May 1, 2015 | Brain & Behavior
Most of the time, we learn only gradually, incrementally building connections between actions or events and outcomes. But there are exceptions—every once in a while, something happens and we immediately learn to associate that stimulus with a result. For example,... 
Jan 13, 2015 | Brain & Behavior, Health
When you open the refrigerator for a late-night snack, are you more likely to grab a slice of chocolate cake or a bag of carrot sticks? Your ability to exercise self-control—i.e., to settle for the carrots—may depend upon just how quickly your brain factors... 
Jan 13, 2015 | Earth, Energy & Environment, Physics & Mathematics
Don L. Anderson, the Eleanor and John R. McMillan Professor of Geophysics, Emeritus, passed away on December 2, 2014. He was 81 years old. Anderson’s work helped advance our understanding of the composition, structure, and dynamics of the earth and of earth-like... May 4, 2013 | Physics & Mathematics, Space
A new kind of cosmic flash may reveal something never seen before: the birth of a black hole. When a massive star exhausts its fuel, it collapses under its own gravity and produces a black hole, an object so dense that not even light can escape its gravitational grip.... Mar 29, 2013 | Earth, Energy & Environment, Physics & Mathematics
Chemists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory believe they can now explain one of the remaining mysteries of photosynthesis, the chemical process by which plants convert sunlight into usable energy and... Feb 1, 2013 | Brain & Behavior, Health, Technology, Uncategorized
The skin is a human being’s largest sensory organ, helping to distinguish between a pleasant contact, like a caress, and a negative sensation, like a pinch or a burn. Previous studies have shown that these sensations are carried to the brain by different types... Jan 11, 2013 | Earth, Energy & Environment, Physics & Mathematics, Space, Technology, Uncategorized
It’s the mystery of the curiously dense cloud. And astronomers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) are on the case. Near the crowded galactic center, where billowing clouds of gas and dust cloak a supermassive black hole three million times as... 
