Life's Little Mysteries

Here's how alcohol can help preserve DNA, tissue samples and even entire organisms.

Grinding our teeth damages them, so why do we do it?

Dogs regularly wag their tails to greet humans and other dogs, but what about their wild counterparts? Do wolves wag their tails?

These planets are mostly made of gas, but a spaceship would have a rough time trying to get through a giant planet like Jupiter or Saturn.

Humanity is feeling the effects of climate change around the world, but could climate change make humans go extinct?

The aging process doesn't happen equally on both sides, leaving the human face increasingly less symmetrical with age.

The cheetah is often called the world's fastest animal. But is that true?

Here's how the idea of a "mummy's curse" got started.

Scientists have figured out the average color of the universe by recording visible light from more than 200,000 galaxies.

Why do people sometimes gain weight after they start to exercise regularly?

Societies have lived underground before, sometimes for weeks at a time.

Turtles are famous for their long lives. How do they achieve this longevity?

Here's how experts decipher ancient languages.

What would a universe flooded with primordial black holes look like?

With its frigid temperatures, remoteness from the sun and general dustiness, changing Mars to be more Earth-like is more challenging than it seems (and it already seems pretty tough).

Despite sharing almost 100% of their DNA, identical twins have different fingerprints, thanks to unique environmental factors.

Far-flung spacecraft are helping us learn about the solar system's edge.

Here's why the nuclear bombs dropped in Japan left shadows of people on the ground and buildings.