From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
- Environment
Food-like smell on plastic may lure seabirds to eat it
When plastic smells like supper, seabirds and other animals can be fooled into thinking it is food.
- Animals
Animals can do ‘almost math’
Humans aren’t the only animals with a number sense. Scientists are trying to figure out where and when it evolved.
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How not to grin and bear it
Three teen researchers who took part in this year’s Broadcom MASTERS competition seek to help those who clench and grind their teeth.
- Brain
To reveal how the brain creates joy, start by tickling rats
Rats love a good tickle. Not only do they beg for more, but the action itself activates a part of the brain that detects touch, researchers find.
- Genetics
Scientists Say: eDNA
Animals may escape traps or nets, but they often leave DNA behind in their environment, giving scientists important clues.
- Psychology
What makes a pretty face?
Beautiful faces are symmetrical and average. Do we prefer them because this makes them easier for our brains to process?
- Health & Medicine
Simpler way to screen for hidden hearing loss?
Many teens today walk around with undiagnosed hearing damage. But some Boston-based researchers have come up with a low-tech approach to screening these individuals so they can get help.
- Health & Medicine
‘Ringing’ in the ears may signal serious ear damage
A persistent ringing in the ears, also known as tinnitus, has become common in teens — and may point to eventual, permanent hearing loss.
- Fossils
Speckled dino spurs debate about ancient animals’ colors
Structures found in fossil dinosaur skin may give clues to the creatures’ colors and how they lived. But not all scientists agree on how to interpret what they see.
- Health & Medicine
Milking chocolate for its health benefits
Researchers figure out how to give milk chocolate the same health benefits as dark chocolate. The secret ingredient is an extract from peanut skin.
- Health & Medicine
Could toothpaste give heart disease the brush-off?
Brushing with a toothpaste that dyes plaque green encourages people to remove more of it. This also lowered inflammation, which may cut someone’s risk of heart disease.
- Fossils
Dino brain found ‘pickled’ in boggy swamp
Scientists claim to have identified the first fossil brain tissue from a dinosaur.
