All Stories
- Animals
Power of pupils is in their shape
Horizontally or vertically stretched pupils may provide predators and prey with visual advantages.
- Neuroscience
Brain scans hint at reasons for stress-eating
Moderate stress changes brain behavior in ways that may lead to poor food choices.
- Animals
Gibbons have been disappearing from China for centuries
Gibbons are now found in only a small area of southwestern China. But they once thrived across much of the country, records show.
- Astronomy
Faint red stars can build water worlds drip by drip
Rocky planets around faint red stars have a hard time getting water, but they’re still probably the most common habitable locales in the Milky Way, new computer simulations suggest.
- Neuroscience
Claim of memory transfer made 50 years ago
Scientist’s claims of transferred memories were more fiction than fact.
- Genetics
Ancestral humans had more DNA
A new genetic diversity map marks where humans have gained and lost DNA.
- Earth
Nepal quake’s biggest shakes relatively spread out
The seismic rumblings of the April 25 Nepal earthquake were mostly in low frequencies that are more likely to collapse large structures, new research suggests.
- Animals
First known venomous frogs stab with toxin-dripping lip spikes
Two Brazilian frogs jab foes with venoms more deadly than pit vipers'.
By Susan Milius - Life
Chemical magic transforms skin cells into nerve cells
Just a few chemicals can transform skin cells from Alzheimer’s patients and healthy people into nerve cells.
By Meghan Rosen - Life
Source of liver’s ability to regenerate found
Scientists have identified stem cells behind the liver’s legendary ability to replenish its tissue.
By Nathan Seppa - Animals
Parasitic wasp larva gets more than a meal from its spider host
Parasitic wasps coerce spiders to construct strong supports for cocoons.
- Planetary Science
Quest to trace origin of Earth’s water is ‘a complete mess’
Understanding the origin of Earth’s water is hard enough, and it’s made harder by not knowing where all that water is hiding.