All Stories by Elizabeth Pennisi
- Health & Medicine
What freediving can reveal about human health — and our limits
The practice of freediving is teaching physiologists how humans stretch their physical and mental limits, which in turn may improve treatments for lung and heart ailments.
- Animals
Regeneration of fins and limbs relies on a shared cellular playbook
The findings strengthen the case that regeneration is an old trait, offering insights into how complex tissues rebuild themselves.
- Animals
Some dung beetles dig deep to keep their eggs cool
A temperate tunneling species of dung beetle seems capable of adapting to climate change, but their tropical cousins may be less resilient.
- Plants
In a new kind of plant trickery, this yam fools birds with fake berries
Black-bulb yam’s mimicry tricks birds into spreading its berrylike clones. The plant's novel strategy helps it spread without seeds or sexual reproduction.
- Animals
How male seahorses tap into their mothering side
By studying the genes responsible for the seahorse’s brood pouch, researchers uncovered a new route to “motherhood.”
