Feature
- Chemistry
Wanted: Crime-solving bacteria and body odor
Forensic investigators are moving past old-school sleuthing to analyze microbes and odors that tell a more complete story, while pursuing ways to enhance traditional tools as well.
- Genetics
The human genome takes shape and shifts over time
Scientists are mapping and modeling the 4-D human genome to get beyond its linear structure.
- Chemistry
Automated chemistry could build better drugs fast and cheap
Automated molecular synthesis may win over chemists who are not convinced that more technology in drug design is better.
- Neuroscience
Rethinking which cells are the conductors of learning and memory
Brain cells called glia may be center stage when it comes to learning and memory, recent research suggests.
- Life
The tree of life gets a makeover
Biology’s tree of life has morphed from the familiar classroom version emphasizing kingdoms into a complex depiction of supergroups, in which animals are aligned with a slew of single-celled cousins.
- Neuroscience
Brain activity in unconscious patients offers new views of awareness
As more people survive serious brain injury, researchers are using EEG and fMRI to learn who is aware inside an unresponsive body.
- Neuroscience
Special Report: Dimensions of Time
Science News writers report on the latest scientific investigations into time’s place in the physical, biological and mental worlds.
- Science & Society
A brief history of timekeeping
For millennia, humans have harnessed the power of clocks to schedule prayers, guide ocean voyages and, lately, to chart the universe.
- Neuroscience
How the brain perceives time
To perceive time, the brain relies on internal clocks that precisely orchestrate movement, sensing, memories and learning.
- Life
The origin of biological clocks
Most of Earth’s creatures keep time with the planet’s day/night cycle. Scientists are still debating how and why the circadian clocks that govern biological timekeeping evolved.
- Animals
Some animals’ internal clocks follow a different drummer
Circadian clocks in some animals tick-tock to a different beat.
- Planetary Science
Pluto: A timeline of 85 years of discovery
Several observations in the last 85 years have given astronomers a little more information about Pluto, and the July 2015 flyby will offer the closest look yet at the solar system's far-flung satellite.
