From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
- Computing
Wired and weird: Meet the cyborg plants
By mixing electronics with greenery, engineers have made plants that conduct electricity, detect bombs and send email.
- Genetics
How to view tiny parts of DNA? Make them ‘blink’
A new technique can image nanoscale structures in cells without hurting them. No dyes needed. All you have to do is stimulate them with the right color of light.
- Genetics
How to make a ‘three-parent’ baby
Scientists combined an egg, sperm and some donor DNA: The end result: what appears to be healthy babies.
- Animals
Scientists Say: Hibernation
Hibernation is more than a deep sleep. Animals that hibernate lower their body temperature and reduce their body activities for months.
- Animals
Under blanket of ice, lakes teem with life
Life under frozen lakes is vibrant, complex and surprisingly active, new research finds. In fact, some plants and animals can only live under the ice. But with climate change, will that continue?
- Brain
Heartbeat can affect racial perception of threat
Links between nerves in the heart and the brain shed light on why some police may be more likely to shoot an unarmed person who’s black than one who is white.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists Say: Frostbite
As we get cold, the blood vessels near our skin constrict to keep body heat in. But in the process, they leave some tissues in danger of frostbite.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists Say: Hypothermia
Our bodies need to stay warm to function correctly. If our temperature drops too much, we can suffer from hypothermia.
- Genetics
Scientists find genes that make some kids’ hair uncombable
Scientists have pinpointed three genes that cause ‘uncombable hair syndrome’ in some kids.
- Animals
How birds know what not to tweet
How do birds perfect their pitches? The chemical dopamine spikes when they sing right, and dips when they drop a note, new data show.
- Brain
Explainer: What is dopamine?
Dopamine is a chemical messenger that carries signals between brain cells. It also gets blamed for addiction. And a shortage of it gets blamed for symptoms of diseases such as Parkinson’s.
- Brain
Explainer: What is neurotransmission?
When brain cells need to pass messages to one another, they use chemicals called neurotransmitters. This sharing of chemical secrets is known as neurotransmission.
