The geological and biological archives of the Earth shed light on both the distant past of our planet and allow us to imagine its future.
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Articles on Biology
Displaying 181 - 200 of 392 articles
Proposed reforms in Victoria will not only remove barriers for many TGD people to navigate their daily lives more safely, but help to make gender categories in general less strictly defined.
Some treatments for neurodegenerative diseases involve inserting wires into the brain and zapping certain brain cells with electricity. But what if you could do the same thing using sound waves?
For many people, the gentle blinks of fireflies flashing are a favorite part of summer evenings. An entomologist explains some lightning bug basics.
Lions don’t generally have armies of hyenas, but not every aspect of The Lion King is inaccurate.
Scrapping the idea of a species is an extreme idea – but perhaps a good one.
Genetic testing companies are offering tests that analyze the ends of your chromosomes – telomeres – to gauge your health and your real age. But is there scientific evidence to support such tests?
Superfast DNA analysis is now being used to crack medical mysteries when physicians can’t figure out whether an infectious microbe is causing the disease.
A ban on clinical trials involving gene editing rules out the controversial procedure done in China. But it also prevents procedures that could offer couples a chance for healthy children without genetic disorders.
The short answer is that leeches need blood to grow and reproduce. But it’s in their interests to do it carefully, without causing too much pain, and in spots that are hard to find.
Modern science clashes with the idea that the rise of Homo Sapiens was a fluke.
The glue that gives spider webs their stickiness is a form of spider silk protein. Researchers can imagine cool uses for a synthetic version – but had to wait for the tricky glue gene to be sequenced.
News of the gene-edited babies excludes images of the children’s mother. Cutting her out of the picture underscores the idea that the mother is obsolete and babies can be created in the lab.
Understanding our evolution can tell us a lot about the health challenges we face today.
Yeast isn’t just important for the foods we consume. A rogue lineage of yeast species that evolves faster than any other is revealing secrets that may help illuminate the molecular causes of cancer.
Spiders use different types of silk for different purposes – and not all of them are as strong as steel.
Platelets heal wounds. But they also seem to play a paradoxical role in both promoting and inhibiting the growth of solid tumors.
A yolk allows a developing animal to stay in an egg longer, boosting its chance of survival. The downside is the mother has to work hard finding extra food so her body can create a nutritious yolk.
The short answer is we have evolved to have nails because they help us pick things up (like food) and pick things off (like bugs).
Scientists and ethicists have called for a five-year moratorium on editing human genes that will pass on to future generations. Yes, society needs to figure out how to proceed – but is this the best way?
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Top contributors
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Doctoral Student in Biochemistry, University of Washington
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Researcher, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
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Biologist, University of Oxford
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Postdoctoral Fellow, EPFL – École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne
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Professor of Philosophy and Integrative Biology, The University of Texas at Austin
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Chercheur à l’Institut de systématique, évolution, biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)
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Professor; Director, UWA Centre for Evolutionary Biology, The University of Western Australia
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Mark Elgar is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor of Evolutionary Biology, The University of Melbourne
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Jenny Graves is a Friend of The Conversation.
Distinguished Professor of Genetics and Vice Chancellor's Fellow, La Trobe University
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Senior Lecturer in Molecular Biology, University of Sydney
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Professor, School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol
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Principal Lecturer in Wildlife Conservation, Nottingham Trent University
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Team Leader, Species Interactions, Atlas of Living Australia, UNSW Sydney
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Senior Lecturer, Monash University
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Lecturer, Macquarie University
