After a class on out-of-body experiences, a psychology graduate student at the University of Ottawa came forward to researchers to say that she could have these voluntarily, usually before sleep. "She appeared surprised that not everyone could experience this," wrote the scientists in a study describing the case, published in February in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.  

One would think that if you could leave your own body and float above it, you'd be a little more... vocal about it. But since it was a common experience for her--one she "began performing as a child when bored with 'sleep time' at preschool... moving above her body" instead of napping--it may have appeared unremarkable. This is way more interesting than what I did, which wa ...

Are you superstitious of the number 13? Some people are so extreme, it's an actual phobia called triskaidekaphobia. Weird.

Don't ask questions, just get on. Genets are small, mongoose-like felines found in Africa - and this one has been caught on camera hitching rides from at least two different species over the past month. This is the first time this behaviour has ever been seen in the mammal...

To simulate life on Mars, a six-person crew will live in a dome in the middle of the desert—with almost no connection to the outside world—for eight straight months.

No one wants to be sad. So why do we love listening to sad songs so much? New research suggests that we're drawn to sad songs because they evoke mostly positive emotions, which is great for our mental health.

According to the study published by the journal PLOS One, researchers found that "a wide range of complex and partially positive emotions, such as nostalgia, peacefulness, tenderness, transcendence, and wonder," were brought out in the participants that took part in the study by sad music. These are emotions are all healthy, feel-good emotions. The researchers concluded that "Music-evoked sadness plays a role in well-being, by providing consolation as well as regulating negative moods and emotions."

Source: http://www.plosone.org/article ...

Author Dr. John Bradshaw suggests that because domestic cats are still essentially wild animals, that they think of their owners as bigger cats that they're quite fond of (often performing grooming rituals on them), who have really delicious food (tastier than that mouse they killed and left on your porch).

In July 2011, a 52-year-old woman presented at a psychiatric clinic in the Netherlands reported that for her entire life she’d seen multiple peoples’ faces change into dragon-like faces. She was suffering from what is known as prosopometamorphopsia; a psychiatric disorder in which faces appear distorted. What made matters worse, researchers couldn’t work out what was causing this to occur. Various brain scans including MRI, electroencephalogram, and neurological examinations, as well as blood tests were all normal. One area of the brain that might be the cause is the fusiform gyrus, which is the part of our face recognition circuitry. The fusiform gyrus is located in the ventral occipitotemporal cortex, and damage to it can make people ha ...