Feature
- Environment
Down with Carbon
Scientists are exploring strategies for capturing carbon dioxide and storing it safely away in order to limit the levels of that greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.
By Sid Perkins - Life
Twin Fates
Animal and human studies suggest that a girl with a twin brother may never completely escape the influence of her opposite-sex womb-mate.
By Deborah Blum -
Out of Thin Air
Biologists dream of the day when they could engineer crops to make fertilizer out of the nitrogen in the air.
By Susan Milius -
All in the Family
Contrary to popular belief, species of salamanders, birds, beetles and fish prefer to mate with close kin.
- Health & Medicine
You, in a Dish
Human cells grown in conditions that mimic life inside the body are beginning to replace lab animals for testing drug candidates and industrial chemicals.
- Materials Science
Quantum Cocoon
Diamond can hold quantum information even at room temperature, which makes it a candidate material for future quantum computers.
- Humans
What’s Cookin’
Science and cooking have gotten intimate, resulting in a new understanding of how molecules are transformed into food and how food is transformed by the body.
-
Dad’s Hidden Influence
Fathers share more than genes with their children. Where a man works, the chemicals he is exposed to, and even his age can leave a medical legacy for future children.
- Astronomy
From Dark Matter to Light
Recent surveys of the shapes, colors, and masses of galaxies have put a new focus on the nitty-gritty of galaxy formation—the complicated physics of the interaction of gas.
By Ron Cowen -
Road to Eureka!
Researchers are beginning to identify neural components of insightful problem solving, though no scientific consensus exists on how the brain mediates "light-bulb" or "Aha!" moments.
By Bruce Bower -
The Next Ocean
Increasing carbon dioxide in the air is changing the pH of the ocean, which could mean very different communities of sea creatures.
By Susan Milius - Health & Medicine
Beyond Blood
Bloodless MRI seeks a more direct window into the working brain than conventional techniques.