Scientists are coming to understand fat as a dynamic organ—one whose size may have more to do with biological processes than personal choices. Explore the mysteries of fat and its role in hormone production, hunger, and even pregnancy.

A young man with lipodystrophy receives treatment after researchers find a hormone in mice that helps regulate appetite in humans.

Researchers discover how cancer masks itself from the immune system and figure out how patients’ immune systems can recognize cancer cells and attack them.

In 2015, doctors diagnosed George Keays with stage 4 lung cancer, which has low survival rates beyond one or two years. Can a vaccine in Cuba help him more than drugs available in the U.S.?

When the U.S. trade embargo left Cuba isolated from medical resources, Cuban scientists were forced to get creative. Now they’ve developed lung cancer vaccines that show so much promise, some Americans are defying the embargo and traveling to Cuba for treatment. In an unprecedented move, Cuban researchers are working with U.S. partners to make the medicines more widely available.

What goes on inside those test tubes to detect whether a person is positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19?

Here’s what you need to know about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the disease it causes, called COVID-19.

UPDATE: Preliminary studies suggest the coronavirus spreads from people with no symptoms. A March 17 study shows the virus can remain viable in aerosols for 3 hours, on cardboard for up to 24 hours, and on plastic and stainless steel for 2 to 3 days.

A neurologist uses carefully-timed pulses of noise to boost the size of brain waves responsible for good-quality sleep—and potentially better memory.

To measure the brain’s ability to form completely new memories, researchers teach kids made-up words for novel objects.

From fruit flies to whales, virtually every animal sleeps. But why? Why do we need to spend nearly a third of our lives in such a defenseless state? Scientists are peering more deeply into the sleeping brain than ever before, discovering just how powerful sleep can be, playing a role in everything from memory retention and emotional regulation to removing waste from our brains.

It's tough to tell how a cat is feeling just by watching its facial expressions. Can science be used to detect more subtle facial changes that reveal cats' emotions?

Worshipped as a goddess, condemned as satanic, and spun into a stunning array of breeds, cats have long fascinated humans. But did we ever really domesticate them? And what can science tell us about our most mysterious companions?

Using a training method called "operant conditioning," or clicker training, this traveling troupe of cats have learned an impressive array of tricks.

A researcher uncovers 30,000-year-old skulls from Europe, which appear to be halfway between those of wolves and domestic canines. But do the skulls actually belong to the ancestors of today's dogs?

Researchers use brain imaging to figure out whether dogs love us—or if they just want treats.

Dogs have long been dependable companions by our sides. But it wasn’t always that way, and a look at their closest living relative, the wolf, makes it clear why. Research into dog domestication and intelligence offers clues into what the human-dog relationship. And analyzing dogs’ brain activity and genes may even help answer whether dogs are in it for the food—or if they really love us.

Five stories high and emerging from the Taylor Glacier in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, Blood Falls seeps into an ice-covered body of water called Lake Bonney. It’s one of the continent’s most enigmatic natural features and has fascinated scientists for decades. What makes it red? Does it always flow? And can anything actually survive near it?

A lake in the Arctic has a lot to say about our planet's fluctuating temperatures over the last 34 million years. Play NOVA's Polar Lab to see how.

When fossil fuels are burned, they release carbon dioxide, an invisible and odorless gas, into the atmosphere. What would happen if carbon emerged from our car tailpipes as a solid?

This cave in Canada remains frozen every summer—and it's been frozen since the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago. What can this tell us about Earth's future climate?