The human brain and our consciousness — they have been mystical and exotic topics that many a scientist has tried again and again to understand.  Neuroscientist Guilio Tononi, a psychiatrist at the University of Wisconsin, is one of these scientists.

A new study in the journal Preventive Medicine found that Americans finds that a great majority of Americans are deceiving themselves when it comes to weight gain, but it turns out that self-deception is a fairly common phenomenon.

Two centuries ago, Russia and Britain fought a war of influence over a region that rarely makes headlines: Central Asia. Today, a new game of influence is taking place in that same region, this time between the U.S., Russia and China. 

Afghanistan has a long, rich literary tradition, particularly storytelling through poetry. A new collection, edited and translated by British researchers living in Kandahar, anthologizes 250 contemporary poems by members of the Taliban.

The first decade of the 21st century saw an untold number of crises and disasters, and they seem to be coming harder and faster than ever before. Andrew Zolli, author of "Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back," tells us what we can learn from these crises.

Three million without power, and with thermometers rising into the 90s and 100s, a lack of air conditioning has been a real problem. The cause: Friday's thunderstorms that devastated a large portion of the East Coast. Find out what residents and city officials are doing to cope.

It's no secret that coming out is tough. No one can ever really gauge just how someone will react beforehand, no matter how close to you they may be. Now imagine that you're making millions of dollars in an industry that relies heavily on it's super macho image. This may seem like an unrealistic scenario, but for retired NFL player Wade Davis, this was an all too familiar reality.

As the saying goes, "Everything's bigger in Texas." In her new book, "As Texas Goes...," Gail Collins, author and op-ed columnist for our partner The New York Times, discovers that this statement also applies to the Lonestar State's influence on American politics.