Young male orang-utans can put off sexual maturity for up to 10 years, building up their strength until they're ready to challenge dominant males

As stresses build up in the Earth's crust, tidal forces can trigger minor earthquakes – a sign of big quakes to come

The structure of an online social network can be used to deduce connections between people who don't use the service

Autocracies with a median population age of over 30 years old are most likely to become liberal democracies – Egypt may need a few years to mature

James Davies meets protesters who claim the American Psychiatric Association is over-diagnosing and turning the pain of everyday life into mental illness

New device lets surgeons check medical images during an operation without having to scrub out

Testing psychiatry's new diagnostic handbook has flagged problems in diagnosing several mental disorders

Judging a defendant on their conduct, not the consequences of their actions, is harder than you think

Deep-seated social prejudices are hard to dislodge and can affect length of sentencing. But there could be a surprising solution to this problem

Aggressive questioning or bluffing with fake evidence provides fertile ground for false confessions and can cloud other evidence presented at trial

Eyewitness misidentification accounts for three-quarters of wrongful convictions – but tweaking the line-up system can bring more accurate results

The foibles of the human mind can easily derail a fair trial. Yet some of the biggest flaws can be fixed – here's how

An enzyme found in nearly all forms of life runs on a 24-hour clock and dates back to a pivotal moment in evolution

A paralysed woman sipping a cup of coffee with a robotic arm becomes the first human to use their brain signals to manipulate a real-world object

Wall-sized, total-immersion screens will go beyond today's power-hungry flat screens and change how you watch TV