Life

Life

Frog builds toes, then legs

A small frog appears to jump-start its skeletal development, turning on genes for building feet and toes before bothering to build its legs.

Paleontology

Fossils, now available in color

Fossilized feathers of an early bird or dinosaur may retain evidence of pigment, offering a chance to animal colors of the Cretaceous.

Health & Medicine

Animal rights and wrongs

Featured blog: Some animal-rights activists are taking a page out of the anti-abortionists' playbook and now bully animal researchers at home.

Life

Seeing without eyes

Scientists are looking into the cellular pathways that allow an eyeless roundworm to see.

Life

Fountain of Youth, with caveats

A chemical in red wine thought to mimic the life-extending properties of calorie restriction improves health, but doesn’t necessarily lengthen life; it could also harm the brain.

Agriculture

Fishy Data on Weed Killer

A popular weed killer can feminize wildlife by tinkering with a gene that indirectly affects the production of sex hormones.

Science & Society

Climate Threatens Living Fossil

Thanks to global warming, within the lifetimes of certain reptiles in the South Pacific, all members of their species could be born male.

Life

Embryos can learn visually

For cuttlefish embryos, what they see is what they'll crave as food later

Chemistry

HIV knockout

Cutting a gene in immune cells could offer a new way to treat HIV infections.

Animals

Mighty mites

Mites that were thought to be parasites to their host wasps turn out to be bodyguards, attacking intruders.

Animals

Live fast, die young

With a lifespan of just five months, the chameleon Furcifer labordi leads a briefer life than any other land-dwelling vertebrate.

Math

Optimizing leafy networks

Scientists reveal a mathematical principle underlying the arrangement of leaf veins in plant species.