1,154 results
- Animals
Reef fish get riled when intruders glow red
A male fairy wrasse gets feisty when he can see a rival’s colorful fluorescent patches.
- Genetics
Elephant shark genome small and slow to evolve
The animals have the smallest genome of non-bony fishes and the slowest-evolving genes among vertebrates, a study suggests.
- Materials Science
Making artificial muscles with a spin
Scientists have given ordinary fishing line and sewing thread a new twist. When coiled into tight corkscrews, the fibers can lift loads more than 100 times as heavy as those hefted by human muscles.
- Paleontology
3-D scans reveal secrets of extinct creatures
Paleontologists can dig into fossils without destroying them and see what’s inside using 3-D scanning. What they’re learning helps bring the past to life.
- Archaeology
Written in bone
Researchers are reconstructing the migrations that carried agriculture into Europe by analyzing DNA from the skeletons of early farmers and the people they displaced.
- Earth
Gulf spill harmed small fish, studies indicate
Effects vary but dire impacts seen with some very low exposures.
- Animals
Better bird nesting also good for giant manta rays
Disrupting tree canopies on a Pacific atoll discourages big fish off shore through a long chain of ecological consequences.
- Life
Old-fashioned fish regrow fins
Fish on an ancient line can regenerate lost limbs with newt-like flair, suggesting that ability was shared among ancient ancestors.
- Life
Sawfish don’t saw
Spiked snouts whack prey to the bottom, helping the predator better get its mouth around dinner.
-
Letters
A Boy Scout’s salute I am a Boy Scout doing the Communications Merit Badge. I am supposed to write to the editor of a magazine and express my opinion. I’ve always loved the Atom & Cosmos section because I’m very interested in particle physics and on the other end of the scale, cosmology. “Earth-y orb […]
- Life
Research in cell communication system wins 2012 chemistry Nobel
G protein-coupled receptors relay messages from other cells and the environment into the cell's interior.
- Life
Antibody may explain collagen’s undoing
A newly discovered process could help account for the destruction that rheumatoid arthritis causes.
