Genetics
- Health & Medicine
Tomatoes’ tasteless green gene
The tomatoes your great-grandparents ate probably tasted little like the ones you eat today. The fruit used to have more flavor. A lot more flavor. In fact, tomatoes “were once so flavorful that you could take one in your hand and eat it straight away just like we regularly eat apples or peaches,” according to plant scientist Alan Bennett. He belongs to a team of international scientists who now think they know one reason why the fruit has lost so much flavor. Although some unripe tomatoes have a dark green patch near the stem, farmers prefer that their unripe tomatoes are the same shade of green all over. The consistent coloring makes it easier for them to know when the fruit should be picked.
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- Chemistry
DNA, RNA…and XNA?
Scientists create artificial genetic molecules that can carry information, evolve.
- Genetics
Sniffing out truffle scent
Genetics, not geography, plays key role in the aroma of the delicacy.
- Animals
Costs of missing sleep
Some fruit flies do fine without sleep, as long as they’ve got enough to eat.
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- Animals
Afraid of its own fishy reflection
A cichlid brain works differently when the fish attacks its mirror image.
- Genetics
Your inner Neandertal
New study finds some DNA in modern humans was passed down from Neandertals.
- Animals
The nerve of one animal
Cancer that's killing Tasmanian devils probably began in a single creature's nervous system.
