Why zebras have black and white stripes is a long-standind puzzle of evolution.

To find out, the researchers behind a Nature Communications paper mapped the geographic distributions of the seven different species of zebras, horses and asses, and of their subspecies, noting the thickness, locations, and intensity of their stripes on several parts of their bodies. Their next step was to compare these animals' geographic ranges with different variables, including woodland areas, ranges of large predators, temperature, and the geographic distribution of glossinid (tsetse flies) and tabanid (horseflies) biting flies.

They then examined where the striped animals and these variables overlapped.

A new sociology paper finds that bullying does not just occur among social outcasts. It happens to popular kids too, and the impact may be magnified even more. Popular kids could suffer more from a single act of social aggression.

In a study of students and their friendship networks in 19 North Carolina schools, the authors write in American Sociological Review that the risk of being bullied drops dramatically only for the adolescents in the truly elite among the school's social strata - the top 5%. 

A new research report explains why people with a rare balding condition called "atrichia with papular lesions" lose their hair and it identifies a strategy for reversing this hair loss.

Specifically the report shows for the first time that the "human hairless gene" imparts an essential role in hair biology by regulating a subset of other hair genes. This newly discovered molecular function likely explains why mutations in the hairless gene contribute to the pathogenesis of atrichia with papular lesions.

In addition, this gene also has also been shown to function as a tumor suppressor gene in the skin, raising hope for developing new approaches in the treatment of skin disorders and/or some cancers.

Dogs have individual personalities, possess awareness, and are particularly known for their learning capabilities and trainability. They're also a lot more likable than cats and don't hide under the bed if the doorbell rings.

To learn successfully, dog must have sufficient attention and concentration and the attentiveness of dogs' changes in the course of their lives, as it does in humans.

Artificial intelligence researchers in Washington State University's School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science have developed technology that gives a computer the ability to give advice and teach skills to another computer in a way that mimics how a real teacher and student might interact.

Artificial Intelligence Professor  Matthew E. Taylor says the agents – virtual robots – act like true student and teacher pairs: student agents struggled to learn Pac-Man and a version of the StarCraft video game but the student agent learned the games and, in fact, surpassed the teacher.

When people go out to restaurants, they don't care about eating healthy. Great chefs know the secret to food people want is unreal levels of butter. Fast food restaurants have been convinced to spend tens of millions of dollars marketing healthy choices for kids, like apples, and they are basically invisible to children.

People don't want to overpay for the same food they will get at home and they don't care about labels. But when they fill out surveys they will claim to care about labels, which is not the same thing. When it comes to food, behavior and claims are often radically different, yet a small survey in