Feature
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Micromanagers
Some scientists believe the human brain is the creation of RNA. Only noncoding RNAs are plentiful, and powerful enough to handle the billions of complex interactions the brain faces every day.
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Jelly Propulsion
Jellyfish have been swimming the seas for at least 550 million years, and research is now revealing how the challenges of moving in fluid have shaped the creatures' evolution.
- Chemistry
Energy in Motion
The molecular machines of living cells harvest energy out of randomness, and scientists are learning how to do the same with artificial molecules.
- Physics
Extreme Measures
Physicists use atom interferometry to measure gravity and other forces with unrivaled precision, and the technique could potentially guide airplanes and uncover buried caches of oil and diamonds.
- Health & Medicine
Weighty Evidence
Connections between the family of insulin hormones and cancer have been suspected for more than 2 decades, and today, drug companies are testing anticancer drugs based on the actions of an insulin cousin.
- Archaeology
Dawn of the City
A research team has excavated huge public structures from more than 6,000 years ago in northeastern Syria, challenging the notion that the world's first cities arose in the so-called fertile crescent of what's now southern Iraq.
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Faulty Fountains of Youth
As a source of new cells to revitalize tissues, adult stem cells may cause some of decline of the body in old age, but the link between the two is not as simple as it seems.
- Astronomy
Embracing the Dark Side
Ten years after researchers discovered that the expansion of the universe was speeding up rather than slowing down, cosmologists are still struggling to explain the astonishing finding.
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Biological Moon Shot
The first entries—with the basics for a mere 30,000 species—in the Web-based Encyclopedia of Life are scheduled for release in a matter of weeks.
- Materials Science
Life in Print
Tissues printed with an ink-jet could provide patches for damaged organs, new cell-based materials for drug testing, new ways to probe cellular communication, living sensors, or even fuel cell–type batteries.
- Physics
Supercool, and Strange
Scientists tracking H2O's highs and lows are finding new clues as to how and why the familiar substance is so odd. Recent research, for example, suggests that water may exist in two distinct liquid phases at ultralow temperatures.
- Humans
Judging Science
Scientists and legal scholars argue that studies conducted with litigation in mind are not necessarily more biased than research done for other purposes.
