Human Behavior, features and articles | Educational Science

Jan 31, 2012

Bacterial 'Glue' is One of Nature's Stickiest Substances

This Research in Action article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. The tiny water bacterium Caulobacter crescentus secretes a sugary substance so sticky that just a tiny bit could withstand the pull from lifting several cars at once. With an adhesive force of nearly five...

Jan 31, 2012

Spinning Samples Yield Insights into Disease and Harnessing Solar Power

This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. In 1926, Theodor Svedberg won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for a novel method of separating proteins based on a device he invented: the analytic ultracentrifuge.This technique has yielded insights into the purity, structure...

Jan 31, 2012

How to Make the Penny Worth 1 Cent Again

Inflation and the rising price of metals have combined to put the United States in the rather silly position of minting pennies and nickels that cost more than their face values to make. Minting one penny currently costs 2.4 cents, and one nickel, 11.2 cents. Some people advocate wriggling out...

Jan 31, 2012

Native Americans Fight to Save Endangered Languages

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Many of the world's minority languages, some spoken by only a handful of speakers, are on the brink of extinction, and community activists and scientists are teaming to try to keep them alive. One example is the Native American language Siletz Dee-ni, which was once spoken...

Dec 31, 2011

New Year Brings New Attacks on Evolution in Schools

The new year is bringing new controversy over teaching evolution in public schools, with two bills in New Hampshire seeking to require teachers to teach the theory more as philosophy than science. Meanwhile, an Indiana state senator has introduced a bill that would allow school boards to require the teaching...

Dec 31, 2011

First Baby Names of 2012, From Adian to Zoey

The first babies born in 2012 got monikers both traditional and creative, with a trend of alternative spellings for old names continuing into the New Year. On Jan. 2, the website namecandy.com released a list of the names of the first babies born in each U.S. state in 2012. The...

Dec 31, 2011

Science Fact or Fantasy? 20 Imaginary Worlds

Fact or Fantasy? Still of Zoe Saldana in Avatar (Image credit: © 2007 Twentieth Century Fox)The stuff of fantasy and science fiction seem more and more like reality as science and technology continue to advance. Why not then look at imaginary worlds to get a glimpse at what tomorrow might...

Dec 31, 2011

What Are the Chances? High School to Pro Ball (Infographic)

10 Things You Didn't Know About YouHard-Hitting Sports Hold Dangers for Teen AthletesWhy Old Athletes Come Back ...

Dec 31, 2011

Flushed with Pride: 1850s Bathroom Boasts Early Plumbing Technology

In 1850s America, most people relied on privies and outhouses for their bathroom needs. But the Davis family of Natchez, Miss., had something few other Americans did: indoor hot-and-cold running water and an indoor toilet. Now this marvel of 19th-century technology is getting a new home, moving from the Dunleith...

Dec 31, 2011

What 'American Values' Really Means

American values. President Barack Obama wants to reclaim them. Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul wants to restore them. Newt Gingrich says he articulates them. Other presidential candidates, politicians and commentators have plenty to say about them as well. But what exactly are they talking about? What are American values? The...

Dec 31, 2011

Americans' Political Views Not So Far Apart

SAN DIEGO — In an election year, it's hard to turn on the television or read a newspaper without getting the sense that Americans are becoming ever more divided into red versus blue. But a new study finds that perception may be downright wrong. In fact, political polarization among the...

Dec 31, 2011

Closest Photos of Uncontacted Tribe Reveal Hidden Way of Life

New images of an uncontacted Peruvian tribe reveal a small band of people, clad in little more than beads and bands of fabric, sitting by a river in the southeastern part of the country. The photographs, released by advocacy group Survival International, are the closest-ever glimpse of uncontacted Indians ever...

Nov 30, 2013

Anti-Science Riders Lurk in Pending Farm Bill (Op-Ed)

Celia Wexler is a senior Washington representative for the Scientific Integrity Initiative at UCS. An award-winning journalist, Wexler authored Out of the News: Former Journalists Discuss a Profession in Crisis (McFarland, 2012). This article is adapted from a post on the UCS blog The Equation. There's an old and well...

Nov 30, 2013

8 Ways Magic Mushrooms Explain Santa Story

The story of Santa and his flying reindeer can be traced to an unlikely source: hallucinogenic or magic mushrooms, according to one theory. Santa is a modern counterpart of a shaman, who consumed mind-altering plants and fungi to commune with the spirit world, said John Rush, an anthropologist and instructor...

Oct 31, 2013

Pansexual: A 'New' Sexual Orientation?

Heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual — these are terms with which most people are familiar, but they aren't the only sexual orientations that exist in today's world. Pansexual, a relatively new category of sexual identity, is characterized by physical or romantic attraction to others, regardless of their gender identity or biological sex....