Life
- Tech
Nature offers inspiration, and occasionally courage
Acting Editor in Chief Elizabeth Quill discusses how nature can inspire people to make long-lasting change.
- Animals
Bat brain signals illuminate navigation in the dark
New lab technologies that let bats fly freely allow scientists to track nerve cell signals as the animals dodge and weave.
- Animals
How bats could help tomato farmers (and the U.S. Navy)
The way bats navigate their environs inspires engineers to develop better sonar and robots that can estimate crop yield or deliver packages
- Animals
Old barn owls aren’t hard of hearing
A new study suggests that older barn owls hear just as well as younger ones.
- Life
This biochemist brews a wild beer
Wild beer studies are teaching scientists and brewers about the tropical fruit smell and sour taste of success.
- Microbes
Now we know how much glacial melting ‘watermelon snow’ can cause
Algae that give snow a red tint are making glacial snow in Alaska melt faster.
- Animals
3-D scans of fossils suggest new fish family tree
Analysis of specimens from China implies ray-finned fishes evolved later than previously thought.
- Animals
Animal goo inspires better glue
Researchers are turning to nature to create adhesives that work in the wet environment of the human body.
- Animals
A researcher reveals the shocking truth about electric eels
A biologist records the electrical current traveling through his arm during an electric eel’s defensive leap attack.
- Health & Medicine
Microbes hobble a widely used chemo drug
Bacteria associated with cancer cells can inactivate a chemotherapy drug.
- Genetics
Two artificial sweeteners together take the bitter out of bittersweet
Some artificial sweeteners are well known for their bitter aftertastes. But saccharin and cyclamate are better together, and now scientists know why.
- Paleontology
Like sea stars, ancient echinoderms nibbled with tiny tube feet
An ancient echinoderm fossil preserves evidence of tube feet like those found on today’s sea stars.
