All Stories by Bethany Brookshire
- Animals
Scientists Say: Luminescence
Light and heat don’t always have to go together! Luminescence is what occurs when a substance emits light without making heat.
- Brain
A cell hookup helps the tongue tell sweet from sour
To keep your sense of taste, new taste cells need to hook up to your brain every few weeks. Now, scientists have figured out how they do it.
- Genetics
Explainer: Why scientists sometimes ‘knock out’ genes
How do we learn what a particular molecule does in the body? To find out, scientists often 'knock out' the gene that makes it. Here’s how.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists Say: Rabies
Rabies is a disease caused by the rabies virus. There is a vaccine, but without it, people and animals can die from this disease.
- Animals
Pumpkin toadlets can’t hear themselves talk
Tiny orange frogs make soft chirping sounds in the forests of Brazil. Their ears, however, cannot hear them, a new study finds.
- Health & Medicine
Explainer: How the ears work
Most people probably think of their ears as the flaps on the sides of their heads. But there’s a lot of machinery inside that lets us hear our favorite tunes.
- Animals
Scientists Say: Vampire
Human vampires are found only in fiction. But vampire bats and moths are the real thing. These animals love the taste of blood, and some can’t live without it.
- Chemistry
When bitter + bitter = sweet
Two artificial sweeteners lose their bitter aftertastes when combined together. Scientists have just figured out why.
- Chemistry
Scientists Say: Gradient
This is a word used to describe the rate that something changes over a distance or time. Examples include the strength of a smell or the steepness of a mountain.
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Researchers reveal their epic fails
Scientists often look successful in their jobs. But everyone has gone through tough times — and overcome them.
- Brain
Scientists Say: Glia
Scientists used to think glial cells did nothing more than glue the brain together. Now we know they do much, much more.
- Tech
Social networks can learn about you through your friends
Social networks can gather information from users that let them create “shadow profiles” of others — even people not on the network.
