I want to demonstrate to Michael Shermer that it’s possible for men like us to not talk about trans people constantly. If I can do it, so can he.

Our evolved craving for cause and effect once ensured survival but now fuels misunderstanding. Learning to favor correlation ...

A recent study takes a closer look at what’s happening in the human mind when we really want to believe something.

Audio Timeline Slider: Use the left or right arrow keys to decrease or increase the slider value. Developed in 2015 by researchers studying the effects of diet on brain function and cognitive decline, ...

Human evolution’s biggest mystery, which emerged 15 years ago from a 60,000-year-old pinkie finger bone, finally started to unravel in 2025. Analysis of DNA extracted from the fossil electrified the ...

A major evolutionary theory says most genetic changes don’t really matter, but new evidence suggests that’s not true. Researchers found that helpful mutations happen surprisingly often. The twist is ...

When we are awake, we seem to experience a continuous stream of sensations, reflections, memories, and impressions that make up our mental life. Yet some people report moments when they think about ...

You’re reading Open Questions, Joshua Rothman’s weekly column exploring what it means to be human. I like gadgets, and so, at times, my digital detox has verged on technophilic decadence. A few months ...

The human brain has 86 billion neurons connected by roughly 100 trillion synapses, making it one of the most complex objects in the known universe. Each year neuroscientists make fascinating, ...

Archaeologists have found the earliest evidence yet of fire technology — and it was created by Neanderthals in England more than 400,000 years ago. When you purchase through links on our site, we may ...

Bears look like textbook mammals, but hidden in their evolutionary history are two dramatic departures from the standard blueprint of growth and adaptation. For the first time, scientists have ...

Modern dog breeds come in a mind-boggling array of shapes and sizes—from Chihuahua to Great Dane, corgi to greyhound, pug to German shepherd. In fact, the domestic dog, Canis familiaris, shows more ...