MS-LS1-1
Conduct an investigation to provide evidence that living things are made of cells, either one cell or many different numbers and types of cells.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists discover how norovirus hijacks the gut
Noroviruses make people vomit, but scientists didn’t actually know why. It now turns out that those viruses cause their misery by attacking special “tuft” cells in the gut.
- Animals
Orca snot leads to a whale of a science-fair project
DNA found in the mucus of orcas suggests that even though the traits of family pods may differ, these marine mammals all appear to belong to a single species.
- Materials Science
New black hair dye uses no harsh chemicals
Scientists have developed a new black-carbon-based hair dye. Instead of using damaging chemicals to dye hair, flexible flakes of carbon coat each strand.
- Chemistry
Banana plant extract can slow how fast ice cream melts
Food scientists now show that adding these tiny plant particles to ice cream may delay the rate at which this treat melts into a soupy mess.
- Health & Medicine
Inked mice hint at how tattoos live on
Tattooed mice challenge our current understanding of how tattoos stay in humans.
- Animals
Cool Jobs: Diving for new medicines
Scientists mix research with underwater adventure as they search the oceans for new chemicals to treat infections, cancer and more.
- Health & Medicine
Obesity makes taste buds disappear — in mice, anyway
Mice that gained excessive weight on a high-fat diet also lost one in four taste buds.
- Genetics
Explainer: Why scientists sometimes ‘knock out’ genes
How do we learn what a particular molecule does in the body? To find out, scientists often 'knock out' the gene that makes it. Here’s how.
- Health & Medicine
Explainer: What is a hormone?
Various tissues secrete special chemicals, known as hormones. They travel, usually in blood, to a particular distant site where they tell certain cells it’s time to go to work.
- Genetics
Explainer: How CRISPR works
Scientists are using a tool called CRISPR to edit DNA in all types of cells.
- Chemistry
New rules point scientists toward next-gen germ-killers
Shape and other features help germ-killing drugs make it through barriers to enter bacteria. Knowing how they do this could lead to more and better better antibiotics.
- Science & Society
Will we know alien life when we see it?
The hunt is on for extraterrestrials. But recognizing them may require some wiggle room in what we define as being alive.
