When we try to get rid of a bad habit, whether it involves food or drugs or gambling, it often seems like we’re fighting ourselves inside. The reality’s not far off: Addiction twists the reward pathways of the brain to keep addicts tied to whatever gets them high.

Using ultrasounds, inspecting tentacles, and making protective vests for penguins is all in a day’s work for aquatic biologist Pamela Schaller Hughes. Learn how she designs aquarium exhibits for endangered …

Professor Witten is a leading light of superstring theory and the only physicist to have won the vaunted Fields Medal, mathematics’ highest honor. Known for advancing a number of novel approaches in mathematics and physics, Witten opened up new vistas in 1995 when he unified five seemingly competing superstring theories into M-theory, which seeks to unify Einstein’s general theory of relativity with quantum mechanics.

Temperature and pressure. Two sensations of vital importance in one’s daily life. Yet science has been lacking a deeper understanding of how these sensations are detected and encoded on a …

The inflationary theory of cosmology, an enduring theory about our universe and how it was formed, explains that just after the Big Bang, the universe went through a period of rapid expansion. This theory has been critical to understanding what’s going on in the cosmos today.

Brian Greene and Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek discuss quantum mechanics, dark matter, cosmology, consciousness, and Wilczek’s new book, “Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality.” This program is part of the Big …