From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
- Animals
One plus to wearing stripes
A zebra’s black-and-white coat doesn’t offer cooling or camouflage, researchers find. Instead, its stripes appear to keep away biting flies — and deadly diseases.
- Brain
Loneliness can breed disease
Everyone experiences loneliness from time to time. But when allowed to persist, loneliness can damage your health and steal years from your life.
- Chemistry
Urine may make Mars travel possible
On Earth, urine is a waste. En route to Mars, it could be a precious renewable commodity: the source of drinking water and energy.
- Animals
When a species can’t stand the heat
When temperatures rise, New Zealand’s tuatara produce more males. With global warming, that could leave the ancient reptile species with too few females to avoid going extinct.
- Health & Medicine
The nose knows a trillion scents
There's a long-standing claim that people can identify 10,000 different odors. But a new study suggests that people can actually identify at least 10,000 times that many scents.
- Brain
Getting a head start on autism
Early diagnosis followed by early treatment may reduce autism’s impact on kids — and help them to communicate better.
- Brain
Understanding Autism
Genetics appears to play some role in this disorder, which affects more than one percent of all Americans.
- Animals
Kangaroos have ‘green’ farts
The farts and belches of these animals contain less methane than do those from other big grass grazers. Microbes in their digestive tract appear to explain the ‘roos lower production of this greenhouse gas, a new study finds.
- Microbes
Return of the giant zombie virus
Scientists have discovered a new type of virus in Siberian soils. It's the largest virus ever discovered. And guess what: It could infect cells even after 30,000 years in cold storage.
- Health & Medicine
Some of chocolate’s health benefits may trace to ‘bugs’
Dark chocolate offers people a number of health benefits. A new study finds that the breakdown of chocolate by microbes in the human gut be behind some benefits.
- Health & Medicine
Low protein, longer life — for some
Eating less protein can lengthen life and improve health. That’s the message from new studies in mice and in people.
- Health & Medicine
Teen uncovers new weapons to stop Huntington’s disease
David Seong, an Intel Science Talent Search finalist, is studying how tiny pieces of genetic material might be used to lock up a dangerous protein in Huntington’s disease.
