Feature
- Environment
Electrical bacteria may help clean oil spills and curb methane emissions
Cable bacteria are living electrical wires that may become a tool to reduce methane emissions and clean oil spills.
- Neuroscience
Herminia Pasantes discovered how taurine helps brain cells regulate their size
Mexican scientist Herminia Pasantes spent decades studying how nerve cells regulate their size and why it’s so vital.
- Animals
Tardigrades could teach us how to handle the rigors of space travel
Tardigrades can withstand X-rays, freezing and vacuum. Now researchers are learning how they do it, with an eye toward human space travel.
- Anthropology
Demond Mullins climbed Everest to inspire more Black outdoor enthusiasts
Mullins hopes his successful Mount Everest summit will encourage more Black people to experience the great outdoors.
- Health & Medicine
How scientists are shifting their search for links between diet and dementia
Studies of food’s impact on Alzheimer’s disease and dementia are hampered by complexity. Scientists hope new research approaches prove more fruitful.
- Particle Physics
How physicists are probing the Higgs boson 10 years after its discovery
The famous particle may point to cracks in the standard model and new physics beyond.
- Health & Medicine
Western wildfires’ health risks extend across the country
As western wildfires become more common, hazardous smoke is sending people — especially children — to emergency rooms on the East Coast.
- Genetics
Who decides whether to use gene drives against malaria-carrying mosquitoes?
As CRISPR-based gene drives to eliminate malaria-carrying mosquitoes pass new tests, the African public will weigh in on whether to unleash them.
- Neuroscience
Glial cells may take on big jobs in unexpected parts of the body
Scientists are finding mysterious glia in the heart, spleen and lungs and wonder what they’re doing there.
- Climate
Farmers in India cut their carbon footprint with trees and solar power
Planting trees near crops and pumping water with solar power in India is reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.
- Humans
Eating meat is the Western norm. But norms can change
A meat-heavy diet, with its high climate costs, is the norm in the West. So social scientists are working to upend normal.
- Agriculture
These six foods may become more popular as the planet warms
Millet, kelp, Bambara groundnut and cassava are resilient, sustainable and nutrient dense — good options for future dinner plates.
