Feature

Genetics

Gene drives spread their wings

Gene drives may wipe out malaria and take down invasive species. But they may be difficult to control.

Genetics

Can DNA predict a face?

DNA-based facial sketches are moving into the crime-solving arena. With current science, predictions of some features are better than others.

Animals

Getting creative to cut methane from cows

Changing feed, giving vaccines and selective breeding may enable scientists to help beef and dairy cattle shake their title as one of society's worst methane producers.

Neuroscience

Viva vagus: Wandering nerve could lead to range of therapies

Researchers are testing ways to stimulate the vagus nerve to treat a slew of ailments.

Neuroscience

Blood exerts a powerful influence on the brain

Instead of just responding to the energy needs of neurons, the blood can have a direct and powerful influence on the brain.

Earth

New fascination with Earth’s ‘Boring Billion’

The Mesoproterozoic era, known as the boring billion, had very low oxygen, but it set the stage for the evolution of animals.

Animals

Slow, cold reptiles may breathe like energetic birds

Finding birdlike air patterns in lungs of crocodilians and in more distantly related lizards raises the possibility that one-way airflow evolved far earlier than birds themselves did.

Chemistry

Nanoparticles in foods raise safety questions

As scientists cook up ways to improve palatability and even make foods healthier, some are considering the potential health risks of tiny additives.

Science & Society

Special Report: Gravity’s Century

After years of pondering the interplay of space, time, matter and gravity, Einstein produced, in a single month, an utter transformation of science’s conception of the cosmos: the general theory of relativity.

Quantum Physics

Entanglement: Gravity’s long-distance connection

The universe may be a vast quantum computer that safely encodes spacetime in an elaborate web of entanglement.

Astronomy

Using general relativity to magnify the cosmos

Astronomers have Einstein to thank for the tools that bring far-away galaxies and maybe even black hole collisions into view.

Astronomy

Einstein’s genius changed science’s perception of gravity

Einstein struggled for years to solve the puzzle of general relativity. The pieces all fell into place in November 1915.