Stories by Ferris Jabr

Night Sight: Rapid Eye Movements Seem to Scan the Actions in Our Dreams

Something to Chew On: Bite Marks Suggest Ancient Mammals Dined On Dinosaur Bones

Paleontologists discover evidence that Mesozoic mammals turned to dinosaur bones as dietary supplements.

Music and speech share a code for communicating sadness in the minor third

Here's a little experiment. You know "Greensleeves"—the famous English folk song? Go ahead and hum it to yourself. Now choose the emotion you think the song best conveys: (a) happiness, (b) sadness, (c) anger or (d) fear...

Clever critters: Bonobos that share, brainy bugs and social dogs

NEW YORK—When it comes to brain power, we humans like to think we're the animal kingdom's undisputed champions. But in the past few decades we've had to make a lot of room on our mantle place for shared trophies...

Night sight: Our eyes scan the action in our dreams

Our eyes swivel restlessly in their sockets during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, an aptly named period of intense dreaming that makes up 20 to 25 percent of total sleep time.

The evolution of emotion: Charles Darwin's little-known psychology experiment

Charles Darwin is famous for his prolific writing about biology. In addition to publishing his theory of evolution, Darwin wrote books about coral reefs, earthworms and carnivorous plants...

Short-Chain Chlorinated Paraffins Draw EPA Scrutiny--After 70 Years

A family of chemicals virtually unknown to the public but important to industry is now under EPA review

Hunting for Projects to Help Fish and Wildlife Adapt to Climate Change

A coalition of hunting and fishing groups argue that billions of dollars are needed to prevent "catastrophic" environmental and economic loss due to global warming

Are Pesticides from Plants Dangerous to Humans?

It remains unclear how the pesticides from plants known as pyrethroids affect human health