Humans

Health & Medicine

Explainer: What is Ebola?

A virus is behind the hemorrhage-inducing infection called Ebola. It causes fevers and often intense bleeding — seemingly from anywhere and everywhere.

Health & Medicine

Cookie Science 2: Baking a testable hypothesis

I would like to make a gluten-free cookie that my friend can eat. But to do that, I need to come up with a hypothesis to test.

Health & Medicine

Fist bumps cleaner than handshakes

A handshake, while welcoming, can transmit lots of germs — many times more than a high five or, especially, a fist bump.

Animals

Germs explain some animal behaviors

The bacteria that people and other animals host in and on their bodies are invisible to the eye. Yet they can play a very visible role in behavior. It’s something scientists are just coming to appreciate.

Animals

Octopus sets egg-nurturing record

Animals will do extraordinary things to help their babies survive. Consider ‘Octomom:’ She sat on one clutch of eggs for nearly 4.5 years.

Tech

Fashioning inks to ‘print’ tissues

3-D printing may one day create life-saving tissues and organs for transplants. But first researchers are learning how to tailor cell-filled “inks” for use in inkjet printers.

Microbes

Record Ebola epidemic strikes

A record outbreak of the deadly disease has already claimed nearly 1,000 lives in West Africa. Scientists suspect bats or eating some other wild animals may have triggered the epidemic.

Tech

Biometrics: New IDs that are uniquely you

Fingerprints are so last century. Computers soon may start identifying people by their eyebrows, heartbeats or even networks of blood vessels under the skin.

Brain

Lacrosse: Different genders, same injuries

Scientists find that boys’ and girls’ versions of lacrosse lead to similar injuries. Because girls frequently get concussions, the study argues that like the boys, girls too should wear helmets.

Health & Medicine

Clay: A new way to fight germs?

Geologists have discovered a type of volcanic clay that shows promise in fighting infections — maybe even ones resistant to antibiotic medicines.

Environment

Explainer: What are endocrine disruptors?

Some chemicals can act like hormones, turning on or off important processes in cells. That can harm development or even trigger disease.

Health & Medicine

Screen time: Most U.S. teens overindulge

Too many 12- to 15-year olds spend hours each day doing little more than pushing buttons on the TV remote or a computer’s keyboard, a government survey finds.