Humans
- Life
Cool Jobs: Puzzling over proteins to study life and death
Scientists are using proteins to understand dinosaur family trees, to fight malnutrition with a peanut-butter mix in Africa and to make “Google maps” of human cells.
- Computing
Video games level up life skills
A new study shows that playing video games can sharpen important life skills, including communication, adaptability and resourcefulness.
- Genetics
Genes may predict how well the flu vaccine will work in young people
The activity of nine genes predicted how well people 35 and under would respond to the flu vaccine.
- Health & Medicine
Tiny spongelike machines sop up blood sugar
Diabetes disrupts the body’s ability to control blood sugar levels. So researchers invented a tiny plastic machine that could do the job.
- Psychology
Warnings may help flag fake news, but they also backfire
Warning that a news story may be false can help people avoid being duped by hoaxes — but not as much as you might think, according to a new study.
- Health & Medicine
The five-second rule: Designing an experiment
Is it true that food is still clean if it’s picked up off the floor before five seconds have passed? To find out, we designed an experiment to give us data.
- Health & Medicine
The five-second rule: Growing germs for science
Is it true that food dropped on the floor and picked up after five seconds is clean? To find out, we’re building an incubator and allowing any hitchhiking germs to grow.
- Health & Medicine
The five-second rule: Myth busted?
We’ve done an experiment to test the five-second rule. Now it’s time to analyze the data. Be forewarned: They’re not appetizing.
- Health & Medicine
The five-second rule: Microbes can’t count
A good scientific study compares results to what other scientists have done. These scientists have all debunked the five-second rule.
- Brain
Brains may need flexible networks to learn well
New data suggest that brain cells may learn best when they are able to easily make and break off communications with neighbors — or distant brain regions.
- Ecosystems
As trees come down, some hidden homes are disappearing
Animals such as frogs, toucans and possums live in tree hollows. But as people have cut down trees, a wildlife housing shortage has developed in some places.
- Genetics
Molecular scissors fix disease-causing flaw in human embryos
Researchers moved closer to being able to fix gene-edited embryos in people. They removed a flawed gene that causes heart failure
