Reading Frames

If we ask the right questions, modern tools could help researchers solve mysteries such as why many people believe in a God that both provides unconditional love and levies eternal damnation.

In Chapter 1, “The Science of Animal Dreams,” author David M. Peña-Guzmán relays the history of researchers digging into the mental realities of nonhuman brains.

Research shows that humans aren’t the only animals whose imaginations run wild while they sleep.

In Chapter 1, “Why We Love Fad Diets,” authors Janet Chrzan and Kima Cargill explain the American propensity to take shortcuts to weight loss.

Human beings are susceptible to the latest nutritional trends, regardless of their actual biological value.

In his book’s Introduction, physician-scientist Paul A. Offit reviews the unusual constellation of circumstances around the development of COVID-19 vaccines.

Not only is the humble fluid a boon for keeping humans cool, it also contains a wealth of biological information.

In the book’s introduction, “Connections,” Suzanne Simard relates how her “perception of the woods has been turned upside down.”

Feeding the world’s insatiable appetite for wood products is sacrificing the future of a crucial ecosystem.

In Chapter 1, “The Indelible Stamp,” author Melanie Challenger addresses the idea of human exceptionalism.

Since Darwin published his landmark work on natural selection, we’ve understood that we’re animals. But that doesn’t mean we really believe it.

In Chapter 15, “Above the Falls,” author Jonathan Meiburg recounts an evening on a research expedition near the Rewa River in Guyana.

An unsung group of South American falcons yields clues to the prehistory of a continent, and hints at secrets of the avian brain.

In his book’s introduction, author Robert Paarlberg advocates for the use of modern science in agriculture.

Scientifically groundless regulations could undercut the potential of gene-edited crops, much as they have with GMOs.

In Chapter 3, “The Adventure,” author Tracie White meets Whitney Dafoe, a young man imprisoned by a chronic disease.

Ronald Davis of Stanford University changed his focus to research on ME/CFS, the disease formerly known as chronic fatigue syndrome, in a bid to help his son and others like him.

Is the model of early life as a freak occurrence in a disordered, primordial soup of chemicals wrong?

The four factors that drive contagion