Archive

If evolution favors the survival of the fittest, where did the impulse to help others come from? Host Janna Levin speaks with Stephanie Preston, a neuropsychologist who studies the biology of altruism.

Highly repetitive regions of junk DNA may be the key to a newly discovered mechanism for gene regulation.

A new study suggests that so-called emergent abilities actually develop gradually and predictably, depending on how you measure them.

The astrophysicist Erin Kara measures time lags in black holes’ X-ray glows, which reveal the complexity of the objects’ closest surroundings.

Seventy years after the invention of a data structure called a hash table, theoreticians have found the most efficient possible configuration for it.

Four mathematicians have estimated the chances that there’s a clear path through a random maze.

A controversial technique has produced detailed maps of the magnetic fields in colossal galaxy clusters. If confirmed, the approach could be used to reveal where cosmic magnetic fields come from.

When your mind is wandering, your brain’s “default mode” network is active. Its discovery 20 years ago inspired a raft of research into networks of brain regions and how they interact with each other.

An idea derived from string theory suggests that dark matter is hiding in a (relatively) large extra dimension. The theory makes testable predictions that physicists are investigating now.