Life
- Life
Scientists Say: Fermentation
Fermentation breaks down carbohydrates, such as sugars, producing energy and making gases, acids or alcohol. This process can help make foods and fuels.
- Life
Here’s how butterfly wings keep cool in the sun
Butterfly wings sport structures that let living tissues release more heat than the rest of the wing.
- Health & Medicine
Answers to your questions on the new coronavirus
As SARS-CoV-2 spreads globally, researchers are looking for answers on why this novel coronavirus is so infectious and hard to control.
- Genetics
What would it take to make a unicorn?
Onward’s dumpster-diving unicorns seem like an impossibility. But scientists have some ideas about how unicorns could become real.
- Fossils
Scientists Say: Fossil
Under the right conditions, living things or traces they’ve left behind can be preserved in rock for a long time — millions or billions of years.
- Health & Medicine
Search speeds up for vaccine against the new coronavirus
Scientists are investigating unusual ways to make drugs to prevent viral infections. One may even be able to treat already sick people.
- Animals
Ouch! Jellyfish snot can hurt people who never touch the animal
A goo shed by at least one species of upside-down jellyfish contains stinging cells. They can cause pain even to creatures that never touch the jelly.
- Health & Medicine
Concussions leave clues in the blood
Athletes who suffered concussions had increased blood levels of three proteins. These proteins appear to be a chemical sign of the brain injury.
- Animals
How an encounter with this odd-looking bird inspired a career
Kevin Burgio overcame many hardships to become a scientist. Now he studies how animals like the Carolina parakeet and Tasmanian tiger went extinct.
- Animals
Analyze This: Shimmering colors may help beetles hide
Delve into data showing how brilliant colors that shift as a viewer — or predator — moves may help iridescent insects blend in.
- Brain
Easily distracted? Training your brain’s activity could help
People can train their brainwaves to direct their attention, scientists have now shown. The technique may someday be able to help people focus.
- Brain
Curiosity drives this neuroscientist and artist
Christine Liu studies the brain on nicotine — and used Instagram to bring together women doing incredible science.
