You might get the impression that all viruses are terrible, awful, no-good things that just wreak havoc on humanity. But, surprise: The truth is way more interesting!

You might have a beard, or a mustache, or even a soul patch. What you don't have are whiskers.

In our hyperlinked world, we can know anything, anytime. And this mass enlightenment, says Buddhist scholar Bob Thurman, is our first step toward Buddha nature.

Trivia whiz Ken Jennings has made a career as a keeper of facts; he holds the longest winning streak in history on the US quiz show Jeopardy. But in 2011, he played a challenge match against IBM's supercomputer Watson -- and lost. With...

Scientists are uncovering the mysteries of a non-addictive painkiller... that lives in your mouth <br/>

You might have heard that one year in a dog’s life is equivalent to seven in a human’s. But it turns out that the real ratio is both higher AND lower—depending on your dog’s current age.

Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf combines the teachings of the Qur'an, the stories of Rumi, and the examples of Muhammad and Jesus, to demonstrate that only one obstacle stands between each of us and absolute compassion -- ourselves.

Few mammals actually get periods every month, or even at all, but why? Understanding what menstruation really is and why it happens could help ease symptoms & treat conditions that stem from the reproductive system.

It's easy to assume that every trait - including stubby arms on a terrifying predator - must be beneficial, but the forces of evolution don't really work like that.

Laurie Santos looks for the roots of human irrationality by watching the way our primate relatives make decisions. A clever series of experiments in "monkeynomics" shows that some of the silly choices we make, monkeys make too.

Remote work, while redefining the workplace landscape, seems stuck behind endless video conference calls that hinder free-flowing conversation and collaboration. In the 21st century, is that really the best we can do? Digital...

You can probably tell someone the purpose of most of your body parts. But what about earwax? Or your appendix? If you’re looking for those answers, or wondering why you have a butt, pop a squat to find out about weird human attributes.

A mountain separating two lakes. A room papered floor to ceiling with bridal satins. The lid of an immense snuffbox. These seemingly unrelated images take us on a tour of a sperm whale's head in Herman Melville's "Moby Dick." Though the...

Living under the constant threat of violence has a lasting effect -- even after you escape from danger, says writer and refugee advocate Zarlasht Halaimzai. One of the millions of people worldwide who have been forcibly displaced by...

Meet the "ems" -- machines that emulate human brains and can think, feel and work just like the brains they're copied from. Futurist and social scientist Robin Hanson describes a possible future when ems take over the global economy,...

Throughout history and around the world, most people dislike hyenas. But why?

Today humanity produces more than 1,400 tons of carbon every minute. To combat climate change, we need to reduce fossil fuel emissions, and draw down excess CO2 to restore the balance of greenhouse gases. Like all plants, trees consume...

Hank tells us about new and confusing discoveries in the field of Human Evolution.

Hank brings us the story of Elizabeth Blackburn, the Nobel Prize-winning Australian woman who discovered telomeres and telomerase, and helped scientists begin to understand the process of aging at a genetic level.

Preventing heartworm disease in your dog isn't just good for your furry friend. It turns out that humans can be infected with heartworm, too!

In this funny (and actually poignant) 3-minute talk, social strategist Renny Gleeson breaks down our always-on social world -- where the experience we're having right now is less interesting than what we'll tweet about it later.

To protect against a possible resurgence of smallpox, the US government is funding research to improve treatments and vaccines. And since it's unethical to expose people to a highly lethal virus, labs are using monkeys as research...

Sound can't actually travel through a vacuum like space, but scientists have learned that there's still plenty to hear.

When ebola broke out in March 2014, Pardis Sabeti and her team got to work sequencing the virus's genome, learning how it mutated and spread. Sabeti immediately released her research online, so virus trackers and scientists from around...