Language

New research suggests better liars are better at spotting lies

Follow-up study shows long-term language improvement for kids with autism after an intensive, targeted behavioral therapy program

Multiple tests of eye-movement direction and honesty found no correlation between lying and eye direction. Steve Mirsky reports

Scientists are discovering the primal links between physical warmth and our emotions

This year's doomsday angst owes much to public ignorance about pre-Columbian civilizations

An audible activity from Scientific American

Thinking in another language changes how people weigh their options

It may be a good thing to be confused during the learning process. Christie Nicholson reports

New research suggests that testosterone may make us more aggressive without us consciously feeling any aggression. Christie Nicholson reports

A unique form of carbon dating, made possible by the Cold War, suggests that new neurons rarely survive in the human olfactory bulb after birth

Performance in different kinds of sports benefits from specific types of motivational "self-talk." Christie Nicholson reports

Sudden, unannounced memories might help people make connections between disparate ideas more quickly—but they might also be the building blocks of hallucinations