Someone who is unconditionally kind is likely to be worthy of your trust, particularly when it comes to economic decisions, a recent study found: There’s a strong correlation between kindness and trustworthiness. Researchers in Germany conducted three experiments that all supported this conclusion, which they reported recently in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. READ…

Let’s face it: drawing circles is hard. Our minds are programmed to love the symmetry of the shape, but our hands just can’t make it perfect. We’re so inadequate at drawing circles, scientists have even studied it. READ MORE

Mountain goats are amazing. They can climb super high on really steep cliffs like it’s nothing. They hang out on mountaintops for most of the year, shedding their shaggy winter coat when they lower their elevation for the spring and summer. How do mountain goats climb so well? What are their secrets? Here are some facts…

The snow that falls on Antarctica every year is accumulating as ice faster than it’s melting on the continent, a new study from NASA found. This is strange news to many scientists. Most research to dateassumes Antarctica’s ice sheet is melting and contributing to global sea level rise. But the authors of the new study,…

If you order “wild salmon” in a restaurant, that may not be what ends up on your plate — especially during the out-of-season winter months. A new report from the advocacy group Oceana found that 43% of “wild salmon” samples collected between December and March were mislabeled. And in restaurants during that period, this figure…

When nature devastates, it can also bring life.

People with autism can see the world differently. They typically don’t look at faces as closely; they can be more easily overwhelmed by too many stimuli; and they may fixate intensely on one thing at a time. Previous research found these and other differences, but a new study helps you see the world how many…

Climate change could make the hottest summer days in the Persian Gulf today the norm by 2100. The new extreme could exceed the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth, according to a study published Oct. 26 in Nature Climate Change. And those kinds of temperatures are “intolerable” for humans, the scientists said in the study.…

On the ocean floor, at a depth that not even sunlight can reach, volcanoes are spewing precious minerals at temperatures reaching 750 degrees Fahrenheit. These hydrothermal vents somehow also provide the opportunity for life. The vents release iron, zinc, copper, lead, and cobalt, and a whole host of strange sea creatures call them home. More…

Europe’s biggest source of renewable energy is actually terrible for the environment. We’re not talking about wind, solar, or hydroelectric power here. The biggest renewable in Europe is wood pellets. Burning wood — technically labeled a “renewable” resource since more trees can be replanted and they’ll absorb carbon from the air — is the European…