Science & Technology

A new study from cognitive scientists offers an answer to why legal documents such as contracts or deeds are often so impenetrable.

Drawing on 48 years of data on the family trees and mate choices of 1,624 wild baboons in Kenya, a new study finds that baboons generally steer clear of mates that are half-siblings or closer. But baboons proved less discriminating with their father’s …

On the big screen, in video games and in our imaginations, lightsabers flare and catch when they clash together. That clashing, or interference, happens only in fiction — and in places with enormous magnetic and electric fields, which happens in natur…

Chronically stressing the retina can weaken it and damage our ability to see. But retinal cells have a remarkable ability to wall off damage, a team of neuroscientists reports. The walling-off or ‘bunkering’ of the damage may be key to preserving our e…

Researchers have created a tool to assess the risk of hybridization among native and non-native fish, a development that could aid natural resource managers trying to protect threatened or endangered freshwater fish species.

Researchers calculate that exposure to car exhaust from leaded gas during childhood stole a collective 824 million IQ points from over 170 million Americans alive today, more than half of the population of the United States.

A new study provides vital clues on when killer whales began feeding on other marine mammals.

Scientists determined that 9/11 first responders to the World Trade Center have increased levels of mutations that escalate their risk for blood cancers or cardiovascular disease, according to a new study.