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Fascism leaders, May 9, 1938: German dictator Adolf Hitler and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini standing in the back of a car, on display as they drive through Rome.

What is fascism?

By Mindy Weisberger

Reference Fascism is a political ideology usually characterized by authoritarianism and nationalism. However, many scholars say the concept is difficult to define.

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Waving a transgender flag during a gay pride march.

What does transgender mean?

By Alina Bradford, Timothy Williamson

Reference The term transgender describes people whose gender identity differs from the sex to which they were assigned at birth.

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Buddhism is a big part of some Eastern cultures. Here, three buddhist monks walking to Angkor Wat temple.

What is culture?

By Kim Ann Zimmermann, Stephanie Pappas

Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts.

Two women with similar personality traits laughing in conversation.

Personality traits & personality types: What personality type are you?

By Stephanie Pappas, Ben Biggs

REFERENCE What makes you, you? Psychologists sketch out personality traits using the "Big Five".

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When babies are born, they breathe through their lungs for the first time.

What happens when a baby takes its first breath?

By Donavyn Coffey

Fetuses don't breathe oxygen in utero, so how do newly born babies figure it out?

Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders. This black and white image of a dewy spider web on a tree branch would not be attractive to someone with arachnophobia.

What is arachnophobia?

By Jennifer Leman

Arachnophobia is a fear of arachnids, a group of arthropods that includes spiders, scorpions, ticks and mites.

A side profile photo of a person and a robot face to face.

Will humans ever be immortal?

By Patrick Pester

Humans are getting better at staving off death our technological and medical advances. But could humans ever become immortal?

The first "Fountain of Tolerance," in the Italian village of Fontecchio, offers the opportunity to become a human-alien hybrid, via the ingestion of meteorite-infused water.

Art project creates 'human-alien hybrids' with meteorite-infused water

By Mike Wall

The water flowing from a medieval fountain in the Italian village of Fontecchio bubbles with extraterrestrial effervescence.

Man paints a design on a wall outside.

Are left-handed people smarter?

By Randyn Bartholomew

Here's a look at the research about whether left-handed people are smarter than righties.

Reproduction of Ötzi the Iceman an in the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy

Ötzi the Iceman: The famous frozen mummy

By Tom Garlinghouse

Ötzi the Iceman, a 5,300-year-old man whose mummified remains were dug out of an Italian glacier in the Alps, has fascinated the public since his discovery in 1991.

Neon "psychic" sign in a shop window.

What is ESP?

By Isobel Whitcomb

Also known as "the sixth sense" or "psi," extrasensory perception, or ESP, encompasses a wide range of paranormal abilities, including mind reading and predicting the future.

Concept of a narcissistic and egoistic man.

There are 2 types of narcissists. Here's what makes each tick.

By Nikhila Mahadevan

Chances are you've met a narcissist. Here's what's behind the gigantic ego.

German mathematician Emmy Noether (shown here in this portrait) was born on March 23, 1882, in Erlangen, Germany, and died April 14, 1935, in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

Math genius Emmy Noether endured sexism and Nazism. 100 years later, her ideas still ring true.

By Tamar Lichter Blanks

Albert Einstein described Emmy Noether as a "creative mathematical genius" who, despite "unselfish, significant work over a period of many years," did not get the recognition she deserved.

A photographer takes a selfie as a brown bear walks past.

Humans are practically defenseless. Why don't wild animals attack us more?

By Patrick Pester

Humans are slow and weak compared with bears, pumas and other large predators, but these beasts usually avoid us. Why don't these animals try to eat us more often?

A person blinking.

Why do we blink?

By Tara Santora

Why do humans blink so much?

Are ghosts real? Thousands of people report ghostly encounters every year... but is there any science to back them up?

Are ghosts real?

By Benjamin Radford

Are ghosts real? Ghost hunters like to believe that ghosts exist, but science and logic are the real ghost busters.

People walking through a city.

Humans might be making genetic evolution obsolete

By Cameron Duke

A new study on human cultural evolution argues that humans evolve much faster as cultures than as individual organisms, molding our genes in the process.

Woman thinking next to a thought bubble on a blackboard

Does everyone have an inner monologue?

By Donavyn Coffey

Does everyone have a monologue in their head?

Homo sapiens hand prints dating to between 11,000 BC and 7,000 BC in the Cave of Hands in Patagonia, Argentina.

What are Homo sapiens?

By Sarah Wild

All living humans are Homo sapiens. Here's what scientists know about the origin of our species.

12 spheres sit on a field of green, red and blue stripes, with some stripes crossing in front of the spheres

This optical illusion tricks you into seeing different colors. How does it work?

By Nicoletta Lanese

This image is an example of the Munker-White illusion.