Today is the day when a whole lot of people will be exchanging gifts that don't fit or they don't want, and maybe buying something they did want. It's the perfect time to think about gift exchanges.…

The insanity defense is often an option of last resort rather than a lenient alternative to imprisonment. Douglas LeMoine By Meron Wondemaghen, University of New England What comes to mind when you…

The cost of a degree just keeps rising. Is it still worth it? Shutterstock By Robert Reich, University of California, Berkeley The early admissions deadlines for universities across the country have…

 Edentulism, the absence of teeth, has evolved on multiple occasions within vertebrates including birds, turtles, and a few groups of mammals such as anteaters, baleen whales and pangolins, but…

Enzymes are crucial for assisting virtually all biological processes, but there has been little consensus on how they work. Molecular processes crucial to life are made possible by these but beyond…

A woman sniffs a glass of wine during a tasting event in Beijing. Reuters By Pierre Ly, Puget Sound University and Cynthia Howson, University of Washington China’s wine industry has exploded in…

Internet addiction, an impulse-control problem marked by an inability to inhibit Internet use, can adversely affect a person's life, including their health and interpersonal relationships. The…

The Greeks hailed Dionysus (also known as Bacchus) as their patron god of wine, said to provide ecstasy and spiritual vision to his devotees. Pictured is Caravaggio's 1595 masterpiece Bacchus.…

The distinctive "fecal prints" of microbes could provide a record of how Earth and life have co-evolved over the past 3.5 billion years as the planet's temperature, oxygen levels, and greenhouse…

Scrapie is a neurodegenerative disease that has been known for centuries and which affects sheep and goats. Similar to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease, scrapie is caused by…

The magi, as you know, were wise men – wonderfully wise men – who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. So O Henry tells us in his classic…

A guy messes up his life, and the lives of those around him. We send him for rehabilitation: A jail term, AA meetings, community service, anger management classes, or restitution to victims. An…

The 2011 east coast earthquake felt by people from Georgia to Canada likely originated from a fault “junction” just outside of Mineral, Virginia, according to new U.S. Geological Survey research…

A young boy sits on the carpet, his feet disappearing into a giant pair of sweatpants he put on over his own clothes before loosely tying his ankles together. He has taken the sweatpants off and is…

Lost memories can be restored, which offers some hope for patients in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. The belief has been that memories are stored at the synapses -- the connections between…

World War One Christmas Truce Commemoration match – but it's debated whether the original ever happened. Mike Egerton/PA Wire By William Keylor, Boston University The Christmas Truce is no stranger…

On Dec. 10th, ESA announced the latest important discovery regarding comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Rosetta spacecraft orbiting the comet has found the water vapor from its target to be…

After a year in which further details of national intelligence agencies' shadowy surveillance networks were laid bare, a fresh leak of documents reveals the obsessive surveillance that extends as far…

The advent of open access (OA) publishing has lead to a proliferation of journals which offer a peer reviewed publication venue for a nominal charge.  Some of these journals are associated with…

Smile, though your heart is aching. Morgan, CC BY By Annie Austin, University of Manchester The idea that data on happiness and well-being can be used to guide government policy has steadily gained…