All Stories
- Genetics
You are what your dad ate, perhaps
Your development is affected by what your mother ate while she was pregnant with you. Is it also affected by what your father ate? A new study suggests that folate deficiency in dads can affect their offspring through epigenetic changes.
- Animals
Before a fight, chameleons engage in colorful communication
Before one chameleon rumbles with another, he’ll display his side and change his stripes, indicating his willingness to fight.
- Microbes
Virus-thwarting mosquitoes decline on Vietnamese island
Scientists plan to release second generation of mosquitoes that stop the spread of dengue fever.
By Beth Mole - Microbes
Bacteria turn threatening in tests with immune cells
In less than 30 days, nonthreatening E. coli can transform into dangerous microbes in mice.
- Earth
Green lightning may be caused by positive charges, or by camera lens
Physicist offers possible explanations for stunning photograph of volcanic eruption.
By Meghan Rosen - Animals
Bedbugs survive cold, but not for too long
Some studies have indicated that cold might kill bedbugs after as little as one hour of exposure. But new research finds that’s not the case.
- Neuroscience
Concussion-free head blows may still affect brain
Some college athletes who played contact sports had more changes in their brain’s white matter than varsity competitors in less violent games.
- Life
Animal origins shift to comb jellies
Genetic data confirm the marine predators have more ancient origin than simpler sponges.
By Amy Maxmen - Paleontology
Fleshy comb is first found on a dinosaur
A fossil head has both a duck bill and a soft-tissue crest, scientists suggest.
By Susan Milius - Planetary Science
Europa vents water, Hubble data suggest
Plumes from ice-covered oceans would increase likelihood of life-friendly conditions on one moon of Jupiter.
By Andrew Grant - Environment
World’s worst polluted
A new report by Green Cross Switzerland and the Blacksmith Institute lists places posing the greatest risk to human health.
- Health & Medicine
For babies, walking opens a whole new world
Walking and talking are linked as babies develop, anecdote and data show.