Emerging evidence suggests that prolonged stress exposure can accelerate the ticking rate of an internal cellular clock. By doing so, stress can contribute to faster ageing and body deterioration.
An mbu pufferfish wearing a particularly mesmerising Turing pattern.
Dennis Jacobsen/Shutterstock
A chemist explains how some molecules in human breast milk help fight infection. Understanding their properties could lead to better infant formulas that share the health advantages of breastfeeding.
A shepherd with his flock in the Netherlands.
Peter Nicolai
The four ingredients for holy incense are listed in the Old Testament, but there was much debate over the origin of one of them – onycha. Scientists think they’ve now confirmed the source.
Announcement by Nobel committee.
TT NEWS AGENCY/EPA
Inserting a random DNA mishmash into a plant or bacterium directs it to make a novel protein. Sifting through the resulting molecules, researchers may find ones have medical or agricultural uses.
A very low-carb diet can prompt changes in your brain similar to that caused by the illicit drug GHB.
from www.shutterstock.com
Have you ever wondered how the small white ibuprofen pill turns off your headache? Or how a regular antidepressant keeps your brain chemistry in balance?
Artist’s impression.
Don Davis (work commissioned by NASA)
Kum Kum Khanna, Queensland Institute of Medical Research; Amanda L Bain, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, and Janelle L Harris, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
The recipients of this year’s Nobel Prize for Chemistry showed that DNA is far from static. Rather, it is bombarded by damaging forces, but our bodies know how to repair these precious strands.
Scientists and engineers have looked to nature for their inspiration for centuries. The field of biomimetics uses ideas from nature to solve complex human challenges. Synthetic biology, a more recent concept…
People who attribute mental illness to brain disease or genes tend to blame affected people less, but see them as more hopeless and dangerous.
lauren rushing/Flickr
Depression, schizophrenia and other psychiatric conditions are increasingly linked to abnormalities in the brain and in our genes. Many professionals believe these developments hold the key to better treatments…