Feature

  1. Humans wonder, anybody home?

    Brain structure and circuitry offer clues to consciousness in nonmammals.

    By Susan Gaidos

  2. A black future

    Without destroying the Earth, the Large Hadron Collider might help humans explore the cosmos.

    By Tom Siegfried

  3. Breaking the Speed Limit

    Studies examine physiology and technology to better foresee the ultimate edge of human performance.

    By Laura Beil

  4. Botanical Whales

    Adventures in the Tortugas reveal that seagrass fields need saving too.

    By Susan Milius
  5. Climate

    Climate might be right for a deal

    The upcoming Copenhagen negotiations will take steps toward an international, climate-stabilizing treaty.

    By Janet Raloff
  6. Physics

    Invisibility Uncloaked

    In the race to make things disappear, scientists gain ground on science fiction.

    By Charles Petit

  7. Aping the Stone Age

    Chimp chasers join artifact extractors to probe the roots of stone tools.

    By Bruce Bower

  8. As the worms churn

    Burrowing animals mix soil and sediments, shaping the environment and scientists’ understanding of it.

    By Sid Perkins

  9. A partnership apart

    DNA in hand, scientists dissect and redefine the iconic lichen mutualism.

    By Susan Milius

  10. Better living through plasmonics

    Mixing light with nanotechnology could help treat cancer and build faster computers.

    By Jenny Lauren Lee

  11. All kinds of tired

    Donkeys sleep about three out of each 24 hours. Certain reef fish spend the night moving their fins as if swimming in their sleep. Some biologists argue that all animals sleep in some form or another. But identifying sleep can get complicated. Insects have brain architecture so different from humans’, for example, that electrophysiological recordings […]

    By Susan Milius
  12. Space

    Windows on the Universe

    Astronomy’s multiwavelength revolution paints a more complete picture of the cosmos

    By Ron Cowen