From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
- Agriculture
Learning what stresses queen bees could save their hives
Beehives often die off after the queen gets too stressed to make enough babies. New tests could identify what stressed her — and point to solutions.
- Animals
Here’s what bats ‘see’ when they explore the world with sound
High-speed cameras, fancy microphones and slick software are helping scientists get the best look yet at what bats perceive through echolocation.
- Physics
Here’s how giant pumpkins get so big
Cinderella took a ride in a pumpkin coach. Though real pumpkins do get big enough, here’s why their ride would be uncomfortable at best.
- Chemistry
Explainer: How photosynthesis works
Plants can take in light, water and carbon dioxide, and send out sugar and oxygen. Here’s how it works.
- Animals
One hummingbird survives cold nights by nearly freezing stiff
To survive a freezing night, hummingbirds in the Andes mountains go very still, slow their heart rate and let their body temperature plummet.
- Genetics
Gene editing can alter body fat and may fight diabetes
Researchers have long dreamed of using brown fat to fight obesity and diabetes. Work in animals shows they’re closing in on achieving that dream.
- Climate
The faster trees grow, the younger they die
As climate change spurs forest tree growth, it also shortens trees’ lives. That results in a quicker release of climate-warming carbon back into the atmosphere.
- Animals
Whales get a second life as deep-sea buffets
When a whale dies and sinks to the seafloor, it becomes a feast for hundreds of different types of creatures.
- Humans
You should guess answers to your homework before searching online
Over a span of 11 years, an increasing share of students performed more poorly on exams than on their homework. Online homework help may explain why.
- Animals
Let’s learn about bones
Bones hold us up and help us fight gravity with every step. They also make blood cells, hormones and more.
- Brain
Confidence can make you miss important information
Being confident can feed a confirmation bias in us, new studies show. This bias can make your brain ignore other people’s ideas and any conflicting information.
- Health & Medicine
A glowing new way to measure antibodies
Researchers invent a way to detect and measure antibodies with glowing proteins. Antibodies can mark exposure to various diseases.
