From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
- Animals
Why these jumping toadlets get confused mid-flight
The tiny pumpkin toadlet tumbles when it jumps. Its ear canals may be too tiny to help the animal track its motion through the air.
- Tech
This robotic finger is covered in living human skin
The advance brings super realistic cyborgs one small step closer to reality.
- Plants
The first plants ever grown in moon dirt have sprouted
This tiny garden shows farming on the moon may be difficult, although not impossible.
- Animals
Orb-weaving spiders use their webs like external eardrums
Scientists discover that orb-weaving spiders listen with their legs, detecting sound vibrations that travel through their silken webs.
- Ecosystems
Some redwood leaves make food while others drink water
The two types of leaves grow at different heights in trees at dry versus wet areas. They may help redwoods adapt to climate change.
- Brain
Warning! Nicotine poses special risks to teens
Even a single dose of nicotine during early teen years can start a life-long cycle of nicotine use and addiction.
- Animals
Monstrous mammals would break the body rules
Giant mammals and people thunder through our movies and books. But real mammals can only get so large before they can’t take the heat.
- Plants
Electric shocks act like vaccines to protect plants from viruses
To protect crops against viruses in their home country of Taiwan, two teens invented a novel approach to fight blights.
- Chemistry
Let’s learn about cellulose
The world’s most abundant natural polymer is finding all kinds of new uses, in everything from ice cream to construction.
- Brain
Lying won’t stretch your nose, but it will steal some brainpower
The science of lying shows that most people don’t lie often. But when they do, it takes a surprising toll on their brains.
- Animals
The scent of queen ‘murder hornets’ can lure males into traps
Traps baited with compounds found in the mating pheromone of hornet queens attracted thousands of males.
- Chemistry
Scientists Say: Inorganic
Inorganic molecules include salts, minerals and other compounds that lack organics’ carbon-hydrogen bonds.
