We’ve all heard about nature vs. nurture. But a third factor also helps determine who we are and what we pass on to our children, and the implications are profound.

Although ultimately incorrect in its details, Charles Darwin's outline of pangenesis foreshadowed much of what we call genetics and epigenetics today.

The apparent discovery of a theorized God particle builds confidence in science’s Standard Model of the universe and may lead to greater discoveries.

In this review, Vision looks at three books focusing on the cognitive tricks employed by the brain as it works to preserve our cherished beliefs and self-deceptions.

The world doesn’t seem much closer to attaining its sustainability goals. Will Rio+20 produce the results they’re hoping for?

Ignoring economic icebergs in pursuit of limitless growth is foolish. Like the Titanic, this ship is not unsinkable.

An excerpt from The New Universe and the Human Future: How a Shared Cosmology Could Change the World presents very optimistic hopes of unifying humanity.

Wendy Freedman, director of the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, spoke to Vision about the complexities of measuring the universe and of the human brain that attempts to make sense of it.

As the UN pegs today as the date when human population passes 7 billion, we can expect increasingly strident calls to re-evaluate our planetary role.

Is the universe accidental—now pictured as a single bubble within a cosmic foam? Or is this just a choice of belief, not an empirical conclusion?