WALL-E, Iron Man, the Transformers, Aquaman and even Pluto are very real working concepts in a unique research lab that is luring millions in military contracts and some of the world's brainiest scientists to this Panhandle town.

Microsoft's partnering with a number of New York colleges and schools to work math- and science-friendly video games into middle-school classrooms. Wait, you say -- don't middle-school kids already have enough love for videogames?

Brain-imaging studies reveal that voting decisions are more associated with the brain's response to negative aspects of a politician's appearance than to positive ones, according to research published online in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective

Images that purport to show in living color the parts of the brain that generate such virtues as compassion, fairness and wisdom are invading turf that was once reserved for philosophers, theologians and psychologists.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.----Targacept, Inc. , a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of drugs known as NNR Therapeutics , today announced the designation of a lead compound in its smoking cessation program, triggering a $500,000 mile