News

  1. Agriculture

    Silencing Pests: Altered plants make RNA that keeps insects at bay

    Engineered plants make genetic material that disables critical genes in insects that eat the plants, offering a possible new strategy for agricultural-pest control.

    By Sarah Webb
  2. Astronomy

    Ray Tracing: Energetic cosmic rays linked to giant black holes

    New observations suggest that ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays originate in the cores of nearby galaxies harboring supermassive black holes.

    By Ron Cowen

  3. Smarty Gene: Breast-fed kids show DNA-aided IQ boost

    Breast-feeding substantially boosts children's intelligence, but only if the youngsters possess a specific version of a gene involved in processing mothers' milk.

    By Bruce Bower

  4. Doing the DNA shuffle

    DNA near the ends of people's chromosomes shows surprisingly large differences from the corresponding DNA in other great apes.