the timelines the author, inventor, computer scientist, futurist, and director of engineering at Google provides, a full 86 percent of his predictions – including the fall of the Soviet Union, the growth of the internet, and

You’d think that in the age of the internet, where more information than we can possibly consume in several lifetimes is at our fingertips, stubborn myths from the past would die away. But who among us still thinks the Great Wall of China is visible from space, and that it’s a bad idea to pick

1. Hundreds of genes spring to life after you die – and they keep functioning for up to four days. Together with an unexplained case in March that recorded brain activity in a corpse up to 10 minutes after death, we’re starting to realise that death as we know it still retains some strange signs of life.

For every ten people hit by lightning, nine will survive. But what are the lasting effects of being exposed to hundreds of millions of volts? Sometimes they’ll keep the clothing, the strips of shirt or trousers that weren’t cut away and discarded by the doctors and nurses.   They’ll tell and retell their story at

It’s a question that goes back to Aristotle himself: Does water have a flavour, or is it devoid of taste?  For millennia, scientists have been trying to figure out if the mammalian tongue can specifically taste water, or if our brains are responding to the after-effects of something we tasted earlier. Now, we might finally

Scientists studying the pattern of circadian rhythms have found that one central body clock could be controlling several others at the same time. By examining fruit flies – which, like humans, have several circadian clocks affecting the rhythm their daily biological processes – researchers have found evidence of a single ‘master’ clock that leads all other internal clocks related

More than 99 percent of your genetic information is exactly the same as every other person on the planet. Your genes determine your skin colour, sex, and hair colour and whether or not you have certain genetic diseases. But it’s in that less than 1 percent that things get interesting. Specific genetic variations allow some of

Changing your meal times could be enough to reset one of your internal body clocks, researchers have found, giving us new insight into the relationship between when we eat and our body’s circadian rhythms. While previous studies have spotted a connection between nutrition, metabolism, and circadian rhythms in the human body, this new research pins

If you’ve never felt weird about speaking, singing, yelling, or even breathing through your mouth, be prepared to feel really grossed out by all of those things when you see what your body has to go through to make all that happen. Australian musician Tom Thum does the honours by visiting ear, nose, and throat

A new study has found that the average person is holding onto 13 secrets, five of which they’ve never told a living soul. And it’s not the secret itself that will haunt you – it’s all the mental energy you spend thinking about it.  Scientists have found that the burden of having secrets can affect

What is it about a creative work such as a painting or piece of music that elicits our awe and admiration? Is it the thrill of being shown something new, something different, something the artist saw that we did not? As Pablo Picasso put it: “Others have seen what is and asked why. I have

There are a lot of weird words you learn to pronounce and spell if you pay much attention to health, science and the environment. By the time Iceland’s spectacular volcanic eruption simmered down in 2010, for instance, “Eyjafjallajokull” was as familiar as “Mount Etna”. You should hear “Papahanaumokuakea” roll off the tongue of Juliet Eilperin, who

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you learned to read as a child in school, but in many countries around the world, illiteracy prevents millions of adults from being able to decipher the written word. Now scientists have discovered that when people learn to read in their adult years, significant changes take place

Perhaps one of the most intriguing and interesting phenomena in quantum physics is what Einstein referred to as a “spooky action at a distance” – also known as quantum entanglement. This quantum effect is behind what makes quantum computers work, as quantum bits (qubits) generally rely on entanglement to process data and information. It’s also the working theory

The first thing you’d see if a nuclear bomb exploded nearby is a flood of light so bright, you may think the Sun blew up. Wincing from temporary blindness, you’d scan the horizon and see an orange fireball. The gurgling flames would rise and darken into a purple-hued column of black smoke, which would turn in

Our brains are pretty good at filling in the blanks when it comes to our sense of perception – often to the point we have a mental movie of an entire event before it even finishes unfolding. New research has shown this ‘mind’s eye’ prediction of future motion occurs at a higher speed than in

1. Lungs don’t just facilitate respiration – they also make blood. Mammalian lungs produce more than 10 million platelets (tiny blood cells) per hour, which equates to the majority of platelets circulating the body. 2. It is mathematically possible to build an actual time machine – what’s holding us back is finding materials that can physically

The physiology of Himalayan Sherpas has evolved over thousands of years to help them become virtually superhuman mountain climbers, nimbly guiding and assisting others who seek to ascend the extreme heights of Mount Everest. But what is it in their biology that enables them to overcome the hypoxia (oxygen deficiency) and altitude sickness that plague

For the first time in human history, American women in their 30s are having more babies than women in their 20s, with the average age of first-time mothers sitting at about 28 – a massive two-year leap from 2014. Not only is this a stark reminder of just how quickly our species can change in

Recent analysis of a 3.3-million-year-old hominin fossil found back in 2000 has provided researchers with the most complete spinal column of any early human relative – and gives us a unique snapshot of a crucial transition point as our early ancestors evolved towards bipedalism. According to the results of the analysis, key segments of the

Scientists have discovered 40 new genes that appear to be linked to intelligence, and the find could help neurologists understand how the human brain develops key functions associated with thinking. While the influence of these genes on intelligence is expected to be “minuscule” – a wide variety of factors are known to contribute to our IQ

A new examination of two 7.2 million-year-old fossils from southern Europe suggests that humans split off from the great apes several hundred thousand years earlier than we thought. Thanks to DNA sequencing, we know that humans and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) once split from a common ancestor, but there’s hot debate over the timing and location

It seems like it’s getting harder and harder to get a good night’s sleep. Myriad distractions are in cahoots, keeping you from getting enough shut-eye. We’re supposed to get seven to nine hours of sleep, but many Americans don’t hit that target every night. Sleep can provide incredible health benefits, like helping us lose weight, improving our memories, and even

Scientists have discovered that being an only child doesn’t just lead to behavioural differences that can set kids apart from those with siblings – it actually affects a child’s brain development, too. A new study comparing brain scans of only children and others who grew up with siblings has revealed significant differences in the participants’

Researchers have added to a growing body of evidence linking criminal psychopathy and changes in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. After scanning the brains of 124 inmates in the US, the team found that psychopathic traits such as a lack of empathy and impulsive antisocial behaviour were associated with larger than average grey matter

You’re probably familiar with the creeping sensation you get when you think someone’s watching you. You don’t know why, but suddenly you’re convinced that someone is looking your way, even if you’re alone in your house… But is this just a trick our brain plays on us, or are we actually sensing something that’s really

Famous physicist Albert Einstein, assassinated Japanese prime-minister Hisashi Hamaguchi, and English engineer Charles Babbage all have at least one thing in common; pickled brains – all cut out of their skulls and preserved after their deaths so researchers could study their genius. The brain of 17th century French philosopher René Descartes is now dust, but

Mas Subramanian, a chemist and Oregon State University professor, became known in 2009 when his lab discovered the first new blue pigment, called YInMn Blue, in 200 years.  Now, Crayola is making the blue into a crayon.   As NPR notes, the scientific breakthrough was a happy accident. In 2009, a student in his lab combined yttrium, indium, and manganese oxides (a

Humans have a centuries-old reputation as poor smellers. Though we can see more colours than the average mammal, our noses are simply no match for the questing snouts of rabbits and hounds. Sure, the aromas of coffee and pie are great. But intelligent humans outgrew the need to sniff our way through life. Or so

Time seems to pass faster or slower depending on the language you speak, new research has revealed, because of the way your native tongue speaks about time. In English, you might talk about a “long” day, whereas in Greek, you might talk about a “full” day – and those slight variations seem to alter our

  Humans are still evolving, So, where will evolution take us in 1,000 years? Chances are we’ll be taller. Humans have already seen a boom in height over the last 130 years. In 1880 the average American male was 5’7″ (170 cm). Today, he’s 5’10” (177 cm).   We may also merge with machines that can

Homo naledi, a strange new species of human cousin found in South Africa two years ago, was unlike anything scientists had ever seen. Discovered deep in the heart of a treacherous cave system – as if they’d been placed there deliberately – were 15 ancient skeletons that showed a confusing patchwork of features. Some aspects