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.
By Janet Raloff -
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.
By Janet Raloff -
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.
By Janet Raloff -
Life
Embryos can learn visually
For cuttlefish embryos, what they see is what they'll crave as food later
By Susan Milius -
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.
By Amy Maxmen -
Math
Optimizing leafy networks
Scientists reveal a mathematical principle underlying the arrangement of leaf veins in plant species.