Feature

  1. Chemistry

    Automated chemistry could build better drugs fast and cheap

    Automated molecular synthesis may win over chemists who are not convinced that more technology in drug design is better.

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  2. Neuroscience

    Rethinking which cells are the conductors of learning and memory

    Brain cells called glia may be center stage when it comes to learning and memory, recent research suggests.

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  3. Life

    The tree of life gets a makeover

    Biology’s tree of life has morphed from the familiar classroom version emphasizing kingdoms into a complex depiction of supergroups, in which animals are aligned with a slew of single-celled cousins.

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  4. Neuroscience

    Brain activity in unconscious patients offers new views of awareness

    As more people survive serious brain injury, researchers are using EEG and fMRI to learn who is aware inside an unresponsive body.

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  5. Neuroscience

    Special Report: Dimensions of Time

    Science News writers report on the latest scientific investigations into time’s place in the physical, biological and mental worlds.

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  6. Science & Society

    A brief history of timekeeping

    For millennia, humans have harnessed the power of clocks to schedule prayers, guide ocean voyages and, lately, to chart the universe.

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  7. Neuroscience

    How the brain perceives time

    To perceive time, the brain relies on internal clocks that precisely orchestrate movement, sensing, memories and learning.

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  8. Life

    The origin of biological clocks

    Most of Earth’s creatures keep time with the planet’s day/night cycle. Scientists are still debating how and why the circadian clocks that govern biological timekeeping evolved.

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  9. Animals

    Some animals’ internal clocks follow a different drummer

    Circadian clocks in some animals tick-tock to a different beat.

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  10. Planetary Science

    Pluto: A timeline of 85 years of discovery

    Several observations in the last 85 years have given astronomers a little more information about Pluto, and the July 2015 flyby will offer the closest look yet at the solar system's far-flung satellite.

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  11. Physics

    The arrow of time

    Gravity may explain how time always runs forward, even though the laws of physics should permit it to run backward.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    E-cigarettes proving to be a danger to teens

    E-cigarettes have surpassed cigarettes as the most commonly used tobacco product among teenagers. Medical researchers are sounding the alarm.

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