News

  1. Microbes

    Airplane sewage may be helping antibiotic-resistant microbes spread

    Along with drug-resistant E. coli, airplane sewage contains a diverse set of genes that let bacteria evade antibiotics.

    By Carolyn Wilke
  2. Humans

    In some languages, love and pity get rolled into the same word

    By studying semantic ties among words used to describe feelings in over 2,000 languages, researchers turned up cultural differences.

    By Laura Sanders
  3. Life

    Ocean acidification could degrade sharks’ tough skin

    Nine weeks of exposure to acidic seawater corroded the toothlike denticles that make up a puffadder shyshark’s skin, a small experiment found.

    By Jonathan Lambert
  4. Science & Society

    Installing democracies may not work without prior cultural shifts

    Experts often argue over what comes first: democratic institutions or a culture that values democratic norms.