Life

Animals

Sharks’ super sniffers at risk

Rising ocean acidity could rob sharks of their ability to sniff out dinner, marine biologists find.

Fossils

Biggest dino ever?

This plant-eater would have towered over even a T. rex. A truly huge brute, Dreadnoughtus means ‘fear nothing.’

Health & Medicine

You can be too thin

Eating disorders aren’t about vanity. They are mental illnesses that can prove deadly.

Health & Medicine

The media’s dangerous influence on body image

A study found how powerful TV and ad messages can be in distorting the attitudes about body image among young girls in Fiji.

Animals

Chef puts eco-bullies on the menu

Some immigrant species can become a nuisance, eating up or displacing the natives. Often people find little incentive to catch and remove the newcomers — unless they find them too yummy to pass up.

Animals

A fish out of water — walks and morphs

When this modern ‘walking’ fish was raised on land, its body changed. How it adapted resembles some prehistoric fish. These alterations hint at evolutionary changes that may have made life on land possible.

Brain

Mistakes: A key to learning

This man uses a robotic arm to move a cursor across a computer screen. The screen blocks his view of his hand and arm. This focuses his attention on any errors he makes as he tries to move a cursor to a target location.

Tech

Plants ‘listen’ for danger

Scientists used lasers to show that plants can “hear” insect pests. Those leafy plants then mount a chemical attack in response to the bug’s chewing sounds — but not toward harmless noises such as a gentle breeze or a bug’s mating call.

Brain

Learning rewires the brain

Brain cells actually change shape as we learn. It’s one way we cement new knowledge. And much of the action happens as we sleep.

Health & Medicine

Starchy foods may cut meaty risks

Eating red meat can increase the risk of certain types of cancer. But scientists have discovered that eating potatoes and other foods containing 'resistant' starch can help limit those risks.

Plants

Saving the banana

A number of diseases threaten the world’s most popular fruit. Scientists are working to fight these blights. But if they don’t succeed, the sweet banana that’s a breakfast staple could disappear.

Health & Medicine

Ebola treatments and vaccines could be near

Using experimental medicines against Ebola might help to slow or end an outbreak in Africa that has defied efforts to control it.