Life

  1. Fossils

    Ancient jellyfish? Upside down this one looks like something else

    A new look at an ancient sea animal called Essexella suggests it may have been a type of burrowing sea anemone, not a floating jelly.

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  2. Tech

    A device spots and counts honeybees hosting a dangerous parasite

    At Regeneron ISEF, three teens debuted an infrared system to detect honeybees carrying mites. It can show beekeepers when a colony needs to be treated.

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  3. Brain

    Scientists Say: Connectome

    A connectome is a diagram of the cellular highways that carry information in the brain.

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  4. Environment

    Making yards more diverse can reap big environmental benefits

    Replacing grass with native plants uses less water and fewer chemicals while providing additional benefits to people and wildlife.

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  5. Animals

    Rats can bop their heads to a musical beat

    Rats’ rhythmic response to human music doesn’t mean they like to dance. But it may shed light on how brains evolved to perceive rhythm.

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  6. Ecosystems

    Scientists Say: Food web

    All the species in an ecosystem and the feeding relationships between them get summed up with this handy picture.

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  7. Brain

    Scientists mapped every nerve cell in this insect brain

    Researchers have built a “connectivity map” of all the nerve cells in the larval fruit fly brain and how they link together.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Humans might be able to hibernate during space travel

    Scientists are studying how animals hibernate and developing new technologies to help humans sleep through space travel.

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  9. Brain

    Let’s learn about the science of language

    The languages we speak may help shape how we see, smell and hear the world around us.

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  10. Plants

    Analyze This: Plants sound off when they’re in trouble

    When dry or cut, tomato and tobacco plants make sounds too high for humans to hear. Such sounds could provide a way to snoop on crops.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Hand dryers can infect clean hands with bathroom germs

    Hot-air hand dryers are a haven for microbes. A finalist at Regeneron ISEF found that these machines spray germs all over freshly washed hands.

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  12. Animals

    How to tell if cats are having fun — or if fur is flying

    Quietly wrestling cats may be hard at play. But if they’re chasing and yowling, you might have a cat fight on your hands.

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