All Stories
- Life
Scientists Say: Mitosis
Mitosis is a type of cell division where one cell divides into two identical copies, called daughter cells.
- Brain
High fat diet removes brain’s natural brake on overeating
At least in mice, high-fat diets promote overeating. And the problem appears to trace to changes that these foods make to cells in an appetite-control center within the brain.
- Planets
What do you call a moon that escapes its planet? A ‘ploonet’
Giant planets in other star systems might lose their moons, creating new planets. And if moons do go rogue, current telescopes may be able to find them.
- Space
Caught: A ghost galaxy that may have hit ours long ago
Astronomers think they’ve found a galaxy that hit the Milky Way. The collision took place millions of years ago, leaving ripples in our galaxy.
- Health & Medicine
A surface crater in viruses may be key to keeping colds from spreading
A newly discovered pit on the surface of one family of viruses could help scientists fight the common cold and other infections.
- Brain
A sixth finger can prove extra handy
Two people born with six fingers on each hand adeptly control their extra digits, using them to do tasks better than five-fingered hands.
- Animals
Scientists Say: Hagfish
Hagfish are eel-shaped fish with many traits that make them similar to long-vanished fossils. When threatened, they can pump out piles of slime.
- Animals
A fungus plus a spider toxin equals a weapon to kill mosquitoes
A new weapon could help fight mosquitoes that spread malaria. It’s an engineered fungus that infects the insects — then kills them with a spider poison.
- Agriculture
U.S. farmers still use many pesticides that are banned elsewhere
More than one in four of the pesticide used on U.S. farms in 2016 had been banned in other countries.
- Archaeology
DNA reveals clues to the Siberian ancestors of the first Americans
Researchers discovered a previously unknown population of Ice Age people who crossed the Asia-North America land bridge.
- Health & Medicine
Gut bacteria may affect how well your medicines work
Gut bacteria can chemically change the drugs people swallow. ID-ing a patient’s microbes might one day help doctors prescribe the most effective drugs.
- Health & Medicine
By the numbers: How infectious measles and other diseases spread
A number called R0 measures how contagious an infectious disease is. It helps explain why measles is so dangerous.
