Life

  1. Health & Medicine

    Explainer: What are proteins?

    In the body, proteins act as biochemical machines to carry out the work of cells.

    By Bryn Nelson and Bethany Brookshire
  2. Animals

    This penguin prey knows how to fight back

    Scientists attached cameras to gentoo penguins off the Falkland Islands. The video revealed that their tiny prey can sometimes win in a fight.

    By Sarah Zielinski
  3. Health & Medicine

    Immune targeting of cancers wins two a 2018 Nobel Prize

    Doctors used to target cancers with a scalpel, toxic chemicals and radiation. Two scientists just won a Nobel Prize for coming up with a fourth tactic: turning on the immune system.

    By Tina Hesman Saey and Aimee Cunningham
  4. Animals

    Eating queen’s poop makes naked mole rats babysit her kids

    Hormones in the poop of a naked mole rat queen turns other females into babysitters for her young.

    By Laurel Hamers
  5. Oceans

    New tools aim to better predict blooms of toxic algae

    Scientists across the United States are developing programs that can predict when blooms of toxic algal may occur.

    By Leah Rosenbaum
  6. Health & Medicine

    Parasitic worms sicken people in the mainland United States

    A worm native to Asia has sickened at least 12 people in eight continental U.S. states since 2011, a new report finds.

    By Leah Rosenbaum
  7. Life

    The mixed-up world of hybrid animals

    When animals from related species mate, they may produce hybrid offspring. These animals can display a jumble of traits, such as colors, shapes or behaviors.

    By Roberta Kwok
  8. Health & Medicine

    Crickets for breakfast?

    In a small trial, levels of beneficial gut bacteria rose in young adults who ate a breakfast that included crickets every day for two weeks.

    By Esther Landhuis
  9. Brain

    Football and hockey don’t necessarily doom players’ brains to serious damage

    A broad look at the brains and behavior of retired pro football players and hockey players finds no signs of early dementia.

    By Laura Sanders
  10. Animals

    Scientists Say: Larva

    Many insects, amphibians and fish have a life stage after they hatch that looks very different from the animal’s adult form. This life stage has its own name.

    By Bethany Brookshire
  11. Animals

    Cool Jobs: Sucking up science with mosquitoes

    Mosquitoes are tiny, but the illnesses they spread can be deadly. To fight these germ spreaders, scientists need to get to know mosquitoes better — much better.

    By Bethany Brookshire
  12. Earth

    Nine big stories you may have missed this summer

    We hope you enjoyed time off from school this summer. But you may have missed some scientific developments, from mega-eruptions to Martian lakes.

    By Sarah Zielinski
Use up and down arrow keys to explore.Use right arrow key to move into the list.Use left arrow key to move back to the parent list.Use tab key to enter the current list item.Use escape to exit the menu.Use the Shift key with the Tab key to tab back to the search input.