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We are taught that, as we stumble through the world, we have touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight to guide us. It turns out that we have been underestimating ourselves. Scientists count between fourteen and twenty actual senses, most of which aren't taught in primary school. See what information you're really working with. More »
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We can trace our evolutionary heritage back millions of years, but it's surprisingly tricky to say with certainty which hominid species came directly before us. Now it looks like one of our evolutionary cousins is actually our parent species. More »
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Humans first gained control of fire somewhere between 200,000 and 1.7 million years ago. But whenever they harnessed fire, they didn't take it with them to frigid northern Europe, where they shivered without fire for over 600,000 years. More »
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Could another species someday replace us as Earth's dominant intelligent life and, if so, which species? To answer that question, we need to understand just what intelligence really is. And why, from an evolutionary standpoint, an organism would even want it. More »
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There's still a lot we don't know about our evolutionary history, but one generally agreed upon point is that humans originated in eastern Africa, around what's now Ethiopia. But a new genetic study suggests we came from somewhere else entirely. More »
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Humans age very slowly, but the older we get, the more likely death gets. Not every animal follows that pattern though - some species live for only very short periods, but their age doesn't actually seem to affect when they die. Figuring out why these animals age the way they do could help us understand why humans age...maybe even how to stop it. More »
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Over the last 30,000 years, the human brain has decreased about 10% in size. This might seem like proof that we're not as smart as our ancient ancestors, but the truth is a little more complicated than that. Our brains aren't just getting smaller - they're also getting more efficient. More »
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In 1994, the BBC aired a documentary titled The Human Animal, which examines human beings in the way a nature documentary would look at any animal, using zoological language and techniques to study and describe human anatomy and behavior. More »
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We mentioned earlier that V might be heading back to television. The big news is that the book that could inspire this V resurgence will hit store shelves tomorrow. But how well to you remember this show and its creator? Creator Kenneth Johnson gave us the original Bionic Woman, and we all know how that recent retread has been going. Would a new V series fare any better? Go behind the scenes with some V trivia in the list below which is rife with decades-old spoilers. More »
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