Museum of Science and Industry

Next time you put on your favorite outfit to go to school or to work, you might want to consider more than how great those clothes make you look, but also how they may make you think! If you've ever worn a costume for a play and actually felt like a different person, have you wondered why? 

Some scientists who study the human brain are asking the same kinds of questions. One recent experiment tes...

Hooray! It’s spring! It’s finally getting sunny outside! Happy dogs chasing balls! Long bike rides in the park! And of course, salesmen trying to get their hands on your hard-earned money. Because I'm sure any good salesperson already knows what recent research from Canada has found: when the sun comes out, our spending goes up.

It’s not just that we buy more, either. On a sunny day,...

Brian Hare, an anthropologist at Duke University, recently proposed the idea that bonobos are in fact domesticated versions of chimpanzees. While we associate the word "domestication" with humans acting to tame animals, Hare's idea involves proto-bonobos domesticating themselves.

His basic idea rests upon differences between bonobos and their closest living relative, the chimp. They both descended from a common ancestor until the forming Congo River split its population. Isolated by their...

Scientists at the University of Chicago have published a study describing "empathy-driven helping behavior" in rats. The study claims that rats "acted more agitated" when they saw their cage-mates being restrained, and when placed in the same cage as their trapped companions, rats would teach themselves how to open the restrainer and free their friends. They would even choose to free their friends over eating...