Life

Environment

Greener than burial? Turning human bodies into worm food

Composting human bodies yielded good results — and good soil — in one small study. It could become an alternative to burial or cremation in one state.

Animals

Conservation is going to the dogs

Scientists are now training dogs to help track rare, elusive — and sometimes invasive — plants and animals.

Physics

Try This: Walking on water with science

Water striders walk on water. How do they do it? They spread out. This experiment will show you how it works.

Plants

Let’s learn about the future of food

Technology and a warming world will change what you eat and how it gets to your plate.

Earth

Desert trails and microbial life excite this soil scientist

To help her desert community, Lydia Jennings focuses her research on how mining affects soil microbes.

Brain

Scientists Say: Brainwaves

These patterns of electrical activity in the brain look like spikes or waves.

Animals

Let’s learn about electric eels

Learn about where an electric eel’s powerful jolt comes from and more with this collection of stories.

Brain

Zapping the brain may make it work right again

Sending electrical zaps to electrodes implanted deep in the brain can help people with Parkinson’s disease, depression and even obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Fossils

Let’s learn about dinosaur extinction

Dinosaurs disappeared 66 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous. What made them go extinct?

Animals

Pandas use their heads as a kind of extra limb for climbing

Their short legs on a stout bear body mean pandas use a rare technique to climb up a tree.

Environment

Decades-long project is linking our health to the environment

Started in 1959, this California study is one of the oldest ongoing research projects in the world.

Brain

Do you sleep enough to banish unpleasant moods?

A large, long-term study in kids has linked getting too little shuteye with mood and behavior problems.