College students rated getting a good grade or a compliment higher than other, seemingly more pleasurable activities. Karen Hopkin reports....

The same basic brain chemistry involved in the pleasurable sensations of sex and drugs comes into play with rock & roll (and opera). Karen Hopkin reports....

Looking back on a century-old article, today's Lancet editors note that medicine's great progress has often not included some big, familiar conditions. Karen Hopkin reports....

This New Year's as we reflect on our experiences with friends and family we might think about forgiveness, both given and received. Philosopher Charles Griswald provides some guidance. Christie Nicholson reports...

What were the biggest environmental stories in 2010? David Biello reports...

Analysis of some 14,000 college student surveys over the last three decades finds that self-reported levels of empathy for others have decreased. Steve Mirsky reports....

Having many members of the family in one place is a rare opportunity to collect medical history data, which can alert you to disease susceptibilities. Karen Hopkin reports...

Patients told they were getting a placebo still reported improvements at a much higher rate than patients who were not treated. Karen Hopkin reports...

Those holiday letters that summarize a family's year usually leave out the key component of the experiences: the feelings about what happened...

A database of millions of books tries to make it possible to track cultural trends through the quantities of individual words in print over the last few centuries. Cynthia Graber reports...

Richard Easterlin wrote a paper back in the 1970s showing that increased income doesn't correlate with increased happiness. Last week he published an update on that paper. Christie Nicholson reports...

The (environmental) meaning of Christmas. David Biello reports...

Kitchen staff learned more from food safety stories about methods and consequences than from dry protocols. Cynthia Graber reports...

Rats can be trained to identify TB-positive sputum samples--and do it better than conventional techniques. Karen Hopkin reports...

The sex of many reptiles is determined by the temperature in the nest where the eggs incubate. Now researchers have shown that the offspring's temperature-dependent sex assignment is connected to their later reproductive success. Karen Hopkin reports....

Physics Nobel laureate and U.S. energy secretary, Steven Chu, offers his thoughts on the paired challenge of climate change and clean energy in Cancun. David Biello reports...

The icy rings of Saturn could be what's left of an ancient ice-rock moon that got stripped and swallowed by the gas-giant planet. Christopher Intagliata reports...

What is the telltale clue to a genuine smile? Recent research finds positive correlations with this honest show of emotion. Christie Nicholson reports...

Analysis of the chemical signature of gas giant exoplanet WASP-12b reveals it to have a highly unusual makeup of more carbon than oxygen, with implications for the types of rocky planets that may be out there. Christopher Intagliata reports....