Feature
- 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.
- Astronomy
A Rocky Bicentennial
Mounting evidence that many asteroids aren't solid rock but collections of loosely bound fragments could have far-reaching implications for elucidating their internal structure, understanding planet formation, and developing strategies to mitigate the threat of one striking Earth.
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Alarming Butterflies and Go-Getter Fish
Recent studies suggest that there may be more ways to create new species than Darwin imagined.
- Earth
Power Harvests
Farmers are finding that commercial wind power is the best new commodity to come along in years, one that can offer substantial year-round income.
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Sticky Situations
Bacteria find strength in numbers as members of huge, mucous-covered communities called biofilms that can stall, equip, and initiate fierce infections.
- Earth
The Silence of the Bams
If a nuclear explosion were set off in a cavity of the right size and shape, even a moderate-sized nuclear bomb might appear at long distances to be no bigger than a routine explosion used in mining.
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Telltale Heart
Genetics is revealing the first steps in building a heart—the organ that is first to develop, subject to the most birth defects, and difficult to heal when damaged later in life.
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Faces of Perception
Scientists who study face perception currently disagree strongly over whether newborn babies innately know what human faces look like and whether certain brain areas are solely responsible for distinguishing one face from another.
- Tech
Dances with Robots
Soldiers, rescue workers, and others may attain superhuman strength, speed, and endurance as a result of a new military program to develop powered robotic exoskeletons contoured to a person's body.
