Life

  1. Neuroscience

    Scans suggest how the mind solves ethical dilemmas

    Brain scans suggest how the mind solves a moral dilemma.

    By
  2. Life

    When hummingbirds fly unfriendly skies

    Hummingbirds hover easily in turbulent air as long as the disturbances aren’t too wide.

    By
  3. Genetics

    Mice lose a gene to drop some weight

    Mice lacking gene have less fat, more muscle and lived longer than normal.

    By
  4. Animals

    Mama frog’s care includes a gift of poison

    Strawberry poison frog tadpoles get defensive chemicals through unfertilized, nutritious eggs provided by mom.

    By
  5. Life

    To do: Exhibits to explore in the U.S. and London

    Highlights include the impending arrival of a T. rex skeleton in Washington, D.C., a pterosaur exhibit coming to New York City, and the history of longevity at the Royal Society in London.

    By
  6. Health & Medicine

    Small molecule makes brain cancer cells collapse and die

    A small molecule, Vacquinol-1, may provide a different way to target and kill cells in glioblastomas, a type of brain tumor.

    By
  7. Plants

    Milkweed ‘horns’ may equal wins in reproduction battle

    Plants may be ripping a page right from bucks’ playbooks, developing hornlike weapons to improve their chances of reproduction.

    By
  8. Animals

    A parasitic cuckoo can be a good thing

    Great spotted cuckoo chicks show that brood parasites may benefit their hosts.

    By
  9. Plants

    Fossil fern showcases ancient chromosomes

    Fossil nuclei and chromosomes seen in a 180-million-year-old fern reveals that the plants have stayed mostly the same.

    By
  10. Life

    Human noses know more than 1 trillion odors

    Sense of smell displays a vast reach in study of people’s ability to distinguish between scents.

    By
  11. Neuroscience

    Calcium in alcoholism drug may be what prevents relapse

    Acamprosate, one of the few drugs to treat alcoholism, may be nothing more than a vehicle for a calcium supplement.

    By
  12. Paleontology

    The dinosaur ‘chicken from hell’

    Fossils suggest that a supersized chickenlike reptile called Anzu wyliei roamed what are now the Dakotas roughly 67 million years ago.

    By