Giving birth is hard work, but getting your abs back in shape after delivering your baby doesn't have to be. Although many women believe they must refrain from exercising until six weeks after giving ...

Stroke the soft body of a newborn fruit fly larva ever-so-gently with a freshly plucked eyelash, and it will respond to the tickle by altering its movement — an observation that has helped scientists ...

WASHINGTON — From the stroke of a mother's hand to the embrace of a lover, sensations of gentle touch activate a specialized set of nerves in humans. The brain is widely believed to contain a "map" of ...

"This group of behaviors affects about 5% of the world population," said Dr. Tiffany Libby, a dermatologist at Brown Dermatology. That's about 380 million people. These group of behaviors is known as ...

While touch always involves awareness, it also sometimes involves emotion. Now, scientists describe a system of slowly conducting nerves in the skin that respond to gentle touch. Investigators are ...

“See how she leans her cheek upon her hand. O, that I were a glove upon that hand That I might touch that cheek!” William Shakespeare The physical sensation of being touched can have a powerful effect ...

Physical contact is humanity's oldest language. Long before words, a touch, a hug, or a pat served to communicate protection, affection, and belonging. In the context of marriage, where routine can ...

The neurobiological response to gentle touch remains poorly understood, especially in the context of human-animal interaction. A novel approach allowed recording the pig electroencephalogram (EEG) ...

When you walk along, holding hands with your sweetheart, you don't hold that person's hand with an iron grip. Instead, you maintain gentle contact. The touches you share keep you in contact. Your hand ...