Natalie Wolchover

On board China's upcoming mission will be the country's first female astronaut. Who is the Chinese Sally Ride, and how was she chosen?

We often fail to generate the right kind of explanation until someone forces us to. But what is a satisfactory explanation, exactly?

Astrobiologists have deduced a thing or two about what alien beings might be like. Their profile might not match your own.

New Yorkers' life expectancy has increased by 10 years in the past two decades, dramatically overtaking the national average.

Female sexuality is partly genetic, and partly fluid.

The genes that make men gay appear to make their mothers and aunts more reproductively successful.

Even the Neanderthals might have tossed around this easy-to-say word.

There could be unforeseen consequences of a disease-free world.

Quantum mechanics is notoriously perplexing. But there's one set of humans who innately understand how it works.

We all have a sense of personal space, but how and why do the invisible spheres surrounding us develop?

Some of our hominid relatives may have had tools, language and culture. Why did we thrive while they perished?

Quantum mechanics is notoriously perplexing. But there's one set of humans who innately understand how it works.

You don't need any fancy equipment or filters to see the transit of Venus. Follow these five steps to turn a set of binoculars into a solar projector.

A huge supercell in West Texas was caught on camera.

Creative people are far more likely to be mentally ill. But why?

The hip-hop artist GZA has an album in the works about the magnificence of the cosmos.

Fish contaminated with Fukushima radiation have been caught in California. Do they imply that the impact of the nuclear accident was worse than we thought?

Drugs marketed as "bath salts" have caused a spate of horrific acts of violence in recent years. How do they drive people so insane?

If the world stopped spinning, a few scattered groups of hardy humans could survive.

Photos have been circulating that show bodies being unearthed beneath the famous Easter Island head statues. Are they real?

Four key eyewitnesses in the case against George Zimmerman have changed their stories in ways that make Zimmerman seem more culpable. But which versions of their memories are accurate?

MIT engineers have come up with a bottle coating that makes thick sauces, such as ketchup, pour like milk.