Daniel Strain

All Stories by Daniel Strain

  1. Humans

    Collapsing Coastlines

    How Arctic shores are pulled a-sea 

  2. Evolution’s Wedges

    Finding the genes that drive one species into two.

  3. Life

    Diving spiders make their own gills

    Eurasian diving bell spiders, the only truly aquatic arachnids, survive underwater with the help of “physical gills,” scientists say.

  4. Genetics

    Flexible DNA computer finds square roots

    Scientists design a digital circuit made of molecules that may be able to crunch a wider variety of complex math problems than previous versions.

  5. Earth

    Hawaii heat source debated

    A pancake, not a plume, may fuel the island chain’s volcanoes.

  6. Life

    Your gut microbes are what you eat

    A mammal's diet strongly influences what kinds of microorganisms live in its intestines.

  7. Microbial mats may have given early animals breathing room

    Early animals survived poor marine conditions by inhaling oxygen from bacterial "mines" at the bottom of the ocean.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Gravely damaged brains have ‘bottleneck’

    A failure in electrical signaling may distinguish patients in vegetative states.

  9. Earth

    Warming dents corn and wheat yields

    Rising temperatures have decreased global grain production and may be partly responsible for food price increases.

  10. Life

    Zap! More fish

    An upgraded brain underlies the wide diversity in a family of electric fish, scientists say.

  11. Life

    Teamwork keeps fire ants high and dry

    Scientists get a look at the physics that floats a bug's boat.

  12. Crushing Cancer’s Defenses

    Vaccine approval offers hope while other armies muster.