Feature
- Health & Medicine
Immunity’s Eyes
Proteins called toll-like receptors allow human immune cells to detect microbes.
- Math
Pi à la Mode
A potential link between two disparate mathematical fields—number theory and chaotic dynamics—could lead to a proof that every digit of pi occurs with the same frequency.
- Tech
The Seeing Tongue
Blind people can now use their tongues to see, albeit crudely, thanks to prototype technology that involves licking arrays of electrodes attached to video cameras.
- Chemistry
Chemistry of Colors and Curls
Chemists are using new technology and experiments to discover how hair becomes damaged and how to protect it.
- Ecosystems
Wanted: Reef Cleaners
Nearly 18 years after a near total die-off of algae-grazing urchins in the Caribbean, those herbivores are poised for a comeback—which could help save area corals.
- Health & Medicine
Vaccine Verity
Widely publicized concerns about vaccination leading to autism, multiple sclerosis, and diabetes have not been borne out by research.
- Paleontology
A Ticklish Debate
Paleontologists engaged in a contentious debate about the origins of feathers often reach interpretations that are poles apart, and they defend their views with fervor.
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Brains in Dreamland
Sigmund Freud's century-old dream theory gets a contrasting reception from two current neuroscientific accounts of how and why the brain generates dreams.
- Health & Medicine
Ancient Estrogen
A jawless fish ancestor may have revealed the most ancient of hormones and how current hormones evolved from it.
- Tech
Soaking Up Rays
Although light shines through body parts of a primitive marine sponge much as it does through sophisticated optical fibers for telecommunications, scientists differ on whether sponges hold clues to better fibers for humankind.
- Health & Medicine
Busting the Gut Busters
Scientists are uncovering a cache of specialized weaponry used by bacteria that can spear holes in the intestine, perforate it, force it to change shape, and then spew toxins that attack other organs.
- Health & Medicine
Fighting Herself
Autoimmune diseases are more common in women than in men, and researchers are beginning to tease out the cellular mechanisms that may be responsible for this phenomenon.
