All Stories
- Genetics
Yeast smell underpins partnership with fruit flies
Yeast make fruity aromas that draw flies, which disperse the fungi. Researchers reveal the gene that underpins the mutually beneficial relationship.
- Animals
Rattlesnakes tutor robot on dune climbing
Snakes sidewinding up sand inspire design improvements for robots navigating treacherous slopes.
- Health & Medicine
A timeline of a baby’s first hour
A study carefully documents newborns’ instinctual behaviors in the first hour outside the womb, observations that paint a picture of what babies might need in the moments after birth.
- Microbes
Gut bacteria protein linked to anorexia and bulimia
Gut bacteria may play a role in eating disorders, a new study suggests.
- Chemistry
Microscopy providing ‘window into the cell’ wins chemistry Nobel
Three scientists use fluorescence and lasers to see single molecules and other tiny objects.
- Health & Medicine
First Ebola patient diagnosed in U.S. dies
Thomas Eric Duncan, who contracted the virus in Liberia and fell ill four days after traveling to Dallas, died October 8.
- Animals
Zebra finches use camouflage
In an experiment, zebra finches camouflaged their nests to match the background, even though they lived in captivity and there was no danger of predators.
- Archaeology
Indonesian stencils rival age of Europe’s early cave art
Hand prints outlined in pigment were made in Southeast Asia at least 39,900 years ago, making the paintings about the same age as European cave art.
- Astronomy
High-energy radiation from stellar explosions explained
The dance of a stellar duo might explain why some novas emit gamma rays.
- Tech
Microscopy techniques win Nobel Prize in chemistry
The award goes to three scientists who developed fluorescence microscopy, which allows researchers to see single molecules just a billionth of a meter across.
- Paleontology
Plant-eating dinosaurs coexisted by munching different vegetation
Differences in skulls allowed sauropods to coexist in an arid landscape by enabling the dinosaurs to tackle different plants.
- Neuroscience
Melatonin and the watery beginnings of sleep
The tiny zooplankton Platynereis dumerilii use melatonin just as much as we do, suggesting that the origins of sleeplike behavior may lie under the sea.
