The way people recognize faces might say a lot about what culture they come from, scientists now reveal. These new findings may reflect a Western focus on the individual and an Eastern leaning toward the group. The capability to routinely and effortlessly recognize faces is so universal across the globe...

Before his body froze and mummified, a now-famous Neolithic guy dubbed the Iceman took his last steps while donned in a coat and leggings made of sheep's fur and moccasins made of cattle leather. That was more than 5,000 years ago. The 45-year-old man apparently trekked up the Schnalstal glacier...

Scientists set off this week to study the wrecks of three German submarines sunk by U.S. forces in 1942 off the coast of North Carolina during the Battle of the Atlantic. This expedition is the first part of a larger multi-year project to research and document a number of historically...

Many people go to psychics for a handful of typical reasons. They want to know if they will get their dream job soon, or make a big move, or end up with the hunky new guy who seems shy but might just be The One. Most of the subjects are...

Hillary Rodham Clinton came close, but failed. Beyond the wrong turns pointed out by strategists, her political path this year was rooted in social biases, some scholars say. Gender stereotypes, for instance, put Clinton in a no-win situation, said Caroline Keating, a psychologist at Colgate University in New York. When...

Technology doesn't just advance on its own. Somebody has to try new things, experiment, innovate, and test it all again and again. The same was true 1,500 years ago when the bow and arrow was introduced to North America, a new study suggests. University of Missouri archaeologists have discovered that...

Everyone knows the face of fear. Upon beholding the chainsaw-wielding ax-murderer in a slasher movie, the damsel in distress usually widens her eyes and flares her nostrils in horror. It turns out this expression isn't merely for cinematic effect, but actually serves a biological function, scientists have found, by altering...

Some people point to 1906 as the year of the Great San Francisco Earthquake, but, for anthropologists who study American Indians, it is the year that split the Hopi community of Orayvi, the longest continually occupied settlement in North America. The break-up — which came two mornings after the last...

Boomers are tired, overworked, strapped, bummed out and don't expect to get a break. More than young people or seniors, Baby Boomers (aged 44 to 62 now) are gloomy about their lives and the prospects for improvement, a new survey finds. The Pew Research Center Social and Demographic Trends survey,...

Individuals with conservative ideologies are happier than liberal-leaners, and new research pinpoints the reason: Conservatives rationalize social and economic inequalities. Regardless of marital status, income or church attendance, right-wing individuals reported greater life satisfaction and well-being than left-wingers, the new study found. Conservatives also scored highest on measures of rationalization,...

Seems everyone these days is giving the thumbs-up, no matter the circumstances. Senator Edward Kennedy gave a big thumbs-up as he left the hospital Wednesday, facing a new outlook on life with a potentially deadly brain tumor. Hillary did it just this week at a we're-not-mathematically-defeated-yet campaign rally in Florida....

There have been many suggestions for how and why our hominid ancestors got out of the trees and started walking. The latest: a prehistoric shuffle driven by an empty belly. This proposal relies on a mathematical model to suggest that shuffling emerged as a precursor to walking, between 4 million...

NEW YORK (AP) - Noted neurologist Oliver Sacks has found common ground with the pastor of Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church: Both men believe in the healing power of music. Sacks, the best-selling author of Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, was to share the church...

Men are more tolerant of discrimination than women are, but both tend to accept prejudice against some immigrants and Arab-Americans, according to a new study. The results come from telephone and online surveys of more than 3,300 people conducted in 2002 by University of Southern California researchers. Each of the...

Cult or Religious Sect? Cultist groups have permeated society ever since people could chat and share ideas en masse, although modern cult experts today often clash about what, exactly, makes a group of people a cult. What's a loony or eccentric organization to one expert is often seen by others...