Feature
- 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.
- 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.
