Being Human

The contraceptive pill might disguise the body odours that tell women which men are genetically different enough to be suitable mates

A study of blind athletes indicates that they are built-in and evolved as a way of asserting a position in a social hierarchy (full text available to subscribers)

Researchers have identified an area of the brain that is active both when we read or watch an emotional scene and when we experience that same emotion

Uglier people were twice as likely to get booted off a Dutch TV game show than attractive players (full text available to subscribers)

Archaeology has helped us reconstruct our human past, but unanswered questions remain

Police could benefit from "linkage analysis" software that connects serial crimes by revealing similarities in the perpetrator's behaviour (full text available to subscribers)

New genetic evidence may at last identify the sender of the anthrax-laden letters that killed five people in 2001 (full text available to subscribers)

Sometimes life runs more smoothly when you stop trying to control it.

A new-found form of synaesthesia – brought to light by a computer screensaver – seems to improve people's ability to spot visual patterns

Two drugs increase endurance and strength in mice, and one requires no exercise to work

Residues on 9000-year-old pot fragments from Turkey imply that Europeans started milking animals soon after domesticating them

New genetic evidence may at last identify the sender of the anthrax-laden letters that killed five people in 2001 (full text available to subscribers)

Do environmentalists destroy the lives of poor people by taking over wild areas in the name of conservation? No, says new research

Police could benefit from "linkage analysis" software that connects serial crimes by revealing similarities in the perpetrator's behaviour (full text available to subscribers)

Researchers firebombed at home were the target of animal rights activists, police suspect, even though they only experiment on mice and flies

Figuring out why some athletes take drugs while others stay clean might be the key to deterring doping (full text available to subscribers)

The old saying that opposites attract might be offering the wrong advice to potential couples, suggests new research

If other transsexual gene variants are discovered, diagnosis could become easier, allowing gender reassignment surgery or hormone therapy earlier in life (full text available to subscribers)

Analysing bumblebee behaviour could improve the techniques police use to locate people that habitually kill (full text available to subscribers)

They're cheaper, more nutritious and easier to grow than grain. But turning to the spud does not come without risks, says