From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
- Plants
A geometric pattern lurks in Chinese money plant leaves
Tiny water-oozing pores appear to shape the leaves’ veins into a “Voronoi diagram.”
- Microbes
Dormant microbes from Ötzi the Iceman’s body can grow in the lab
These cold-loving yeasts may be thousands of years old. They also suggest the mummy’s remains may not be completely frozen in time.
- Microbes
Fuzzy microbes may fuel cows’ methane burps
Production of this potent greenhouse gas is triggered by a newfound feature of these microbes — one with a funny name: hydrogenobody.
- Animals
Here’s how ‘singing’ mice belt out their tiny tunes
Balloon-like air sacs in the mice's throats create whistling songs. No other animal is known to make calls in this way.
- Brain
VR can train the human brain to treat wings like real limbs
Virtual "flying" coaching, based on bird flight, took only a week. Afterward, participants’ brains seemed to view VR wings almost like true limbs.
- Animals
Like living mood rings, these bees change color when it turns humid
Humidity makes North American sweat bees change color. This trait could be widespread among shiny insects, some biologists now suspect.
- Brain
Imagination is not just replaying what we’ve seen and heard
New brain scans are helping sort out how our brains process imagined thoughts versus real sensations.
- Brain
Scientists Say: Synesthesia
This is a trait in which one kind of sensory input, such as sound, can trigger another sense, such as sight.
- Humans
Some people use echolocation to get around. Here’s how it works
As expert echolocators make multiple clicking sounds, their brains process the echoes to help them perceive their surroundings.
- Health & Medicine
Teens invent first chewing gum to tackle anxiety
Flavonoids from passionflower plants may one day give chewing gums the ability to take the edge off frazzled nerves or anxiety, report two Regeneron ISEF finalists.
- Health & Medicine
Positive thinking could help boost your immune system
With real-time feedback, people can learn to turn on a part of the brain that helps rev up the immune system, new data show.
- Life
Scientists Say: Spore
Patience is a virtue of these crafty, resilient little reproductive cells. Some bacterial spores have grown after lying dormant for a millennium.
