From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
- Animals
Birds could get their sense of direction from quantum physics
Songbirds could detect north and south using a protein in their eye. It works somewhat like a compass.
- Animals
A bubble of air lets some lizards breathe underwater
Anolis lizards leap into streams to escape danger. Now researchers have figured out how they can stay underwater for up to a quarter of an hour.
- Plants
These ferns may be first plants known to work together as ants do
Staghorn ferns grow in massive colonies where individual plants contribute different jobs. This may make them “eusocial,” like ants or termites.
- Animals
Engineers surprised by the power of an elephant’s trunk
An elephant's trunk can suck air through it fast — at more than 335 miles per hour (150 meters per second)!
- Earth
‘Tree farts’ make up about a fifth of greenhouse gases from ghost forests
Heat-trapping gases from dead trees play an important role in the environmental impact of “ghost” forests.
- Animals
Most species of beetles pee differently than other insects
Scientists uncover their unique system for balancing ions and water. The findings may hint at why beetles are the most diverse animals on Earth.
- Plants
Scientists Say: Pollen
Pollen is a mass of tiny reproductive cells. These grains combine with egg cells to form seeds — but on the way, they can make some people miserable.
- Tech
No animal died to make this steak
The ribeye steak is the first of its kind, and the latest in a growing list of meats printed with a 3-D bioprinter instead of being harvested from an animal.
- Health & Medicine
Cool Jobs: Saliva offers a spitting image of our health
Scientists are using this secretion to study our body’s functions, to test for disease and even to diagnose injury.
- Space
Here’s why people picked certain stars as constellations
Patterns of human eye movement help explain why particular sets of stars form iconic shapes, a high school student showed.
- Microbes
Several plant-like algae can morph into animal-like predators
Single-celled green algae swim through water as free cells. Most use only photosynthesis for their energy. But not all of them, a new study shows.
- Brain
Explainer: What is a neuron?
From the moment you are born, cells called neurons sense information, process it and then pass it on. Neurons allow you to do everything that you do.
