Shankar Vedantam

Linguists try to understand the nuances of languages, and how they relate to one another. A computer scientist says the English mistakes of non-native speakers can reveal something about languages.

Analysis finds that federal agencies green-light projects in late September to fund them before the fiscal year expires. And quality suffers, compared with projects approved at other times of year.

Is Democracy a key to better levels of health in a country? That's long been the belief, but we hear about some research that shows that isn't always the case.

We know that eating food fills us up. But research indicates looking at photos of food might have the same effect.

A new study suggests that learning to play a musical instrument helps improve the brain's ability to process language. That means music lessons could give kids from low-income communities a big boost.

Suicide rates among middle-aged men in America have shown a sudden, distressing increase in the last decade.

Over the last decade, the average age of the top 100 tennis players has steadily increased. We look at why players over 30 are likely to be strongly represented in the upcoming U.S. Open.

Scholars have long tried to understand how culture affects communities. New research argues that the parking behavior of drivers may tell us something about the economic productivity of nations.

An analysis by two economists finds that winners of the medal, the most significant prize in mathematics, become significantly less productive in their chosen field of study after they win the prize.

When a woman at work experiences breast cancer, does that make her colleagues more likely to get mammograms and be proactive about their own health?

Millions of people around the world face difficult choices at the end of their lives. Researchers delved into whether stereotypes affect medical decisions when it comes to terminal illness.

Analysis of freelance jobs suggests employers are conservative when it comes to hiring, and dislike candidates who have done a lot of different things.

People sometimes avoid information because they're afraid of bad news. But this "information aversion" can lead people to avoid medical tests that could save their lives.

New research examines the effects of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month during which millions of people around the world go without food all day. Does religious practice affect economic growth?

Maybe we can learn from fish — they don't call a group of them a school for nothing. Researchers found that when 2 fish swim together, they make better decisions than when 2 fish are swimming alone.

Moms who worked full time reported significantly better physical and mental health than moms who worked part time, research involving more than 2,500 mothers found.

Prisoners who are released invariably make it back to the areas where they came from. Does this have a positive or negative effect on crime? Research triggered by Hurricane Katrina offers insight.

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg has apologized over an experiment that manipulated more than 600,000 users' news feeds in 2012. Are we upset at the findings of the study, or upset that the study was done without our consent? And do we necessarily realize all of the studies ...

New analysis finds that the countdown clocks telling pedestrians how much time they have to cross the intersection actually increase traffic crashes.

Research shows narcissists can be induced to make environmentally positive purchases when those purchases are linked to the things narcissists value — prestige, status and image.