Life

  1. Environment

    Decades-long project is linking our health to the environment

    Started in 1959, this California study is one of the oldest ongoing research projects in the world.

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  2. Brain

    Do you sleep enough to banish unpleasant moods?

    A large, long-term study in kids has linked getting too little shuteye with mood and behavior problems.

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  3. Life

    Scientists Say: Fermentation

    Fermentation breaks down carbohydrates, such as sugars, producing energy and making gases, acids or alcohol. This process can help make foods and fuels.

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  4. Life

    Here’s how butterfly wings keep cool in the sun

    Butterfly wings sport structures that let living tissues release more heat than the rest of the wing.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Answers to your questions on the new coronavirus

    As SARS-CoV-2 spreads globally, researchers are looking for answers on why this novel coronavirus is so infectious and hard to control.

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  6. Genetics

    What would it take to make a unicorn?

    Onward’s dumpster-diving unicorns seem like an impossibility. But scientists have some ideas about how unicorns could become real.

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  7. Fossils

    Scientists Say: Fossil

    Under the right conditions, living things or traces they’ve left behind can be preserved in rock for a long time — millions or billions of years.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Search speeds up for vaccine against the new coronavirus

    Scientists are investigating unusual ways to make drugs to prevent viral infections. One may even be able to treat already sick people.

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  9. Animals

    Ouch! Jellyfish snot can hurt people who never touch the animal

    A goo shed by at least one species of upside-down jellyfish contains stinging cells. They can cause pain even to creatures that never touch the jelly.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Concussions leave clues in the blood

    Athletes who suffered concussions had increased blood levels of three proteins. These proteins appear to be a chemical sign of the brain injury.

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  11. Animals

    How an encounter with this odd-looking bird inspired a career

    Kevin Burgio overcame many hardships to become a scientist. Now he studies how animals like the Carolina parakeet and Tasmanian tiger went extinct.

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  12. Animals

    Analyze This: Shimmering colors may help beetles hide

    Delve into data showing how brilliant colors that shift as a viewer — or predator — moves may help iridescent insects blend in.

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