All Stories

Life

Fountain of Youth, with caveats

A chemical in red wine thought to mimic the life-extending properties of calorie restriction improves health, but doesn’t necessarily lengthen life; it could also harm the brain.

Agriculture

Fishy Data on Weed Killer

A popular weed killer can feminize wildlife by tinkering with a gene that indirectly affects the production of sex hormones.

Science & Society

Climate Threatens Living Fossil

Thanks to global warming, within the lifetimes of certain reptiles in the South Pacific, all members of their species could be born male.

Life

Embryos can learn visually

For cuttlefish embryos, what they see is what they'll crave as food later

Chemistry

HIV knockout

Cutting a gene in immune cells could offer a new way to treat HIV infections.

Earth

Precious little gems

Ancient microdiamonds embedded inside ancient zircons found in western Australia suggest that life may have existed on Earth up to 4.25 billion years ago.

Astronomy

Postcards from the edge

New data about the edge of the solar system offer surprises about how the sun interacts with our galaxy.

Animals

Mighty mites

Mites that were thought to be parasites to their host wasps turn out to be bodyguards, attacking intruders.

Physics

Layers in a Stradivarius

Slight differences in the wood from which violins are made might be what distinguishes a mellow-toned Stradivarius from an ordinary instrument.

Health & Medicine

Surviving HIV

Since the development in the mid-1990s of a state-of-the-art drug cocktail for HIV, patient survival has extended dramatically, a new study shows.

Climate

EPA asks: Could you drive less?

Gas prices may need to climb more before most of us do the right thing.

Animals

Live fast, die young

With a lifespan of just five months, the chameleon Furcifer labordi leads a briefer life than any other land-dwelling vertebrate.