How much brain do you need to be smart? Bees and ants perform marvels as colonies, though each insect has barely any brain. And plants—with no brain at all—exhibit behaviors …

Progress in the last decade has established that black holes are real, but what about their time-reversed cousins, white holes? Renowned physicist and author Carlo Rovelli joins Brian Greene to …

At present, our brains are mostly dependent on all the stuff below the neck to turn thought into action. But advances in neuroscience are making it easier than ever to hook machines up to minds.

Geckos performing death-defying wall-climbing feats inspired materials scientist and engineer Michael Bartlett to invent adhesive that’s sticky powers are just as strong as this reptile. His Cool Jobs is developing …

The prestigious Kavli Prizes recognize scientists for major advances in three research areas: astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience—the big, the small and the complex. The 2016 winners, sharing a cash award of $1 million in each field, will be announced via live satellite from the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in Oslo.

Visual illusions, from magic tricks to images that have sparked internet feuds, are providing scientists with evolving insight into the complex act of seeing. Illusions play with the way our …